James Drury - Biography

Biography

Drury was born in New York City, where his father James, Sr., was a New York University professor of marketing. He grew up in both New York and Oregon. Drury contracted polio at the age of ten.

On May 9, 1959, early in his career, Drury appeared as Neal Adams in the episode "Client Neal Adams" of ABC's western series Black Saddle. In the story line, Adams is an old friend of series protagonist Clay Culhane, a gunfighter-turned-lawyer played by Peter Breck. Adams has robbed a bank of $8,000 and was subsequently shot in the back by a pursuing bounty hunter, played by Charles Aidman. Adams asks Culhane for help and makes the false claim that the bounty hunter is the brother of a man whom Adams had earlier killed in self-defense. From the start, Marshal Gib Scott, played by Russell Johnson, doubts Adams' story and questions Culhane's judgment in the matter.

On November 16, 1960, Drury delivered a solid performance as young pioneer Justin Claiborne in the episode "The Bleymier Story" of NBC's Wagon Train, broadcast just days after the death of series lead Ward Bond. Robert Horton as the scout Flint McCullough struggles to get a wagon train through a Sioux burial ground. Dan Duryea played the mentally unstable Samuel Bleymier who is obsessed by demons and superstitions. Bleymier also opposes the interest shown by Claiborne to his daughter, Belle, portrayed by Elen Willard. The episode is filmed mostly during heavy rains, high winds, and a cyclone.

Drury played in secondary roles for Walt Disney. In 1962 Drury got a substantial role as a lascivious gold prospector in the early Sam Peckinpah western Ride the High Country. In the same year, he also landed the top-billed leading role of the ranch foreman on The Virginian, a lavish series which ran for nine seasons. The show was based on Owen Wister's classic novel, and the various screen versions that had been filmed since. It has been rumored that Drury was possibly cast because of a vague resemblance to Gary Cooper, who had played the part in an early movie version. Director Andrew J. Fenady stated that Drury was offered the lead role in the series because of his impressive performance in an unsuccessful television pilot The Yank that was inspired by The Rebel In the series, as in the novel, the actual name of "The Virginian" is never revealed.

Other Drury costars on The Virginian included Lee J. Cobb, Doug McClure, Randy Boone, Roberta Shore, Gary Clarke, Clu Gulager, Diane Roter and toward the end of the run, Tim Matheson. Drury also had a cameo role in the 2000 TV movie of The Virginian starring Bill Pullman. The film followed Wister's novel more closely than had the television series. Drury appeared in a number of films and other television programs, including The Young Warriors and the TV cowboy reunion movie The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw with Doug McClure, who played the character Trampas during 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 his Virginian co-stars Gary Clarke, Randy Boone, and Roberta Shore.

Drury was in the oil and natural gas business in Houston at the turn of the 21st century. His son, Timothy Drury, is a keyboardist, guitarist and vocalist who has played with the rock groups The Eagles and Whitesnake. Drury was a close friend of the Houston marksman Joe Bowman, who trained numerous actors on how to use weapons.