James Thomas Aubrey, Jr.
Businessperson, Film producer
1918 – 1994
Who was James Thomas Aubrey, Jr.?
James Thomas Aubrey, Jr. was a leading American television and film executive. President of the CBS television network during the early 1960s, he put some of television's most enduring series on the air, including Gilligan's Island and The Beverly Hillbillies. Under Aubrey, CBS dominated American television the way General Motors and General Electric dominated their industries. The New York Times Magazine in 1964 called Aubrey "a master of programming whose divinations led to successes that are breathtaking".
Aubrey, replaced CBS Television president Louis Cowan, who was slowly dismissed after the quiz show scandals. Despite his successes in television, Aubrey's abrasive personality and oversized ego – "Picture Machiavelli and Karl Rove at a University of Colorado football recruiting party" wrote Variety in 2004 – led to his firing from CBS amid charges of improprieties. "The circumstances rivaled the best of CBS adventure or mystery shows," declared The New York Times in its front-page story on his firing, which came on "the sunniest Sunday in February" 1965. He earned the nickname "Smiling Cobra" for his brutal decision-making ways.
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- Born
- Dec 14, 1918
La Salle - Also known as
- James Aubrey, Jr.
- James Aubrey
- The Smiling Cobra
- Jr. James Thomas Aubrey
- James T. Aubrey
- James Thomas Steven Aubrey
- James Thomas Aubrey Jr.
- Parents
- Siblings
- Spouses
- Phyllis Thaxter
(1944/12/30 - 1962/04)
- Phyllis Thaxter
- Children
- Nationality
- United States of America
- Profession
- Education
- Princeton University
- Phillips Exeter Academy
- Died
- Sep 3, 1994
Los Angeles - Resting place
- Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
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"James Thomas Aubrey, Jr.." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/james_t_aubrey_jr>.
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