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James Drury

 
Actor: James Drury
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  • Born: 1933 in New York City, New York
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '50s-'70s
  • Major Genres: Western, Action
  • Career Highlights: Ride the High Country, The Bull of the West, Good Day for a Hanging
  • First Major Screen Credit: Good Day for a Hanging (1958)

Biography

The son of a New York University professor of marketing, American actor James Drury spent his youth dividing his time between Manhattan and Oregon, where his mother ran a ranch. At age 8, Drury made his stage debut as King Herod-- crepe beard and all--in a Christmas production at a Greenwich Village settlement house. Sidelined by polio at age 10, Drury became a voracious reader, often acting out the characters in the books. At NYU, Drury dove full-force into acting, developing his craft to such an extent that in 1954 he was signed by MGM. His film roles were of the "other guy in the room" calibre (Forbidden Planet [1956]), so Drury's contract lapsed, after which he spent time at 20th Century-Fox in support of Pat Boone (Bernardine [1957]) and Elvis Presley (Love Me Tender [1958]). In 1958, Drury was cast by Screen Gems studios in a TV pilot film based on the Owen Wister story The Virginian. It didn't sell, but in 1962 Universal optioned the rights to The Virginian, bringing Drury in along for the ride. He spent the next nine years in The Virginian, during which time Drury's reputation for recalcitrance on the set and reluctance to reveal anything of himself in interviews earned him the soubriquet "The Garbo of the Sagebrush" (a nickname bestowed by Drury's father!) James Drury wasn't seen much after The Virginian, though he did show up on the small screen as the lead in an Emergency clone titled Firehouse, which ran on the ABC network for eight months in 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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Wikipedia: James Drury
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James Drury
Born James Child Drury
18 April 1934 (1934-04-18) (age 75)
New York, New York
Occupation Former actor; oil and natural gas businessman
Years active 1955–2005
Spouse(s) Carl Ann Drury (?-present)
Phyllis Mitchell (1968-1979) (divorced)
Cristall Orton (1957-1964) (divorced) 2 sons

James Child Drury (born April 18, 1934) is an American actor who played the title role in the 90-minute weekly Western television series The Virginian, broadcast on NBC from 1962-1971. The series had perhaps the most demanding production schedules in the history of network television.

Contents

Biography

Drury was born in New York, New York, where his father was a New York University professor of marketing.[1] He grew up in both New York and Oregon.[1]

After a series of bit parts and playing second-lead for Walt Disney, Drury landed the top-billed leading role of the ranch foreman on The Virginian, a lavish series which ran for nine seasons. The show was based on Owen Wister's classic novel and the various screen versions that had been filmed since; Drury was probably cast because of a vague resemblance to Gary Cooper, who had played the part in an early movie version. In the series, as the novel, the actual name of "The Virginian" is never revealed. Drury also played the part in a refurbished version called The Men From Shiloh. Drury had a cameo role in the 2000 TV movie of The Virginian starring Bill Pullman that followed Wister's novel more closely than the TV series had.

Drury appeared in a number of films and other television programs, including the TV cowboy reunion movie The Gambler Returns: Luck of the Draw with Doug McClure, who played Trampas for the entire run of The Virginian. Other Drury costars on The Virginian included Lee J. Cobb, Randy Boone, Roberta Shore, Gary Clarke, Clu Gulager, and toward the end of the run, Tim Matheson.

Drury also appeared on the TV western Alias Smith and Jones costarring Pete Duel and Ben Murphy. Drury played a sheriff who was a former outlaw. Drury had also worked with Duel twice before in two different episodes of The Virginian.

In 1991 Drury was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. In 1997 and 2003, he was a guest at the Western Film Fair in Charlotte, North Carolina. At the 2003 show, he was reunited with his Virginian co-stars Gary Clarke, Randy Boone, and Roberta Shore.

Drury was in the oil and natural gas business in Houston at the turn of the 21st century. His son, Timothy Drury, is a keyboardist, guitarist and vocalist who has played with The Eagles and currently with Whitesnake. Drury was a close friend of the Houston marksman Joe Bowman, who trained numerous actors on how to use weapons.

Filmography

Television series

  • Cheyenne (TV Series) - Episode "The Impostor" as Bill Magruder (1960)
  • Rawhide (TV series) - Episode "Incident of the Night on the Town" as Rance (1961)
  • The Virginian (1962-1971)
  • Firehouse (1974)

References

  1. ^ a b Yahoo Movies.

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Actor. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "James Drury".  Read more