Clifton James was certainly not a household name but he was a guy that appeared in two of the best car chases, or boat and car chases of the 1970s. He first showed up on the scene as Louisiana sheriff JW Pepper, a brash, politically incorrect lawman who basically stumbled into James Bond’s world unknowingly. That was the film entitled “Live and let Die”. His best line in that one comes after surviving multiple crashes and bizarre situations and approaching Bond. Pepper says in an exasperated tone, “What are you boy, some kind of doomsday machine?” Pepper’s character must have scored with fans because in 1974 he was back, this time as an unexpected player in another chase during the James Bond film, “The Man With The Golden Gun.”

This time, Pepper was vacationing with his wife when he just happened to be sitting in an AMC Hornet that Bond jumped into and drove through the front of a dealership while chasing the bad guy. It was one of the few movie car chases that “starred” AMCs. The Hornet hatchback was was cooler than the bad guy’s Matador coupe, that is for sure. Also, the pristine ’55 Chevy that gets killed kind of sucks. Anyway….

They kind of crowbarred sheriff Pepper into that movie because people must have loved him in the first one. He was the passenger during the famed Astro-Sprial bridge jump that was a huge hit despite the lame sound effect that they applied to it and frankly James played the role of the “Ugly American” perfectly.

James appeared in the Dukes of Hazzard as a law enforcement officer as well and was actually working on a new movie when he passed away. A graduate of the famed Actors’ Studio, he was originally from Washington State and worked on his southern drawl while studying there.

While not a guy we thought of every day, he played a quotable character and one that took a couple of the more entertaining “rides” in movie history.

Press play below for a Louisiana Sheriff JW Pepper highlight reel –