Clifton James
Encyclopedia
George Clifton James is an American
actor
. He is probably best known for his role as the bumbling Sheriff J.W. Pepper alongside Roger Moore
in the James Bond
films Live and Let Die
(1973) and The Man With The Golden Gun
(1974) and his role alongside Sean Connery
in The Untouchables (1987).
, New York
, the son of Grace (née
Dean), a teacher
, and Harry James, a journalist
. James is a decorated World War II
veteran, U.S. Army Combat Infantry
Platoon Sergeant Co. "A" 163rd Inf., 41st Div. He served forty-two months in the South Pacific, from January 1942 until August 1945. He spent time in Australia, New Guinea, and the Philippines. His decorations include: Silver Star
, Bronze Star
, Purple Heart
, Presidential Unit Citation, Combat Infantry Badge and six battle stars. He resides in New York City
with his wife of 57 years. He has six children, fourteen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Sheriff J.W. Pepper in the James Bond
films Live and Let Die
(1973) and The Man with the Golden Gun
(1974). He also played a very similar character in both Superman II
and Silver Streak, and a more serious sheriff in The Reivers
.
James was the district attorney who prosecutes Al Capone
in the 1987 film The Untouchables. He played a Navy Master at Arms in 1973's The Last Detail
starring Jack Nicholson
and baseball team owner Charles Comiskey
in the 1988 true story Eight Men Out
, a drama about the corrupt 1919 Chicago White Sox
.
Despite being born in New York City, James has been cast as a Southerner in many of his roles, like his appearances in the James Bond films, and also powerful Houston lawyer Striker Bellman in the daytime soap opera Texas
from 1981–82.
He was again a Southern character as the penitentiary's floor-walker in the Paul Newman
film Cool Hand Luke
, and again as Sheriff Lester Crabb, a temporary one-off replacement for regular Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane
(James Best
) in the second season Dukes of Hazzard
episode "Treasure of Hazzard" (1979). In the 1969 film The Reivers
, opposite Steve McQueen
, James played a mean & corrupt bungling country sheriff, a basic warmup for his more lovable Sheriff J. W. Pepper in the James Bond film Live and Let Die.
James appeared on 13 episodes of the sitcom Lewis & Clark
in 1981–82. Other television credits include two episodes of The A-Team
as murderous prison Warden Beale in the first-season episode "Pros and Cons" (1983), and as corrupt Sheriff Jake Dawson in the second season's "The White Ballot" (1983). In 1996, he played the role of "Red Kilgreen" on the ABC daytime drama series, All My Children
.
His other film roles include that of a wealthy Montana land baron whose cattle are being rustled in 1975's Rancho Deluxe
and as the source who tips off newspaperman Bruce Willis
to a potentially explosive story in The Bonfire of the Vanities
. James has been featured a number of times by writer-director John Sayles
, most recently in Lone Star
(1996) and Sunshine State
(2002).
James is not to be confused with actor Joe Higgins, whose tag line as a sheriff in early 1970s North American Dodge
television commercials was "You're in a heap of [o'] trouble, boy."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. He is probably best known for his role as the bumbling Sheriff J.W. Pepper alongside Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...
in the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
films Live and Let Die
Live and Let Die (film)
Live and Let Die is the eighth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman...
(1973) and The Man With The Golden Gun
The Man with the Golden Gun
The Man with the Golden Gun is the twelfth novel of Ian Fleming's James Bond series of books. It was first published by Jonathan Cape in the UK on 1 April 1965, eight months after the author's death. The novel was not as detailed or polished as the others in the series, leading to poor but polite...
(1974) and his role alongside Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
in The Untouchables (1987).
Personal life
James was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, the son of Grace (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Dean), a teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
, and Harry James, a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
. James is a decorated World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
veteran, U.S. Army Combat Infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
Platoon Sergeant Co. "A" 163rd Inf., 41st Div. He served forty-two months in the South Pacific, from January 1942 until August 1945. He spent time in Australia, New Guinea, and the Philippines. His decorations include: Silver Star
Silver Star
The Silver Star is the third-highest combat military decoration that can be awarded to a member of any branch of the United States armed forces for valor in the face of the enemy....
, Bronze Star
Bronze Star Medal
The Bronze Star Medal is a United States Armed Forces individual military decoration that may be awarded for bravery, acts of merit, or meritorious service. As a medal it is awarded for merit, and with the "V" for valor device it is awarded for heroism. It is the fourth-highest combat award of the...
, Purple Heart
Purple Heart
The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...
, Presidential Unit Citation, Combat Infantry Badge and six battle stars. He resides in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
with his wife of 57 years. He has six children, fourteen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Career
James became well-known for playing the comic-relief role of LouisianaLouisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
Sheriff J.W. Pepper in the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
films Live and Let Die
Live and Let Die (film)
Live and Let Die is the eighth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman...
(1973) and The Man with the Golden Gun
The Man with the Golden Gun (film)
The Man with the Golden Gun is the ninth spy film in the James Bond series and the second to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond...
(1974). He also played a very similar character in both Superman II
Superman II
Superman II is the 1980 sequel to the 1978 superhero film Superman and stars Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Terence Stamp, Ned Beatty, Sarah Douglas, Margot Kidder, and Jack O'Halloran. It was the only Superman film to be filmed by two directors...
and Silver Streak, and a more serious sheriff in The Reivers
The Reivers (film)
The Reivers is a 1969 film directed by Mark Rydell based on the William Faulkner novel of the same name...
.
James was the district attorney who prosecutes Al Capone
Al Capone
Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...
in the 1987 film The Untouchables. He played a Navy Master at Arms in 1973's The Last Detail
The Last Detail
The Last Detail is a 1973 American comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby with a screenplay adapted by Robert Towne from a novel of the same name by Daryl Ponicsan. The film became known for its frequent use of profanity.-Plot:...
starring Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
and baseball team owner Charles Comiskey
Charles Comiskey
Charles Albert "The Old Roman" Comiskey was a Major League Baseball player, manager and team owner. He was a key person in the formation of the American League and later owned the Chicago White Sox...
in the 1988 true story Eight Men Out
Eight Men Out
Eight Men Out is an American dramatic sports film, released in 1988 and based on Eliot Asinof 1963 book 8 Men Out. It was written and directed by John Sayles....
, a drama about the corrupt 1919 Chicago White Sox
1919 Chicago White Sox season
The Chicago White Sox season was their 19th season in the American League. They won 88 games to advance to the World Series but lost to the Cincinnati Reds. More significantly, some of the players were found to have taken money from gamblers in return for throwing the series...
.
Despite being born in New York City, James has been cast as a Southerner in many of his roles, like his appearances in the James Bond films, and also powerful Houston lawyer Striker Bellman in the daytime soap opera Texas
Texas (TV series)
Texas is an American daytime soap opera which aired on NBC from August 4, 1980 until December 31, 1982. Created by John William Corrington, Joyce Hooper Corrington, and Paul Rauch, the show was a spinoff of Another World...
from 1981–82.
He was again a Southern character as the penitentiary's floor-walker in the Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
film Cool Hand Luke
Cool Hand Luke
Cool Hand Luke is a 1967 American prison drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg and starring Paul Newman. The screenplay was adapted by Donn Pearce and Frank Pierson from Pearce's 1965 novel of the same name. The film features George Kennedy, Strother Martin, J.D...
, and again as Sheriff Lester Crabb, a temporary one-off replacement for regular Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane
Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane
On the American TV series The Dukes of Hazzard, Rosco Purvis Coltrane is the bumbling sheriff of Hazzard County and right-hand man of its corrupt county commissioner, Jefferson Davis "J.D." Hogg ....
(James Best
James Best
James Best is an American actor best known for his role as bumbling Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane in the CBS television series The Dukes of Hazzard. He has also worked as an acting coach, artist, and musician.-Early years:...
) in the second season Dukes of Hazzard
The Dukes of Hazzard
The Dukes of Hazzard is an American television series that aired on the CBS television network from 1979 to 1985.The series was inspired by the 1975 film Moonrunners, which was also created by Gy Waldron and had many identical or similar character names and concepts.- Overview :The Dukes of Hazzard...
episode "Treasure of Hazzard" (1979). In the 1969 film The Reivers
The Reivers (film)
The Reivers is a 1969 film directed by Mark Rydell based on the William Faulkner novel of the same name...
, opposite Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen
Terrence Steven "Steve" McQueen was an American movie actor. He was nicknamed "The King of Cool." His "anti-hero" persona, which he developed at the height of the Vietnam counterculture, made him one of the top box-office draws of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination...
, James played a mean & corrupt bungling country sheriff, a basic warmup for his more lovable Sheriff J. W. Pepper in the James Bond film Live and Let Die.
James appeared on 13 episodes of the sitcom Lewis & Clark
Lewis & Clark (TV series)
Lewis & Clark was a short-lived situation comedy that ran on NBC for one season from October 29, 1981 to July 30, 1982.-Plot:For a naive New Yorker, Stewart Lewis has a strange—some would say twisted—ambition: he wants to own a country-music club. His wife and kids hate the idea...
in 1981–82. Other television credits include two episodes of The A-Team
The A-Team
The A-Team is an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel who work as soldiers of fortune, while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit". The A-Team was created by...
as murderous prison Warden Beale in the first-season episode "Pros and Cons" (1983), and as corrupt Sheriff Jake Dawson in the second season's "The White Ballot" (1983). In 1996, he played the role of "Red Kilgreen" on the ABC daytime drama series, All My Children
All My Children
All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...
.
His other film roles include that of a wealthy Montana land baron whose cattle are being rustled in 1975's Rancho Deluxe
Rancho Deluxe
Rancho Deluxe is a comedy western film that was directed by Frank Perry and released in 1975. Jeff Bridges and Sam Waterston star as two cattle rustlers in modern-day Montana who plague a wealthy ranch owner, played by Clifton James....
and as the source who tips off newspaperman Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
to a potentially explosive story in The Bonfire of the Vanities
The Bonfire of the Vanities (film)
The Bonfire of the Vanities is a 1990 American film adaptation of the best-selling novel of the same name by Tom Wolfe. The film was directed by Brian De Palma and stars Tom Hanks as Sherman McCoy, Bruce Willis as Peter Fallow, Melanie Griffith as Maria Ruskin, and Kim Cattrall as Judy McCoy,...
. James has been featured a number of times by writer-director John Sayles
John Sayles
John Thomas Sayles is an American independent film director, screenwriter and author.-Early life:Sayles was born in Schenectady, New York, the son of Mary , a teacher, and Donald John Sayles, a school administrator. He was raised Catholic and took to labeling himself "a Catholic atheist"...
, most recently in Lone Star
Lone Star (1996 film)
Lone Star is an American mystery film written and directed by John Sayles and set in a small town in Texas. It features Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Peña, Kris Kristofferson and Matthew McConaughey and deals with a sheriff's investigation into who murdered one of his predecessors.-Plot:In this ensemble...
(1996) and Sunshine State
Sunshine State (film)
Sunshine State is a 2002 American comedy–drama film written and directed by John Sayles. The picture stars an ensemble cast that features Angela Bassett, Edie Falco, Jane Alexander, Alan King, Timothy Hutton, Mary Steenburgen, Bill Cobbs, and others. The movie was filmed on Amelia Island,...
(2002).
James is not to be confused with actor Joe Higgins, whose tag line as a sheriff in early 1970s North American Dodge
Dodge
Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....
television commercials was "You're in a heap of [o'] trouble, boy."