For many he was best known for his portrayal of Sherriff JW Pepper in two James Bond films but Clifton James had a long career in television, movies and on the stage.
Aside from Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun, James played the sheriff role a number of other times, in Superman II and shows such as The A-Team and The Fall Guy but some may remember him most as Sheriff Lester Crabb in The Dukes of Hazzard tv series.
Others may recall him as the cigar-chomping, prison floor-walker in the 1967 classic Cool Hand Luke.
James had roles in many television series over the years, including Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Dallas and Trapper John, MD.
George Clifton James was born May 29, 1920, in Spokane, Washington, the oldest of five siblings and the only boy. The family lost all its money at the start of the Great Depression and moved to Gladstone, just outside Portland, Oregon, where James’ maternal grandparents lived.
In the 1930s, James got work with the Civilian Conservation Corps and then entered WWII in 1942 as a soldier with the US Army in the South Pacific, receiving two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star.
He was currently listed as one of the stars of an upcoming movie Old Soldiers about Three elderly veterans embark on one last road trip to visit the National World War II Memorial in Washington DC, against the wishes of their concerned families.
His daughter, Lynn James, said he died on Saturday at another daughter’s home in Gladstone, Oregon, due to complications from diabetes.
“He was the most outgoing person, beloved by everybody,” Lynn James said.
“I don’t think the man had an enemy. We were incredibly blessed to have had him in our lives”.