James T. Aubrey, Jr.

James Thomas Aubrey, Jr. (December 14, 1918–September 3, 1994) was an American television and film executive. President of the CBS Television Network during the early 1960s, he put some of television's most successful series, including Gilligan's Island and The Beverly Hillbillies, on the air and consequently CBS dominated American television: during the 1963-1964 season, CBS had fourteen of the fifteen top-rated prime-time series. The New York Times Magazine in 1964 called him "a master of programming whose divinations led to successes that are breathtaking."

Final years

Aubrey resigned from MGM in 1973, leaving to become an independent producer. He produced ten films, none memorable. His greatest success was a television movie featuring the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders–"broads, bosoms, and fun" once more. In the mid-1980s, he was chairman of Entermark, a production company backed by wealthy Texans, including former Governor John Connally, which mad low-budget films. To publicize this venture, he granted a rare interview to the Los Angeles Times in 1986. Reporter Paul Rosenfield found him unrepetant:

Related Topics:
1973 - Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders - 1980s - John Connally - 1986

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:Aubrey doesn't deny that he shoots from the hip, in a style that can unhinge the fragile egos of show business. "If I was in the tire business," reasoned Aubrey, "I wouldn't be hurt if the customer didn't buy my tires. I'd think, `So what?' But in my business, if I don't buy the script, then the writer kicks the dog and beats his wife. So you learn to pay attention to personal relationships. But that doesn't mean you lie to people. I've been the screwer and the screwee, and I know which is better. It's better to be the screwer, and it's very difficult to do that with honesty, but it's how I prefer to be treated. I don't want power now, or authority, so I suppose my candor can't hurt me.

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New York Post gossip columnist Liz Smith reported this profile of Aubrey had led to rumors he would again return to head CBS after Paley was forced out in 1986 when Lawrence Tisch acquired the network.

Related Topics:
New York Post - Liz Smith - 1986 - Lawrence Tisch

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He died of a heart attack in Los Angeles in 1994, largely forgotten. His daughter, who acts under the name Skye Aubrey, is writing a biography of her father, Variety reported in the summer of 2004.

Related Topics:
Skye Aubrey - Variety

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