JAMES DRURY, the one true ‘Virginian’ by whom all others are measured, is the star of the first 90-minute color western TV series, ‘The Virginian’, which aired from 1962–1971. ‘The Virginian’ is the third longest running western series in the history of television. The television series was adapted from the 1902 Owen Wister western novel, ‘The Virginian, A Horseman of the Plains’. Like the novel, the lead character was never given a name other than the Virginian. James Drury used that to his advantage in creating a mysterious air surrounding the Shiloh ranch foreman. “Nobody knows the name of my character,” James Drury says, “not even me.”
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