James Drury

Laconic, dark and handsome were the essential attributes for Hollywood western leading men in the 50s and 60s. James Drury fit the bill, keeping in mind that his most famous screen persona – that of the stalwart Shiloh estate ranch foreman known only as ‘the Virginian’ – took a while to properly develop. In the original 30-minute pilot way back in 1958, the Virginian appeared rather more like a genteel dandy than a tough cowboy. Four years later, the NBC network approved a revamped version of the series and Drury, now looking the part, was on his way to popular success. Though his career may have fallen short of outright stardom, he endeared himself with TV audiences for almost a decade and went on to enjoy a fair cult status beyond the final episode of The Virginian (1962) in March 1971.

James Child Drury was born not in the American West, but in New York, the son of Beatrice (Crawford) and James Child Drury. His father, from an Irish family, was a professor who lectured in marketing and advertising at New York University. Young James spent some of his formative years on a family ranch in Salem, Oregon, where he learned to become an expert rider. His maternal grandfather, John Hezekiah Crawford, of Kentucky, educated him in the ways of the woodsman and taught him marksmanship. James began to act in school plays, toured with a theatrical company by the age of twelve and then studied drama at his father’s university. Curiously, he completed his senior year at UCLA studying not acting but horticulture and animal husbandry. Upon graduation, he was signed to a contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and made his first screen appearance a year later in 1955. Aside from playing junior army officers and assorted teenagers in films for 20th Century Fox and Disney, Drury quickly found a comfortable niche in TV westerns (which, no doubt, had much to do with his expertise in horsemanship). He had guest appearances in just about all the famous ones: The Texan (1958), Bronco (1958), Have Gun – Will Travel (1957), Lawman (1958), Cheyenne (1955), Gunsmoke (1955), Rawhide (1959) and Wagon Train (1957). He also made the little seen, yet unsold pilot for The Virginian. A strong performance as one of a quartet of villainous brothers in Sam Peckinpah’s seminal western Ride the High Country (1962) led to a seven-year contract with Universal. He (along with Doug McClure) auditioned for their respective roles in The Virginian soon after, finding out that the parts were indeed theirs just two days prior to shooting. In 1966, Drury fronted a band, the Wilshire Buffalo Hunters, touring Vietnam for three weeks as part of the USO.

Despondent after The Virginian ended its run, Drury played a sheriff in the pilot for the comedy western series Alias Smith and Jones (1971) and then starred in Firehouse (1974), a short-lived ABC adventure drama set at a Los Angeles fire station. After the cancellation of Firehouse, Drury seemed to become even more disheartened and made only a few more sporadic TV appearances thereafter. However, he managed to reinvent himself as a successful businessman, first as co-owner of a ranch raising Appaloosa horses (his steed in The Virginian had been a white Appaloosa named Joe D), then as proprietor of a company recycling asphalt, and latterly, having moved to Texas, in the oil and natural gas business. He was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers in 1991.

James Drury died from natural causes on April 6, 2020, in Houston, Texas. He was 85.