About James Drury: Partner, Brother, Siblings, Net Worth, Wife

Known for movies

Short Info

Net Worth	$1.5 million
Date Of Birth	April 18, 1934
Spouse	Carl Ann Head (m. 1979), Phyllis Mitchell (m. 1968–1979), Cristall Orton (m. 1957–1964)
Mark	Smoky, gravelly voice.
Fact	Following bit parts in films in the late '50s, he became a "second lead" for Disney until winning the title role of The Virginian (1962).

James Drury is an American actor best known for his starring role as The Virginian in the television series of the same name.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cO2BXNnJVA

Drury was born in New York City, the son of a stage actress and a director. He was raised in Los Angeles and began his acting career in the 1950s, appearing in such television series as The Lone Ranger, The Adventures of Superman, and Gunsmoke.

In 1962, Drury was cast as the title character in The Virginian, a Western television series that aired on NBC for nine seasons. The show was a ratings success and made Drury a household name.

After The Virginian ended its run in 1971, Drury appeared in a number of made-for-television movies and guest-starred on such popular television series as Hawaii Five-O, The Love Boat, and Fantasy Island.

In the 1980s, Drury starred in the short-lived television series The New Maverick and had a recurring role on Dynasty. In recent years, he has appeared in a number of independent films.

Drury has been married three times and has four children. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

James Drury is an American actor with a net worth of $5 million. James Drury was born on April 18, 1934 in New York City, New York. His parents were both in the entertainment industry. His mother was a stage actress and his father was a director. James Drury was raised in Los Angeles, California. He attended high school in Los Angeles and then went on to study at Stanford University. After college, he served in the United States Army for two years.

General Info

Full Name	James Drury
Net Worth	$1.5 million
Date Of Birth	April 18, 1934
Height	1.83 m
Profession	Actor, Businessperson
Education	New York University
Nationality	American

Family

Spouse	Carl Ann Head (m. 1979), Phyllis Mitchell (m. 1968–1979), Cristall Orton (m. 1957–1964)
Children	Timothy Drury
Parents	James Drury, Sr.

Accomplishments

Movies	Ride the High Country, Pollyanna, Love Me Tender, Forbidden Planet, Ten Who Dared, The Young Warriors, The Last Wagon, The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw, Toby Tyler, Good Day for a Hanging, The Bull of the West, When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion, The Meanest Men in the West, Backtrack...
TV Shows	Firehouse, The Virginian

Social profile links

Facebook	http://www.facebook.com/jamesdrurythevirginianII
IMDB	http://imdb.com/name/nm0238628

Marks

#	Marks / Signs
1	Smoky, gravelly voice.
2	His Virginian character.

Quotes

#	Quote
1	I've been riding horses since I was in diapers. My grandfather put me on his Belgian plow horse when I was just a toddler. The animal was so broad, my legs stuck straight out on both sides like I was doing the splits. It's one of my earliest memories.
2	[About his hometown]: Texas has been good to me. I've worked with many great horse trainers here and up through Oklahoma. I love it all - the dust, the sweat, the sunshine and the smell of the horses.
3	I was able to accomplish just about everything I set out to do as an actor.
4	[As to why it was impossible for himself to appear in each and every episode of The Virginian (1962)]: The majority of...episodes were shot in eight days. When we started out, they took about ten days. They decided they couldn't afford that much time because we aired the episodes every five days (excluding weekends). To keep up with the airing schedule, we had to run multiple units--as many as four or five different episodes filming at the same time. I would ride my horse or take the studio limousine back and forth between the sets to do my two line piece in one episode, ten pages of dialogue in another episode, do a cattle drive in another episode, a wild horse drive in another, and then a gunfight and a robbery in yet another episode. I had to keep everything straight and it was absolutely no problem and a joy to do. I would do it all over again tomorrow.
5	I started acting at age eight. I was forced to do a play in Manhattan and was cast as King Henry in a bible play. When people began clapping at the end of the play, I realized there was nothing I wanted more than to be on the stage.
6	[When he began as an unfamiliar actor]: I signed a contract with 20th century fox and did a series of films with them, was Love Me Tender with Elvis Presley. That was a great moment.
7	[Who spent most of his childhood in both New York and Oregon]: I was under care of my maternal grandfather who had come west with a wagon train when he was about 16. He told me about the Indians fights the wagon train was involved in and all the other different things that happened. So I had a real pipeline into the Old West.
8	[on his Texas residence]: Texas has been good to me. I've worked with many great horse trainers here and up through Oklahoma. I love it all - the dust, the sweat, the sunshine and the smell of the horses.
9	[about the popularity of The Virginian (1962)]: It was the first 90-minute Western on TV, and that gave our writers an opportunity to explore detailed stories," he said. "It was like doing a movie every week. We also had a wonderful cast of continuing characters, and with the great writing, the finest actors in Hollywood wanted guest starring roles - George C. Scott, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford and Robert Redford come to mind. Every day I'd go off to the set excited about the wonderful actors I'd be working with.
10	[Of Robert Fuller] He's really a magnificent, gifted actor and a fine professional, and he was able to work with these people very effectively in all those different series that he did, and I had nothing but admiration for him; he's one of my best friends, so it's nice that we're still in contact and quite often.
11	[on giving out acting advice] I think it's more of a question than listening to the other actors, because if you listen, they want to find out what you're going to do. By no means, trying to upstage anyone or anything like that, just listening to what they're saying and the eyes will come because of the anticipation, it's what you're going to respond.
12	[When asked if he knew Julie London through his best friend Robert Fuller] No, I had known Bobby Troup, her husband, very well, [we'd] done several shows together. But I never really knew Julie, except just to meet her. Bobby [Fuller] became their very lifelong friend . . . but I never spent any time on the road with her, [although] I think Bobby Fuller did. Bobby Troup and I did Perry Mason (1957) and we did several other shows before he ever started Emergency! (1972). It was a family affair on "Emergency!" except for Fuller, and he didn't really want to do a modern show, he wanted to do another western, but Jack Webb [the producer of "Emergency!"] talked him into it or insisted that he do it, and he was [eventually] very happy, because it was a great success and he had a wonderful time with Julie London and . . . Bobby Troup.
13	[on the death of Doug McClure] He was very instrumental in the success of the show and probably the best friend I ever had, and we lost him. He died too young, he was only 59, but you think about him everyday.
14	Owen Wister designed the character in 1902 when he came out with the novel, without a name. So you automatically assumed 'The Virginian' has some secrets [he'd rather not divulge], and there's an aura [that an] actor who plays the part carries with him as he comes through the door.
15	I was a brand-new contract player at MGM in 1954, and I was 20 years old, and the studio undertook to make a property called "Raintree County" [eventually made as Raintree County (1957)], with Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor. And I wanted the Montgomery Clift role much, and I told everybody about it that I wanted to play. I read the book, and I thought it was a wonderful role and I wanted to play. Obviously, nobody listened to me, Montgomery Clift played the role, and did a great job, but I always regretted that I didn't get a chance at that, because I like the property, the property gave me goosebumps when I read it, and I wanted to participate putting it on film. It was not to be and I had no regrets about it. I was very disappointed at the time that I couldn't make any headway, but that's the way life is.
16	[referring to his title role on The Virginian (1962)] Nobody knows the name of my character. Not even me.

Facts

#	Fact
1	Friends with: Robert Fuller, John Smith, Doug McClure, Adam West, Alan Hale Jr., Michael Landon, James Arness, Clu Gulager, James Best, Denver Pyle, Chuck Norris, Bobby Troup, Beverly Garland, Clint Walker, Andy Griffith, Larry Hagman, Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker, Lorne Greene, Don Collier, Barbara Stanwyck, Linda Evans, Lee Majors, Brian Keith, Peter Mark Richman, Claude Akins, Hugh O'Brian, Chuck Courtney, Robert Horton, Alex Cord, Abby Dalton, Ruta Lee, Chuck Connors, Robert Crawford Jr. and his brother Johnny Crawford, Yul Brynner, James Gregory, Raymond Burr, Joel McCrea, John McIntire, Terry Wilson, Denny Miller, Bernie Kopell, Dan Haggerty, Roberta Shore, Julie Adams, L.Q. Jones and Robert Conrad.
2	Credits Lee J. Cobb as his favorite acting mentor/best friend.
3	He is widely known to be a social butterfly.
4	He is a staunch Republican.
5	Surrogate son of Lee J. Cobb.
6	His acting mentor was the late Lee J. Cobb.
7	Went to college with Bernie Kopell.
8	Has been riding horses since birth.
9	Since 1976 he has resided in Houston, TX.
10	Despite staying on The Virginian (1962) for the entire run, it was impossible for both Drury and Doug McClure to appear in all 249 episodes, because it was a 90-minute show.
11	Met Robert Horton and Robert Fuller when the three were under contract at MGM in 1954.
12	His idols when he was very young were Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea and Jane Wyman.
13	Guest-starred on the first three episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger (1993).
14	He was a guest at the 2012 Memphis Film Festival's "A Gathering of Guns 4: A TV Western Reunion" at the Whispering Woods Hotel and Conference Center in Olive Branch, Mississippi.
15	Best known by the public for his starring role as the title character in The Virginian (1962).
16	The son of a New York University professor of marketing, he was born in New York City but later grew up on a ranch in Oregon where he developed an affinity for horses and the outdoor life.
17	In 1997 and 2003 he was a guest at the Western Film Fair in Charlotte, NC. At the 2003 show he was reunited with The Virginian (1962) cast members Gary Clarke, Randy Boone, and Roberta Shore.
18	Son Timothy Drury is a keyboardist, guitarist and vocalist who has played with The Eagles and is a member of the British group Whitesnake.
19	Settled in Houston in the mid-1970s and has been in and out of the oil and natural gas business since.
20	Recorded a series of novels by acclaimed western author Kirby Jonas for a books-on-tape company called Books in Motion.
21	Trained as a classical actor at New York University by perform in works by such writers as William Shakespeare to George Bernard Shaw, he eventually relocated to California.
22	In 1971 he appeared in Finland for four appearances in different Mid-Summer festivals. At the time he was very popular there after having been in the TV series The Virginian (1962). He was told that kind of reception he got in Finland was like Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra got in the US.
23	Father of Timothy Drury, musician.
24	Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1991.
25	Following bit parts in films in the late '50s, he became a "second lead" for Disney until winning the title role of The Virginian (1962).

Pictures

Movies

Actor

Title	Year	Status	Character
Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	1959	TV Series	Deputy Joe Monroe
Zane Grey Theater	1958-1959	TV Series	Roy Richards / Jess McHugh
Good Day for a Hanging	1959		Paul Ridgely
Bronco	1958	TV Series	John Smith
Flight	1958	TV Series
The Texan	1958	TV Series	Johnny Kaler
The Silent Service	1958	TV Series	Masters
Bitter Heritage	1958	TV Movie	Jesse James, Jr.
Decision	1958	TV Series	The Virginian
The Walter Winchell File	1958	TV Series	Eddie Perkins
Man Without a Gun	1958	TV Series	Cort Hamish
Broken Arrow	1958	TV Series	Tahzay
Playhouse 90	1958	TV Series	Jesse James
Alfred Hitchcock Presents	1958	TV Series	Michael Grimes
Bernardine	1957		Lt. Langley Beaumont
Love Me Tender	1956		Ray Reno
The Last Wagon	1956		Lt. Kelly
Forbidden Planet	1956		Crewman Strong
The 20th Century-Fox Hour	1956	TV Series	Anton Cavrek
Diane	1956		Lieutenant (uncredited)
The Tender Trap	1955		Eddie
Cameo Theatre	1955	TV Series
Love Me or Leave Me	1955		Assistant Director (uncredited)
Blackboard Jungle	1955		Hospital Attendant (uncredited)
Billy and the Bandit		TV Movie post-production	Grandpa
Hell to Pay	2005		JT Coffee
The Virginian	2000	TV Movie	Rider
Kung Fu: The Legend Continues	1995-1996	TV Series	Doctor / Deacon
Maverick	1994		Riverboat Poker Player (uncredited)
The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.	1993-1994	TV Series	Ethan Emerson
Walker, Texas Ranger	1993	TV Series	Captain Tom Price
The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw	1991	TV Movie	Jim
The All American Cowboy	1985	TV Movie	Host / Marshal
The Fall Guy	1983	TV Series	The Virginian
Firehouse	1974	TV Series	Captain Spike Ryerson
Alias Smith and Jones	1971-1972	TV Series	Sheriff Tankersley / Sheriff Lom Trevors
The Devil and Miss Sarah	1971	TV Movie	Gil Turner
Ironside	1971	TV Series	Al
The Virginian	1962-1971	TV Series	The Virginian
The Red Skelton Hour	1971	TV Series	Auctioneer
Breakout	1970	TV Movie	Joe Baker
It Takes a Thief	1968	TV Series	Mr. Clifton, Ticket Agent
The Young Warriors	1966		Sergeant Cooley
Ride the High Country	1962		Billy Hammond
Third of a Man	1962		Emmet
Wagon Train	1960-1962	TV Series	Cole Crawford / Justin Claiborne
The Detectives	1962	TV Series	Adrian
Perry Mason	1961	TV Series	Eddy King
Rawhide	1959-1961	TV Series	Rance / Johnny Adler / Kenley
Stagecoach West	1961	TV Series	Stace
The Rifleman	1958-1961	TV Series	Spicer / Lloyd Carpenter
Michael Shayne	1961	TV Series	Eddie
The Loretta Young Show	1960-1961	TV Series	Bob Prentiss / Tony
Gunsmoke	1955-1961	TV Series	Tom / Johnny Red / Jerry Cass / ...
The Rebel	1960	TV Series	Paul Travers / Bert Pace
Ten Who Dared	1960		Walter Powell
Pollyanna	1960		George Dodds
Bourbon Street Beat	1960	TV Series	Joe Darle
Lock Up	1960	TV Series	Frank Crotty
Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks with a Circus	1960		Jim Weaver
Men Into Space	1960	TV Series	Maj. Nick Alborg
The Yank	1960	TV Movie	Mathew Dorn
Death Valley Days	1959	TV Series	Joe Plato
Cheyenne	1959	TV Series	Bill Magruder
Steve Canyon	1959	TV Series	Lt. Richard Muller
Black Saddle	1959	TV Series	Neal Adams
Lawman	1959	TV Series	Clay / Stan Bates
Richard Diamond, Private Detective	1959	TV Series	Harding Jr.
Trackdown	1959	TV Series	John Ward
Have Gun - Will Travel	1959	TV Series	Tony DeVries

Self

Title	Year	Status	Character
In the Bunkhouse with Red Steagall	2009	TV Series	Himself
Way Out West	1996	TV Movie documentary	Himself
When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion	1979	TV Movie documentary	Himself
Mel Tillis Time	1974	TV Series	Himself
Mies Shiloh'sta	1971	TV Movie documentary	Himself
The Hollywood Squares	1967-1970	TV Series	Himself - Panelist
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson	1968-1970	TV Series	Himself
The Mike Douglas Show	1969	TV Series	Himself
The David Frost Show	1969	TV Series	Himself
Laugh-In	1969	TV Series	Himself
The Bob Hope Show	1967	TV Series	Himself
Dateline: Hollywood	1967	TV Series	Himself
That Regis Philbin Show	1965	TV Series	Himself

Archive Footage

Title	Year	Status	Character
Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 2	1999	TV Special documentary	Himself (uncredited)
The Meanest Men in the West	1978	TV Movie	The Range Boss (The Virginian)
America at the Movies	1976	Documentary	Billy Hammond (uncredited)
The Bull of the West	1972	TV Movie	Man from Virginia
Backtrack!	1969		Ramrod
Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	1963-1968	TV Series	George Dodds / Jim Weaver / Walter Powell
The Final Hour	1965		The Virginian
The Devil's Children	1962		The Virginian
The Brazen Bell	1962		The Virginian
Frontier Justice	1958	TV Series	Jess McHugh