In "Vengeance Is the Spur" with Michael Rennie, Rennie says to the Virginian something like, That's a lot for you to handle, Jimmy. Words to that effect, with "Jimmy" at the end of the sentence. Rennie's character and the Virginian were long-time friends according to this episode. Did anyone else notice this or did I mis-hear?
shareThere's a thread on this board in which everyone seems to agree that the Virginian never had an actual name mentioned on the show (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055710/board/flat/164728200).
So maybe it was just a slip-up using James Drury's name's common nickname?
That's plausible. In an episode of The Sopranos, Edie Falco called Steve Buscemi "Stevie" instead of his character's name (Tony) one time. It was during a backyard barbecue as I recall.
shareThe same thing happens on Friends, someone calls Joey "Lee" (Matt LeBlanc's nickname)
shareIt's been known to happen and not get caught by the director or whoever's in charge. I remember an episode of The Brady Bunch where somebody called the character Jan "Eve", which is her real name.
shareNot that it was official, but in one of Kenny Rogers' "Gambler" movies, featuring a number of stars reprising their classic TV roles in cameos, Drury made an appearance, with his character there referred to as Jim.
As well, a first season episode centered on a woman who had known the Virginian in the past, who also greeted him as Jim.
The novel's title character never had a name.
That's funny - I just posted a note about my dad getting angry when Betsy seemed to address The Virginian by name in one episode! I wondered as I got older whether she had called him by his real life name by accident?
I'm a Prick With a Fork.