James Drury, who played the title role in The Virginian, dies at 85

Variety

Drury, who died Monday of natural causes, starred in the NBC Western from 1962 to 1971, playing a laconic character with no name who was known as the Virginian. The Virginian had the third-longest run of any Western show, topped by Gunsmoke and Bonanza. “I would have gone on for another 10 years," Drury said of the show's cancelation after it was re-titled The Men From Shiloh for its last year.