James Thomas Aubrey Jr. was an American television and film executive. He was president of the CBS television network from 1959 to 1965. He produced some of television’s most enduring series on the air, including Gilligan’s Island and The Beverly Hillbillies. Aubrey’s abrasive personality and ego led to his firing from CBS, amid charges of misconduct. He resigned from MGM in 1973, declaring his job was done. He died of a heart attack at the age of 69.
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James Thomas Aubrey Jr. was an American television and film executive. He was president of the CBS television network from 1959 to 1965. He produced some of television’s most enduring series on the air, including Gilligan’s Island and The Beverly Hillbillies. Aubrey’s abrasive personality and ego led to his firing from CBS, amid charges of misconduct. He resigned from MGM in 1973, declaring his job was done, and then kept a low profile for the last two decades of his life. His first broadcasting job was as a salesman at the radio station KNX in Los Angeles, and soon went to the network’s new television station, KNXT. He met his wife, Phyllis Thaxter, an actress signed to MGM, while stationed in Southern California, and they had two children, Susan Schuyler “Skye” Aubrey and James Watson Aubrey. In 1962, he sold advertising for the Condé Nast magazines to Conde Nast. He died of a heart attack at the age of 69. He is buried in LaSalle, Illinois. He was the eldest of four sons of an advertising executive with the Chicago firm of Aubrey, Moore, and Wallace Inc. His brother Stever became a successful advertiser at J. Walter Thompson before heading the F. William Free agency. The New York Times Magazine in 1964 called Aubrey \”a master of programming whose divinations led to successes that are breathtaking\”. Aubrey had replaced CBS Television president Louis G.
Cowan, who was dismissed after the quiz-show scandals. He graduated in 1941 with honors in English and entered the United States Army Air Forces. During his service in World War II, Aubrey rose to the rank of major and taught military flying to actor James Stewart. After being discharged from the Air Force, he intended to return to Chicago, but instead went to Los Angeles to work for CBS. He later became the West Coast chief of programming for KNX, and developed the popular Western series Have Gun, Will Gun. He also worked for the television network for two years as manager of television station KNXT, and was promoted to chief of television programming for all of its stations. In 1965, he was fired by CBS, and went on to become the president of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he cut the budget and alienated producers and directors, but brought profits to the company that had suffered huge losses. His last film role was as Martha Kent, in the 1978 Superman, and her final film was as Ted Lawson’s wife in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, and her last film wasAs Martha Kent. Life magazine described him as \”youthful, handsome, brainy, with an incandescent smile, a quiet, somewhat salty wit, and when he cared to turn it on, considerable charm\”. He was always fastidiously turned out, from his Jerry the Barber haircut to his CBS-eye cufflinks.
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