Character actor known for two appearances in James Bond films
Born: May 29, 1920;
Died: April 15, 2017
CLIFTON James, who has died aged 96, was a character actor known for his memorable appearances as the swaggering, tobacco-spitting sheriff JW Pepper in the James Bond films Live and Let Die and Man with the Golden Gun - making him one of only a few characters to have appeared more than once in the Bond franchise.
James's role as the sheriff in 1973's Live and Let Die, which starred Roger Moore as Bond, was intended to be a one off, but he was considered such a hit that the writers created a role for him in the next film, The Man With the Golden Gun, in 1974. James, this time playing the same sheriff on vacation in Thailand and the epitome of the ugly American abroad, gets pushed into the water by a baby elephant.
James met with real Southern sheriffs to prepare for his role as Pepper and, although he played hundreds of other parts, and was particularly proud of his stage work, it was the Louisiana sheriff that people most often recognized and approached him about.
His daughter Lynne James said that her father accepted that actors were often remembered for one particular role out of hundreds. "His is the sheriff's, but he said he would have never picked that one," she said.
George Clifton James was born May 29, 1920, in Spokane, Washington, the oldest of five siblings and the only boy. His father was a journalist and his mother was a teacher, but the family lost all its money at the start of the Great Depression and moved to Gladstone, just outside Portland, Oregon, where James's maternal grandparents lived.
In the 1930s, James found work with the Civilian Conservation Corps, a public work programme for unemployed men, and then entered the Second World War in 1942 as a soldier with the US Army in the South Pacific, receiving two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star.
Lynn James said one of the Purple Hearts came when a bullet pierced his helmet and zipped around the inside to come out and split his nose. The second Purple Heart, she said, came from shrapnel that knocked out many of his teeth.
After the war, James took classes at the University of Oregon and acted in plays. Inspired, he moved to New York and launched his acting career.
One of his first significant roles was as a prison floor-walker in the 1967 film classic Cool Hand Luke. James often played a convincing Southerner, reprising the role in a number of films including Superman II, but loved working on the stage in New York during the prime of his career.
James died due to complications from diabetes, Ms James said.
"He was the most outgoing person, beloved by everybody," she said. "I don't think the man had an enemy. We were incredibly blessed to have had him in our lives."
James's wife, Laurie, died in 2015. He is survived by two sisters, five children, 14 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren
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