The Man With No Name Revealed

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 10/2/20 | R Alexander

[w1n1]

The Virginian's James Drury Discusses Life On The Popular Western
The Virginian was a Western TV show that ran from 1962 to 1971. It was based on the 1902 Owen Wister novel, "The Virginian, A Horseman of the Plains." The star was the foreman of the Shiloh Ranch, played by James Drury. He was known only as The Virginian, the man with no name. The series circled around the foreman’s quest to maintain an orderly lifestyle at Shiloh. It was set in Medicine Bow, Wyo., around the year 1898. The Shiloh ranch was named after the two-day American Civil War Battle of Shiloh, Tenn.

The Virginian ran for nine seasons; it was television's third longest running Western after Bonanza and Gunsmoke. Towards the end of its run, spaghetti Westerns were becoming popular, so the format was changed in the final season and it was renamed to The Men From Shiloh. Sadly, it was discontinued along with other Western shows in what was known as the "rural purge" of 1969 to 1971. CBS had become known as the "country broadcasting system" and sought to change its image.

Drury grew up on a ranch in Salem, Ore., and moved to Houston, Texas in 1974. Besides The Virginian, he appeared on Walker Texas Ranger, Kung Fu, The Red Skelton Show, Perry Mason, Rawhide, Gunsmoke, Forbidden Planet and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In 1991, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. We had an opportunity to talk to him about the show, and discovered that he is a real authentic Old West individual, who doesn't just talk the talk but grew up in an outdoors lifestyle with guns and horses. Read the rest of no name man James Drury.

[llevrok]

I recall a horse with no name.....but I digress.....

[SES1066]

OMG, he’s got an assault gun! (Yeah, I can hear the Gunny just fine!)

[real saxophonist]

You got a pretty piss poor blog there, young'un...

[ShadowAce]

"Dyin' ain't much of a livin', boy"

That was the real Man With No Name.

[ShadowAce]

Yes, I know that quote came from Josey Wales, but the actor is the same.

[IndispensableDestiny]

Um, no. Uomo senza nome is the one and only Clint Eastwood as appearing in A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966).

Your man is an imposter.

[satan]

In 1965 Drury actually visited Advisory Team 87 in Xuan Loc Vietnam. Didn’t see you Clint.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

Interesting article. I didn’t know he brought that kind of real-life experience to the role. I grew up watching that show, among others. The theme music has always been one of my favorites. I remember going through Wyoming on vacation as a kid, and getting a big charge out of seeing the signs for Medicine Bow. These days, I watch “Gunsmoke” regularly, but I’ll catch “The Virginian” when I can. As I recall, it was off the air for a long time, and I was glad to see it available again.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

The novel was written in 1902, and the character was not referred to as anything else but “Virginian”. They knew where he came from, if nothing else.

[real saxophonist]

If you can find a channel called ‘GRIT’ in your area, they show ‘The Virginian’.

[twister881]

Of course the interview was done before he passed in April. The Virginian is a great Western series, and it had good plots and some really interesting guest stars. A personal favorite is Drury’s performance in Ride the High Country as bad guy Billy Hammond.

[shotgun]

You can call me what ever you want, as long as you say it with a smile...

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Well if you were playing a character named YOJIMBO I believe I would just want to be called “The man with no name.”

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

I don’t have Grit, but I do have INSP, which has it on daily, along with a lot of other westerns.

[Ezekiel]

The author must be dialed in to other worlds. James Drury died last April.

Well in any case, talk about timing. James or Jacob, same name. It’s all a jumble. The Man with No Name could be Marty Mcfly, Calvin Klein, or a high plains drifter:

Gen 32

25. And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day:
26. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him:
27. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaks; And he said, I will not let you go, except you bless me:
28. And he said to him, What is your name? And he said, Jacob:
29. And he said, Your name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince you have power with God and with men, and have prevailed:
30. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I beg you, your name; And he said, Why is it that you ask after my name? And he blessed him there:
31. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel; for I have seen God face to face, and my life [soul, nefesh] is preserved:

[real saxophonist]

The author must be dialed in to other worlds.

In other words, about average for 'Am Shooting Journal'.

[matthew fuller]

Thanks for the info.

[dirtymac]

Hey! that’s my name!

[dvan]

Thanks for this article! I have watched and still watch James Drury in The Virginian. He was a great actor. True to life. He just may have been a better actor than the Duke, whom I enjoyed. J.D’s character never changed. I’lll miss him now that he is gone. But we still have his essence on the screen.