(May 29, 1920–April 15, 2017): Rotund American character actor who portrayed bumbling Louisiana Sheriff J. W. Pepper in both Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun.
Born in Spokane, Washington, James made a career of playing law enforcement officers (serious and comedic) and criminals. His motion picture debut was as Colonel Ramey in director Jack Garfein’s film noir drama The Strange One (1957). His additional feature credits include The Last Mile (1959); Something Wild (1961); Experiment in Terror (1962); David and Lisa (1962); Invitation to a Gunfighter (1964); The Chase (1966); Cool Hand Luke (1967); Will Penny (1967); Tick, Tick, Tick (1970), as redneck D. J. Rankin; The New Centurions (1972); Silver Streak (1976), as J. W. Pepper clone Sheriff Chauncey; Superman II (1980); and Eight Men Out (1988), as baseball commissioner Charles Comiskey.