Sheriff JW Pepper is a comic relief recurring character in the James Bond films Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun. He is portrayed by Clifton James.

Clifton James as Sheriff Pepper.

Sheriff JW Pepper is a sheriff from Louisiana in USA. Pepper is mainly used as a comic relief and is known to spit out tobacco and yell out loudly anything he has on his mind. He makes crude comments on people he sees, and things that they do.

In Live and Let Die, the Sheriff follows the boat chase between Bond and several other people connected with Mr Big. The Sheriff attempts to arrest Bond but finds out that he is a secret agent from England. He doesn’t have much success catching any of Mr Bigs henchmen or Bond.

Unfortunately, James Bond unknowingly causes trouble for himself when his boat flowsout of the water and across the road where Pepper has stopped one of the henchmen. A following boat lands in Pepper’s squad car, allowing the henchman to escape, giving him an oppurtunity to pursue and attack Bond. Pepper accidentally shoots the gas tank on Bond’s boat, requiring him to swap boats in the next scene. When Pepper finally catches up with Bond, he is ready to arrest him, but Felix Leiter has a Louisiana State Police Captain explain the situation to Pepper, resulting in Pepper’s flabbergasted response, “A secret agent!? On whose side?”

Later in The Man with the Golden Gun, the Sheriff is presumably on holiday in Thailand where he recognises Bond (on a boat in a river). The Sheriff is then caught in a car chase with Bond chasing Francisco Scaramanga. The Sheriff says: “(Pepper)I know you! (Bond) Oh No… (Pepper) You’re that secret agent! That English secret agent from England”. Sheriff Pepper is in a car dealership looking at a car when Bond, in pursuit of Scaramanga, hops in the car, an AMC Hornet, and drives through a display window, with Pepper seated beside him. He might have been arrested by the Thai police and probably was later released thanks to either his wife or MI6.

See also:

• Bond allies