James Drury
Birthday: Born in 1934-04-18 in New York City, New York, USA
Deathday: 2020-04-06
James Child Drury Jr. (April 18, 1934 – April 6, 2020) was an American actor. He is best known for having played the title role in the 90-minute weekly Western television series The Virginian, which was broadcast on NBC from 1962 to 1971. Drury was born in New York City, the son of James Child Drury and Beatrice Crawford Drury. His father was a New York University professor of marketing. He grew up between New York City and Salem, Oregon, where his mother owned a farm. Drury contracted polio at the age of 10. He studied drama at New York University and took additional classes at UCLA to complete his degree after he began acting in films at MGM. On February 7, 1957, Drury married Cristall Othones, and fathered two sons, Timothy and James III. The couple divorced on November 23, 1964 and on April 27, 1968, he married Phyllis Jacqueline Mitchell; the marriage ended in divorce on January 30, 1979. His third marriage was to Carl Ann Head on July 30, 1979; it lasted until her death on August 25, 2019. Drury had three stepchildren from his previous marriages, a stepdaughter, Rhonda Brown, and two stepsons, Frederick Drury and Gary Schero. Drury died from natural causes on April 6, 2020. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia CLR
TV Credits
Kung Fu: The Legend Continues
Character: Deacon
Like his legendary namesake, Kwai Chang Caine is a warrior monk, operating a Shaolin temple in Northern California. After an evil priest, Tan, destroys the temple, Caine and his young son, Peter each believe the other has perished. The two embark on very different paths -- Caine wanders the Earth, while Peter is a cop. When fate brings the two together, they work to overcome their differing philosophies to battle Tan, and then to help the innocent and bring justice to the new Wild West -- 90s ur...
Bourbon Street Beat
Character:
"Bourbon Street Beat" is a private detective series produced by Warner Brothers Television which aired on the ABC network from October 5, 1959, to July 4, 1960. It featured Richard Long as Rex Randolph, Andrew Duggan as Cal Calhoun, Van Williams as Kenny Madison, and Arlene Howell as Melody Lee Mercer, the secretary at the New Orleans detective agency in which they worked. The show is set in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA and revolves around the lives of Rex Randolph (Long) and Cal Calhoun (Duggan)...
The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
Character: Ethan Emerson
A tough-as-rawhide cowpoke, debonair ladies' man and Harvard-educated smarty-britches roams from Frisco to Jalisco in pursuit of outlaws who killed his father...and in search of a mysterious orb possessing out-of-this world powers. Hot lead and cool anachronisms await Brisco as he and his sidekicks - including Comet, the intellectual equine who doesn't know he's a horse - fight for justice in the way, way, way-out West....
Alias Smith and Jones
Character:
Alias Smith and Jones is an American Western series that originally aired on ABC from 1971 to 1973. It stars Pete Duel as Hannibal Heyes and Ben Murphy as Jedediah "Kid" Curry, a pair of cousin outlaws trying to reform. The governor offers them a conditional amnesty, as he wants to keep the pact under wraps for political reasons. The condition is that they will still be wanted— until the governor can claim they have reformed and warrant clemency....
Walker, Texas Ranger
Character: Captain Tom Price
Modern-day Texas Ranger, Cordell Walker's independent crime-solving methods have their roots in the rugged traditions of the Old West. Walker's closest friend is former Ranger, C.D. Parker, who retired after a knee injury, and now owns "C.D.'s," a Country/Western saloon/restaurant. Rookie Ranger, James "Jimmy" Trivette is an ex-football player who bases his crime-solving methods on reason and uses computers and cellular phones. Alex Cahill is the Assistant DA who shares a mutual attraction with ...
Firehouse
Character: Captain Spike Ryerson
Firehouse is an American drama/adventure series that aired on ABC television series in early 1974. Somewhat derivative of Emergency! and the recent best-selling novel Report From Engine Co. 82 by FDNY fireman Dennis Smith, the series was set in Los Angeles at a small inner-city fire station. The five-man crew of Engine Company 23 was led by Captain Spike Ryerson, played by James Drury, fresh from his starring role of nine years on the western series The Virginian. A dramatic series which focuses...
Gunsmoke
Character: Booth Rider
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television....
Perry Mason
Character: Eddy King
The cases of master criminal defense attorney Perry Mason and his staff who handled the most difficult of cases in the aid of the innocent....
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Character: Michael Grimes
A television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock featuring dramas, thrillers, and mysteries....
Rawhide
Character: Kenley
The tale of trail boss Gil Favor and his trusty foreman Rowdy Yates as they drives cattle across the old west. Along the way they meet up with adventure and drama....
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Character: Self
An American sketch comedy television program hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin....
The Virginian
Character: The "Virginian"
The Shiloh Ranch in Wyoming Territory of the 1890s is owned in sequence by Judge Henry Garth, the Grainger brothers, and Colonel Alan MacKenzie. It is the setting for a variety of stories, many more based on character and relationships than the usual western....
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
Character: Arthur Harding
Richard Diamond, Private Detective is an American detective drama which aired on radio from 1949 to 1953, and on television from 1957 to 1960....
Bronco
Character:
Bronco is a Western series on ABC from 1958 through 1962. It was shown by the BBC in the United Kingdom. The program starred Ty Hardin as Bronco Layne, a former Confederate officer who wandered the Old West, meeting such well-known individuals as Wild Bill Hickok, Billy the Kid, Jesse James, Theodore Roosevelt, Belle Starr, Cole Younger, and John Wesley Hardin....
The 20th Century Fox Hour
Character: Anton Cavrek
The 20th Century Fox Hour is an American drama anthology series televised in the United States on CBS from 1955 to 1957. Some of the shows in this series were restored, remastered and shown on the Fox Movie Channel in 2002 under the title Hour of Stars. The season one episode Overnight Haul, starring Richard Conte and Lizabeth Scott, was released in Australia as a feature film....
Lock-Up
Character:
Lock-Up is an American legal drama series that premiered in syndication in September 1959 and concluded in June 1961. The half-hour episodes had little time for character development or subplots and presented a compact story without embellishment....
Black Saddle
Character: Neal Adams
Black Saddle is an American Western television series starring Peter Breck that aired 44 episodes on ABC from January 10, 1959 to May 6, 1960. The half-hour program was produced by Dick Powell's Four Star Television, and the original pilot was an episode of CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, with Chris Alcaide portraying the principal character, Clay Culhane. For syndicated reruns, Black Saddle was combined with three other Western series from the same company, Law of the Plainsman starring...
The Rebel
Character: Bert Pace
The Rebel is a 76-episode American western television series starring Nick Adams that debuted on the ABC network from 1959 to 1961. The Rebel was one of the few Goodson-Todman Productions outside of their game show ventures. Beginning in December 2011, The Rebel reruns began to air Saturday mornings on Me-TV....
The Rifleman
Character:
The Rifleman is an American Western television program starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show was filmed in black-and-white, half-hour episodes. "The Rifleman" aired on ABC from September 30, 1958 to April 8, 1963 as a production of Four Star Television. It was one of the first prime time series to have a widowed parent raise a child....
Lawman
Character:
Lawman is an American western television series originally telecast on ABC from 1958 to 1962 starring John Russell as Marshal Dan Troop and featuring Peter Brown as Deputy Marshal Johnny McKay. The series was set in Laramie, Wyoming during 1879 and the 1880s. Warner Bros. already had several western series on the air at the time, having launched Cheyenne with Clint Walker as early as 1955. The studio continued the trend in 1957 with the additions of Maverick with James Garner and Jack Kelly, Col...
The Detectives
Character:
The Detectives is an American crime drama series which ran on ABC during its first two seasons, and on NBC during its third and final season. The series, starring motion picture star Robert Taylor, was produced by Four Star Television....
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Character: Jess McHugh
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961....
Lawman
Character: Clay
Lawman is an American western television series originally telecast on ABC from 1958 to 1962 starring John Russell as Marshal Dan Troop and featuring Peter Brown as Deputy Marshal Johnny McKay. The series was set in Laramie, Wyoming during 1879 and the 1880s. Warner Bros. already had several western series on the air at the time, having launched Cheyenne with Clint Walker as early as 1955. The studio continued the trend in 1957 with the additions of Maverick with James Garner and Jack Kelly, Col...
Letter to Loretta
Character: Tony
Letter to Loretta is an American anthology drama series telecast on NBC from September 1953 to June 1961 for a total of 165 episodes. The filmed show was hosted by Loretta Young who also played the lead in various episodes. Letter to Loretta was sponsored by Procter & Gamble from 1953 through 1960. The final season's sponsor was Warner-Lambert's Listerine....
Ironside
Character: Al
When an assassin's bullet confines him to a wheelchair for life ending his career as Chief of Detectives, Robert T. Ironside becomes a consultant to the police department. Detective Sergeant Ed Brown and policewoman Eve Whitfield join with him to crack varied and fascinating cases. Ex-con Mark Sanger is employed by the chief as home help but eventually becomes a fully fledged member of the team also. Officer Whitfield leaves after 4 years service, and is replaced by Officer Fran Belding....
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Character: Self
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time....
The Texan
Character: Johnny Kaler
The Texan was a Western television series starring popular B movie actor Rory Calhoun, which aired on the CBS television network from 1958 to 1960....
Rawhide
Character: Rance
The tale of trail boss Gil Favor and his trusty foreman Rowdy Yates as they drives cattle across the old west. Along the way they meet up with adventure and drama....
Rawhide
Character: Johnny Adler
The tale of trail boss Gil Favor and his trusty foreman Rowdy Yates as they drives cattle across the old west. Along the way they meet up with adventure and drama....
Gunsmoke
Character: Johnny Red
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television....
Gunsmoke
Character: Jerry Cass
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television....
Gunsmoke
Character: Tom
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television....
Letter to Loretta
Character: Bob Prentiss
Letter to Loretta is an American anthology drama series telecast on NBC from September 1953 to June 1961 for a total of 165 episodes. The filmed show was hosted by Loretta Young who also played the lead in various episodes. Letter to Loretta was sponsored by Procter & Gamble from 1953 through 1960. The final season's sponsor was Warner-Lambert's Listerine....
Kung Fu: The Legend Continues
Character: Doctor
Like his legendary namesake, Kwai Chang Caine is a warrior monk, operating a Shaolin temple in Northern California. After an evil priest, Tan, destroys the temple, Caine and his young son, Peter each believe the other has perished. The two embark on very different paths -- Caine wanders the Earth, while Peter is a cop. When fate brings the two together, they work to overcome their differing philosophies to battle Tan, and then to help the innocent and bring justice to the new Wild West -- 90s ur...
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Character: Roy Richards
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961....
The Rebel
Character: Paul Travers
The Rebel is a 76-episode American western television series starring Nick Adams that debuted on the ABC network from 1959 to 1961. The Rebel was one of the few Goodson-Todman Productions outside of their game show ventures. Beginning in December 2011, The Rebel reruns began to air Saturday mornings on Me-TV....
Trackdown
Character: John Ward
Trackdown is an American Western television series starring Robert Culp that aired on CBS between 1957 and 1959. More than seventy episodes of this series were produced by Dick Powell's Four Star Television and filmed at the Desilu-Culver Studio. The series was itself a spin-off of Powell's anthology series, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater....
It Takes a Thief
Character: Mr. Clifton, Ticket Agent
Convicted cat burglar Alexander Mundy gets an offer he can't refuse from the United States government: If he puts his formidable thieving skills to work for them, he'll be released from prison. Alexander's dad, Alister, sometimes comes out of retirement as a thief to help his son on special jobs....
The Wonderful World of Disney
Character: Deputy Joe Monroe
Walt Disney Productions has produced an anthology television series under several different titles since 1954. The original version of the series premiered on ABC, Wednesday night, October 27, 1954. The show, which was hosted by Walt Disney until his death and then from 1996 to 2002 by then-CEO Michael Eisner (with one-off hosts or no hosts during other periods) has since aired continually as either a weekly program or an irregular series of specials on several networks and streaming services, m...
The Rifleman
Character: Lloyd Carpenter
The Rifleman is an American Western television program starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show was filmed in black-and-white, half-hour episodes. "The Rifleman" aired on ABC from September 30, 1958 to April 8, 1963 as a production of Four Star Television. It was one of the first prime time series to have a widowed parent raise a child....
Have Gun, Will Travel
Character: Tony DeVries
Have Gun – Will Travel is an American Western television series that aired on CBS from 1957 through 1963. It was rated number three or number four in the Nielsen ratings every year of its first four seasons. It was one of the few television shows to spawn a successful radio version. The radio series debuted November 23, 1958. The television show is presently shown on the Encore-Western channel. Have Gun – Will Travel was created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and produced by Frank Pierson, Don I...
Cheyenne
Character: Bill Magruder
Cheyenne is an American western television series of 108 black-and-white episodes broadcast on ABC from 1955 to 1963. The show was the first hour-long western, and in fact the first hour-long dramatic series of any kind, with continuing characters, to last more than one season. It was also the first series to be made by a major Hollywood film studio which did not derive from its established film properties, and the first of a long chain of Warner Brothers original series produced by William T. O...
Movie Credits
Pollyanna
Character: George Dodds
A young girl comes to an embittered town and confronts its attitude with her determination to see the best in life....
Ride the High Country
Character: Billy Hammond
An ex-lawman is hired to transport gold from a mining community through dangerous territory. But what he doesn't realize is that his partner and old friend is plotting to double-cross him....
Diane
Character: Lieutenant (uncredited)
Asked by Francis I to tutor his son, Diane de Poitiers becomes the future King Henry II's mistress in 1500s France....
Good Day for a Hanging
Character: Paul Ridgely
As a youth, Eddie came into the town with his gang to rob the bank, but was caught and convicted. Marshal Ben helped him to become a honorable citizen. Now, many years later, the gang returns to again rob the bank. On their flight they shoot the Marshal. Eddie is the only one to identify the murderer - but is in doubt if he shall be loyal to his new or his old friends....
Toby Tyler or Ten Weeks with a Circus
Character: Jim Weaver
Angered at stern Uncle Daniel, Toby Tyler runs away from his foster home to join the circus, where he soon befriends Mr. Stubbs, the frisky chimpanzee. However, the circus isn't all fun and games when the evil candy vendor, Harry Tupper, convinces Toby that his Aunt Olive and Uncle Daniel don't love him or want him back. Toby resigns himself to circus life, but when he finally realizes that Tupper lied to him, and that his aunt and uncle truly love him, Toby happily returns home once again....
Love Me Tender
Character: Ray Reno
At the end of the Civil War, a Confederate team is ordered to rob a Union payroll train but the war ends leaving these men with their Union loot, until the Feds come looking for it....
Third of a Man
Character: Emmet
A prominent man in a small U.S. town, tries to forget his brother in a mental home, but the director of the hospital sets about his rehabilitation....
Backtrack!
Character: Ramrod (archive footage)
Sent to Mexico to buy a bull, a Wyoming cowhand (Doug McClure) teams up with three Texas Rangers to solve a robbery/murder....
The Bull of the West
Character: Man from Virginia
Two episodes of the TV series "The Virginian" edited together: "Duel at Shiloh" (2 Jan. 1963) and "Nobility of Kings" (10 Nov. 1965)....
The Meanest Men in the West
Character: The Range Boss (The Virginian)
Bronson and Marvin star as murderous half-brothers who are running from the law as well as each other. A climatic confrontation proves to each of them just how mean the other can be. "The Meanest Men in the West" is actually an amalgam of two episodes of the hit 1960's TV series, "The Virginian." In one installment, a wealthy man's daughter is kidnapped by a nasty gunslinger. But the crime is only just a means for the ruffian to draw the tough title character into a blood- thirsty revenge scheme...
Ten Who Dared
Character: Walter Powell
The John Wesley Powell expedition of 1869 explores the dangerous Colorado River, withstands internal dissension, and finally discovers the Grand Canyon....
The Devil and Miss Sarah
Character: Gil Turner
A notorious outlaw being escorted to prison by a homesteader and his wife turns out to have satanic powers. He uses them on the man's wife to try to possess her and help him escape....
The Young Warriors
Character: Sergeant Cooley
In World War II, a tough sergeant is put in charge of a squad of young recruits and assigned to lead them on a mission against the Germans....
Walker, Texas Ranger: One Riot, One Ranger
Character: Captain Tom Price
Among the issues Walker has to deal with: a new partner named Trivette, a group of men terrorizing a circus family who camp out at his home, and some bad guys who plan on the ultimate bank caper....
Forbidden Planet
Character: Crewman Strong
Starship C57D travels to planet Altair 4 in search of the crew of spaceship "Bellerophon," a scientific expedition that has been missing for 20 years, only to find themselves unwelcome by the expedition's lone survivor and warned of destruction by an invisible force if they don't turn back immediately....
Hell to Pay
Character: JT Coffee
Ten legendary Western stars are reunited in this action-packed tale of brothers at odds-one a decorated soldier and reluctant hero, the other a gambler who keeps company with card sharks and corrupt women-in a small mining town torn apart by civil war. When they fall for the same woman, the brothers become divided; and one man is left to face a band of ruthless killers on his own. A tribute to the great American Western, Hell to Pay is a gritty and mesmerizing tale of love, honor, duty, treacher...
Maverick
Character: Riverboat Poker Player (uncredited)
Maverick is a gambler who would rather con someone than fight them, and needs an additional three thousand dollars in order to enter a winner-takes-all poker game that begins in a few days, so he joins forces with a woman gambler with a marvellous southern accent, and the two try and enter the game....
Blackboard Jungle
Character: Hospital Attendant (uncredited)
Richard Dadier is a teacher at North Manual High School, an inner-city school where many of the pupils frequently engage in anti-social behavior. Dadier makes various attempts to engage the students' interest in education, challenging both the school staff and the pupils. He is subjected to violence as well as duplicitous schemes....
Breakout
Character: Joe Baker
A prison inmate comes up with a plan to break out in order to be near his wife--and also the $50,000 in stolen cash for which he was originally imprisoned....
The Devil's Children
Character: The Virginian
An old farmer, who has raised his daughter and son with the utmost severity, is soon faced with a mess in the family: the daughter sets fire to a barn, is shot while trying to escape, the son becomes an avenging murderer and almost sends an innocent. man to jail......
The Final Hour
Character: The Virginian
Two episodes of the TV series "The Virginian" edited together....
The Brazen Bell
Character: The Virginian
...
The Virginian
Character: Rider
A cowboy finds himself betrayed by his best friend and must choose between bringing him to justice and alienating the pretty schoolteacher he is in love with....
Bitter Heritage
Character: Jesse James, Jr.
A powerful story of the son of America's most famous outlaw: Jesse James. Jesse, Jr. struggles to return to the town which his father lived. His love interest is Elizabeth Montgomery....
Bernardine
Character: Langley Philip Beaymont
A teenager pines for (and sings about) his dream girl....
The Last Wagon
Character:
When a handful of settlers survive an Apache attack on their wagon train they must put their lives into the hands of Comanche Todd, a white man who has lived with the Comanches most of his life and is wanted for the murder of three men....
Rapids Ahead/Bear Country
Character:
The first half is a salute to John Wesley Powell, the first man to explore the Colorado River. Walt Disney presents a behind-the-scenes look at the filming of Ten Who Dared on the same waters. Then the True-Life Adventure Featurette: Bear Country is shown....