- Settled in Houston in the mid-1970s and has been in and out of the oil and natural gas business since.
- 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.
- Recorded a series of novels by acclaimed western author Kirby Jonas for a books-on-tape company called Books in Motion.
- Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1991.
- 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 the kind of reception he got in Finland was like Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra got in the US.
- 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.
- Son Timothy Drury is a keyboardist, guitarist and vocalist who has played with Eagles and is a member of the British group Whitesnake.
- Met Robert Horton and Robert Fuller when the three were under contract at MGM in 1954.
- Guest-starred on the first three episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger (1993).
- 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.
- 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.
- Went to college with Bernie Kopell.
- 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).
- He attended high schools in Los Angeles and was expelled from University High on the day before graduation. However, because of his dad who was a professor at NYU he was accepted and he majored in drama.
- Father of Timothy Drury, musician.
- He is buried at Elmwood Memorial Park in Abilene, Texas.
- Has been riding horses since his childhood in Oregon.
- James Drury passed away on April 6, 2020, less than two weeks away from what would have been his 86th birthday on April 18.
- Survived by his two sons, James, Jr. and Timothy stepdaughter Rhonda Brown, two stepsons Frederick Drury and Gary Schero and four grandchildren and several great-grand children.
- James Drury and Doug McClure appeared in all 249 episodes of The Virginian (1962). They were the only two actors who even came close to being in every episode.
- James Drury passed away on April 6, 2020, the fifth anniversary of the death of his longtime friend James Best.
- Drury contracted polio at the age of 10.
- Drury was in the oil and natural gas business in Houston in the late 20th century.
- Drury supported Barry Goldwater in the 1964 United States presidential election.
- Despite being good friends with James Best for a very longtime, and seeing it was for family only, Drury did not attend Best's funeral.
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