James Child Drury (born April 18, 1934) is an American actor who played the title role in the 90-minute weekly Western television series The Virginian, broadcast on NBC from 1962-1971. The series had perhaps the most demanding production schedules in the history of network television.
Drury was born in New York, New York, where his father was a New York University professor of marketing. He grew up in both New York and Oregon.
After a series of bit parts and playing second-lead for Walt Disney, Drury 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; Drury was probably cast because of a vague resemblance to Gary Cooper, who had played the part in an early movie version. In the series, as the novel, the actual name of "The Virginian" is never revealed. Drury also played the part in a refurbished version called The Men From Shiloh. Drury had a cameo role in the 2000 tv movie of The Virginian starring Bill Pullman that followed Wister's novel more closely than the tv series had.
Drury also appeared in a number of movies and other televisions, including the TV cowboy reunion movie The Gambler Returns: Luck of the Draw with his co-star the late Doug McClure, who played Trampas for the entire run of The Virginian. Another TV series was the western Alias Smith and Jones costarring Pete Duel and Ben Murphy. Drury played a sheriff who used to be an outlaw. He had worked with Duel twice before in two different episodes of The Virginian.
Drury was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City in 1991. 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 Eagles and currently with Whitesnake.
