James Drury

James Drury
James Drury in 2006
Born	James Child Drury (1934-04-18) April 18, 1934 (age 82) New York City, New York, USA
Occupation	Actor; voice talent, oil and natural gas businessman
Years active	1955–2005
Spouse(s)	Carl Ann Head Drury (1979–present) Phyllis Mitchell (1968–79; divorced) Cristall Orton (1957–64; divorced)
Children	2 (including Timothy Drury)

James Child Drury, Jr. (born April 18, 1934) is an American actor probably best known for his success in playing the title role in the 90-minute weekly Western television series The Virginian, broadcast on NBC from 1962–1971.

Drury was born on April 18, 1934, 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.

In 1959, Drury was cast as Harding, Jr., in the episode "Murder at the Mansion" of Richard Diamond, Private Detective. 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.

In 1960, Drury appeared in different roles in two episodes, "Fair Game" and "Vindication" of another ABC western series, The Rebel, starring Nick Adams as a Confederate adventurer roaming through the post-Civil War American West. On November 16, 1960, Drury played 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.