Who is James Drury? See Net-worth, Quote, Awards, Fact, Wiki

James Child Drury Wiki Biography

James Child Drury, Jr. was born on the 18th April 1934, in Manhattan, New York City USA, and is a retired actor, who is perhaps still best known for his appearance in the role of the main character in the 90-minute Western TV series “The Virginian” (1962-1971), which was aired on the NBC channel. He also appeared in other film and TV titles, including “Forbidden Planet” (1956), “Ride The High Country” (1962), among others. His career in the acting world was active from 1955 to 2005.

Have you ever wondered how rich James Drury is, as of mid- 2016? According to authoritative sources, it is estimated that the total size of James’ net worth is as high as $1.5 million, with the main source of this amount of money being his successful involvement in the entertainment industry as a professional actor.

James Drury Net Worth $1.5 Million

James Drury was raised in New York City by his father, James Drury, Sr. who was a professor at New York University. Some of his childhood he also spent in Oregon on a family ranch.
As early as 1955 his career began, with roles in such films as “The Tender Trap” with Frank Sinatra and Debbie Reynolds, and the following year in the cult film “Forbidden Planet”, with Walter Pidgeon, Leslie Nielsen and Anne Francis.

During the 1950s, he appeared in numerous TV series in brief roles, including “Playhouse 90” (1958), “Man Without a Gun” (1958), “The Texan” (1958), “Steve Canyon” (1959), “Men Into Space” (1959), and many others, all of which added to his net worth, but also helped him build his name as an actor.
In 1962, his career took a turn for the better when he was selected for the role of The Virginian in the TV series of the same name. The show aired until 1971, and had 243 episodes of 90 minutes. Thanks to the popularity of the show, James` career was considerably boosted, but he also stayed focused on other ventures, and while the show lasted he appeared in such films as “Ride The High Country” (1962), “The Young Warriors” (1967), and “Breakout” (1970), which also added to his net worth.

After the show ended, he found engagement in the TV series “Firehouse” (1974), as Captain Spike Ryerson. He then took a break from acting, and returned in the mid-1980s with a role in “The All American Cowboy” (1985). Six years later, he featured in another western film “The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw”, with Kenny Rogers, Reba McEntire and Rick Rossovich in lead roles. In 1993, he appeared as Captain Tom Price in several episodes of the highly popular western TV series “Walker, Texas Ranger” with Chuck Norris. He retired in 2005, but before that made an appearance in film “Hell To Pay”, directed by Chris McIntyre, which also added a substantial amount to his net worth.

Thanks to his talents, James received several prestigious awards, including the Golden Boot Award in 1995, and Bronze Wrangler given by the Western Heritage Awards, for his work on TV series “The Virginian.
When it comes to speak about his personal life, James Drury has been married to Carl Ann Head since 1979. Previously, he was married twice, firstly to Cristall Othoneos (Orton) from 1957 to 1964, with whom he has two sons, and then to Phyllis Mitchell (1968-1979). One of his two sons is Timothy Drury, known in the media as a musician and member of the band Whitesnake. James lives with his third wife in Houston, Texas. In free time, he still enjoys riding horses.



Full Name James Drury
Net Worth $1.5 Million
Date Of Birth 1934-04-18
Place Of Birth New York City, New York, USA
Height 1.83 m
Profession Producer
Education New York University
Nationality American
Spouse Cristall Orton, Carl Ann Head, Phyllis Mitchell
Children Timothy Drury
Parents James Drury, Sr.
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/jamesdrurythevirginianII
IMDB http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0238628/
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
Trademark
1 Smoky, gravelly voice.
2 His Virginian character.
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.
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).

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

Won Awards

Year Award Ceremony Nomination Movie
1995 Golden Boot Golden Boot Awards
1966 Bronze Wrangler Western Heritage Awards Fictional Television Drama The Virginian (1962)

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