---
name: "Clifton James"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/clifton-james"
fi1m_id: "clifton-james"
imdb_id: "nm0416378"
tmdb_id: 10224
wikidata_id: "Q490347"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "29 May 1920"
died: "15 April 2017"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 7
average_fi1m_score: 72
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 6
updated: "2026-10-07T04:24:09.822152+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Clifton James

## Identity

Clifton James

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/clifton-james
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** clifton-james
- **IMDb ID:** nm0416378
- **TMDB ID:** 10224
- **Wikidata ID:** Q490347
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifton_James, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q490347, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0416378/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/10224

Actor. Born 29 May 1920 in Spokane, Washington, USA. Died 15 April 2017.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 29 May 1920, Spokane, Washington, USA
- **Died:** 15 April 2017
- **Active:** 1967–1996
- **Also known as:** Cliff James, Клифтон Джеймс
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 7: 6 acting, 1 other
- **Frequently works with:** [Albert R. Broccoli](https://film.one/person/albert-r-broccoli.md), [Guy Hamilton](https://film.one/person/guy-hamilton.md), [Harry Saltzman](https://film.one/person/harry-saltzman.md), [Roger Moore](https://film.one/person/roger-moore.md), [Tom Mankiewicz](https://film.one/person/tom-mankiewicz.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 72, as actor, over 6 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1960s 84 (1), 1970s 62 (3), 1980s 78 (2), 1990s 86 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 73 to 70 across 5 titles
- **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 3 at 60–79, 1 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 0 of 6 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Action 4, Adventure 3, Thriller 3, Crime 2, Drama 2, Comedy 1
- **Screen time:** 12 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $521m across 6 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifton_James, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q490347, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0416378/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/10224

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Lone Star*](https://film.one/film/lone-star.md) (86)
- **HBO Max:** [*Superman II*](https://film.one/film/superman-ii.md) (74)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Clifton James

> A big man with a bigger voice, Clifton James spent half a century playing Southern lawmen and officials who believed they were in charge. The bluster made a good joke in 1973; his better work came when John Sayles asked him to put it away.

He leans out of the car window, hat pushed back, stomach first, and tells everyone within a hundred yards exactly what is going to happen next. It never does. Clifton James built a career on that man: the Southern sheriff or small-town official whose authority is mostly volume, who chews tobacco through his own sentences and expects the world to wait until he has finished. James had watched the type closely, and he put it plainly: 'I noticed they love their stomachs. They stick them out, they're really proud of their stomachs.' He stuck his out too, and it did half the acting.

He had been working since the mid-1950s, on stage and in television guest parts and small film roles, and by *Cool Hand Luke* (1967), where he plays Carr, the prison floorwalker, the type was already set. What changed things was Bond. Guy Hamilton cast him as Sheriff J.W. Pepper, a Louisiana lawman who gets in the way of Roger Moore in *Live and Let Die* (1973), and the character went over well enough that Hamilton brought him back the following year.

The second time is the problem. In *The Man with the Golden Gun* (1974) Pepper is on holiday in Thailand, ends up in the passenger seat for the car chase and shouts, and we said when we reviewed it that he gets more screen time than the villain's mistress. That is a failing of the script, and it is not entirely a compliment to James, who plays every scene at the pitch he played the first film. By the second minute of shouting we had stopped listening to him and started waiting for Christopher Lee to come back, and the film should have done the same. The usual complaint against James is that he was typecast as the Southern hick or the crooked official, and Pepper is the broadest version of it, a caricature of rural law enforcement with a drawl you could hear from the next county. The complaint is fair.

The better work is quieter and most of it is with John Sayles, who used him three times. In *Eight Men Out* (1988) he is Charles Comiskey, the owner of the Chicago White Sox, and the bluster is still there but it has money behind it and it is no longer a joke. In *Lone Star* (1996) he is Hollis Pogue, one face among many in a film we rated highly for the way its ensemble carries the weight of a Texas border town's divided history; he is part of that weight rather than a break from it. Sayles understood that the loud man is more interesting when he has something to lose. If you know James only from the Bond films, start with *Lone Star*. The sheriff is still in there; he has simply learned to keep his voice down.

## Biography

Clifton James was an American character actor of film, theatre and television. Born George Clifton James in Spokane, Washington, he served in the US Army during the Second World War and later trained at the Actors Studio.

He appeared in numerous productions over six decades, including as Carr in *Cool Hand Luke* (1967) and as the Texas sheriff J.W. Pepper in the James Bond films *Live and Let Die* (1973) and *The Man with the Golden Gun* (1974). James worked repeatedly with writer-director John Sayles, with credits including *Eight Men Out* (1988), *Lone Star* (1996) as Mayor Hollis Pogue, and *Sunshine State* (2002). He died in 2017.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (7)

### Performed in (6) — the average rests on these

- *Lone Star* (1996), Fi1m 86, as Hollis Pogue — [page](https://film.one/film/lone-star.md)
- *Superman II* (1980), Fi1m 74, as Sheriff — [page](https://film.one/film/superman-ii.md)
- *Silver Streak* (1976), Fi1m 63, as Sheriff Chauncey — [page](https://film.one/film/silver-streak.md)
- *The Man with the Golden Gun* (1974), Fi1m 56, as Sheriff J.W. Pepper — [page](https://film.one/film/the-man-with-the-golden-gun.md)
- *Live and Let Die* (1973), Fi1m 66, as Sheriff J.W. Pepper — [page](https://film.one/film/live-and-let-die.md)
- *Cool Hand Luke* (1967), Fi1m 84, as Carr — [page](https://film.one/film/cool-hand-luke.md)

### Also credited (1) — thanks, archive footage, uncredited

- *The Untouchables* (1987), Fi1m 81, as District Attorney (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/the-untouchables.md)

## Complete filmography (89)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Raising Flagg* (2006), as Ed McIvor
- *Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut* (2006), as Sheriff
- *Sunshine State* (2002), as Buster Bidwell
- *Inside 'The Man with the Golden Gun'* (2000), Actor
- *Inside 'Live and Let Die'* (1999), Actor
- *The Summer of Ben Tyler* (1996), as Chief Sam Thompkins
- *Lone Star* (1996), as Hollis Pogue — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/lone-star.md)
- *The Vernon Johns Story* (1994), as Judge Blake
- *Carolina Skeletons* (1991), as Dexter Cody
- *The Bonfire of the Vanities* (1990), as Albert Fox
- *Gabriel's Fire* (1990), series, Actor
- *She-Devil* (1989), as Bob's Father (uncredited)
- *Walter and Carlo in America* (1989), as Tex
- *Monsters* (1988), series, as Inspector
- *Eight Men Out* (1988), as Charles Comiskey
- *The Untouchables* (1987), as District Attorney (uncredited) — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/the-untouchables.md)
- *Where are the Children?* (1986), as Chief Coffin
- *Whoops Apocalypse* (1986), as Maxton S. Pluck
- *Murder, She Wrote* (1984), series, as Ray Dressler
- *Highway to Heaven* (1984), series, as Nick Claybourne
- *Kidco* (1984), as Orville Peterjohn
- *Talk to Me* (1984), as State Trooper
- *Night Court* (1984), series, as Rev. Lester Sinclair
- *The A-Team* (1983), series, as Warden Beale
- *The Fall Guy* (1981), series, Actor
- *Lewis & Clark* (1981), series, as Silas Jones
- *Superman II* (1980), as Sheriff — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/superman-ii.md)
- *Texas* (1980), series, as Striker Bellman #2
- *Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones* (1980), series, as Barber Charlie Amos
- *Caboblanco* (1980), as Lorrimer
- *Undercover with the KKK* (1979), as Jimmy Eakin
- *Trapper John, M.D.* (1979), series, as Bobby Joe Brady, Lewis
- *Hart to Hart* (1979), as Highway Cop
- *Supertrain* (1979), series, as Sheriff Sam
- *Dallas* (1978), series, as Duke Carlisle
- *The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training* (1977), as Sy Orlansky
- *Silver Streak* (1976), as Sheriff Chauncey — Fi1m 63, [page](https://film.one/film/silver-streak.md)
- *Quincy, M.E.* (1976), series, as Cliff Webb
- *City of Angels* (1976), series, as Murray Quint
- *From Hong Kong with Love* (1975), as Bill
- *The Deadly Tower* (1975), as Capt. Fred Ambrose
- *Friendly Persuasion* (1975), as Sam Jordan
- *The Runaway Barge* (1975), as Sooey
- *Rancho Deluxe* (1975), as John Brown
- *The Man with the Golden Gun* (1974), as Sheriff J.W. Pepper — Fi1m 56, [page](https://film.one/film/the-man-with-the-golden-gun.md)
- *Juggernaut* (1974), as Corrigan
- *Buster and Billie* (1974), as Jake
- *The Bank Shot* (1974), as Bulldog Streiger
- *The Six Million Dollar Man* (1974), series, as Walter 'Shadetree' Burns
- *The Laughing Policeman* (1973), as Officer Jim Maloney SFPD Bomb Squad, Maloney
- *The Last Detail* (1973), as M. A. A.
- *The Iceman Cometh* (1973), as Pat McGloin
- *The Werewolf of Washington* (1973), as Attorney General
- *Live and Let Die* (1973), as Sheriff J.W. Pepper — Fi1m 66, [page](https://film.one/film/live-and-let-die.md)
- *Kid Blue* (1973), as Mr. Hendricks
- *The New Centurions* (1972), as Whitey
- *Particular Men* (1972), as Boesch
- *The Biscuit Eater* (1972), as Mr. Eben
- *WUSA* (1970), as Speed - Sailor in Bar
- *… tick… tick… tick…* (1970), as D.J. Rankin
- *The Reivers* (1969), as Butch Lovemaiden
- *Will Penny* (1967), as Catron
- *Cool Hand Luke* (1967), as Carr — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/cool-hand-luke.md)
- *Mannix* (1967), series, as Barney Ford, Police Chief
- *Cimarron Strip* (1967), series, as Sheriff Jack Hawkes
- *The Caper of the Golden Bulls* (1967), as Philippe
- *The Happening* (1967), as O'Reilly
- *Ironside* (1967), series, as Frank Bollo
- *The Chase* (1966), as Lem Brewster
- *Invitation to a Gunfighter* (1964), as Tuttle
- *Black Like Me* (1964), as Eli Carr
- *Another World* (1964), series, Actor
- *David and Lisa* (1962), as John
- *The Virginian* (1962), series, as Big Ben Albright
- *Experiment in Terror* (1962), as Capt. Moreno
- *Something Wild* (1961), as Detective Bogart
- *Cain's Hundred* (1961), series, as Tom Larch
- *Route 66* (1960), series, as George Simmons
- *Bonanza* (1959), series, as Mr. Quarry, Lawson
- *The Last Mile* (1959), as Harris
- *Naked City* (1958), series, as Jacoby, Officer Fennelli, George Haskel (uncredited)
- *Decoy* (1957), series, as Patrolman Raymond
- *The Strange One* (1957), as Colonel Ramey
- *Armchair Theatre* (1956), series, as Blick
- *The Phil Silvers Show* (1955), series, as Natiional Guard Sergeant, State Trooper (uncredited)
- *Gunsmoke* (1955), series, as Teek, Sam Hare, Tenner Jackson, Sam Wickes
- *Hallmark Hall of Fame* (1951), series, as Chief Sam Thomkins
- *Man Against Crime* (1949), series, Actor
- *Kraft Television Theatre* (1947), series, as Jack Haines

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© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/clifton-james