Clifton James


George Clifton James was an American film, stage, and television actor known for roles as a prison floorwalker in Cool Hand Luke, List of [James Bond allies#Sheriff J.W. Pepper|Sheriff J.W. Pepper] alongside Roger Moore in the James Bond films Live and Let Die and The [Man with the Golden Gun (film)|The Man with the Golden Gun], the sheriff in Silver Streak, a Texas tycoon in The [Bad News Bears in Breaking Training], the sheriff in Superman II, and the owner of the scandalous 1919 Chicago White Sox baseball team in Eight Men Out.

Early life

James was born in Spokane, Washington, the son of Grace, a teacher, and Harry James, a journalist. He grew up in suburban Portland, Oregon in the Gladstone area of Clackamas County.
James earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Oregon, and later earned a Master of Arts degree from the University of Melbourne in Australia.
James was a decorated World War II United States Army veteran. He served as an infantry platoon sergeant with Co. "A" 163rd Infantry, 41st [Infantry Division (United States)|41st Division]. He served forty-two months in the South Pacific from January 1942 until August 1945. His decorations include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and two Purple Hearts.

Career

James began his career in theater in New York City, and was a graduated of the Actors Studio. He became well known for playing the comic-relief role of Louisiana Sheriff J.W. Pepper in the James Bond films Live and Let Die and The Man With The Golden Gun. He played very similar characters in both Silver Streak and Superman II. Years earlier he portrayed a serious character in The Reivers, opposite Steve McQueen, playing a mean, corrupt country sheriff. Two years before that, he had portrayed a hard-nosed Southern prison floor-walker in Cool Hand Luke. In Juggernaut he portrayed one of the first passengers aboard a luxury liner to realize there was a serious problem with the ship.
James appeared in the uncredited role of the district attorney who prosecuted Al Capone in the film The Untouchables. He played a Navy master-at-arms in The Last Detail, starring Jack Nicholson, and Chicago White Sox baseball team owner Charles Comiskey in Eight Men Out, a drama about the corrupt 1919 Chicago [White Sox season|1919 Chicago White Sox].
Despite being born in the Northwest and spending much of his life in New York, James was cast as a Southerner in many of his screen roles, such as his appearances in the James Bond films, and as powerful Houston lawyer Striker Bellman in the daytime soap opera Texas from 1981 to 1982.
In 1965, he played “Sam Hare”, a slimy, blackmailing salesman on the TV Western Gunsmoke in the episode “The Lady”. He guest-starred again as Tenner Jackson, a successful poker player later killed for his winnings in the episode “The Wrong Man” - alongside Carroll O’Connor. Later, he played the train passenger Wilkes on the Gunsmoke episode "Snow Train".
James again portrayed a Southern character when he played Sheriff Lester Crabb, a temporary one-off replacement for regular Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane in the second-season Dukes of Hazzard episode "Treasure of Hazzard". He appeared on 13 episodes of the sitcom Lewis & Clark in 1981–1982. Other television credits include the 1976 private-eye drama City of Angels and the miniseries Captains and the Kings. He appeared in two episodes of The A-Team: as murderous prison warden Beale in the first-season episode "Pros and Cons" and as corrupt Sheriff Jake Dawson in the second season's "The White Ballot". In 1996, he played the role of Red Kilgreen on All My Children. James appeared in the 1979 pilot episode of Hart to Hart playing the part of a highway cop.
His other film roles include those of a wealthy Montana land baron whose cattle are being rustled in Rancho Deluxe and as the source who tips off a newspaperman to a potentially explosive story in The [Bonfire of the Vanities (film)|The Bonfire of the Vanities]. James was featured a number of times by writer-director John Sayles, including Eight Men Out, Lone Star and Sunshine State.
James' last known film appearance was in Raising Flagg, although he had been cast in a starring role to appear in the feature film Old Soldiers, playing a true-to-life elderly veteran of World War II. Production on that film was halted in 2016.

Personal life and death

James married twice: to Donna Lea Beach from 1948 to 1950, with whom he had one child, and to Laurie Harper, from 1951 until her death in 2015, with whom he had five children. He resided in Gladstone, Oregon, and died from complications of diabetes on April 15, 2017, aged 96.

Selected filmography