Hall Of Great Western Performers, James Drury is an actor who played the starring role in the Western television series, The Virginian.
The series was broadcast on NBC from 1962-1971, and had perhaps the most demanding production schedules in the history of network television......examiner
Drury, a fine actor, portrayed more characters than the ranch foreman he is known as, The Virginian. He was cast as a gold prospector in the early Sam Peckinpah western Ride the High Country (1962). It was that same year when he was cast again, this time as the leading role on The Virginian, a series that ran for nine seasons! The ninth was renamed Men from Shiloh.
The Virginian was based on the novel and various screen versions that have been filmed since. In the series, as in the novel, the actual name of "The Virginian" is never revealed. Co-stars on The Virginian included Lee J. Cobb, Randy Boone, Roberta Shore, Gary Clarke, Clu Gulager, and toward the end of the run, Tim Matheson.
In addition to The Virginian, Drury was cast in Pollyanna (1960), Alias Smith and Jones and in the TV movie The Virginian (2000) that starred Bill Pullman, followed by Hell to Pay (2005). Drury has been a part of numerous other films and television programs including the TV cowboy reunion movie The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (1991) with Doug McClure who played Trampas for the entire run 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 some of his Virginian co-stars Gary Clarke, Randy Boone, and Roberta Shore.
In 2009 celebrated sharpshooter, Hollywood consultant, FBI/SWAT Firearms Instructor, historian, and Old West Artisan, Joe Bowman died. He and James Drury were close friends.
This Houston marksman, Bowman, trained numerous actors on how to use weapons. As listed on Joe Bowman's wikepdia page, some of those celebrities included Roy Rogers, John Wayne, Jock Mahoney, James Garner, James Drury, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Dan Pastorini, former quarterback of the Houston Oilers. Tolong Share ya ^^
