In 1975, James landed a small role in the made-for-television film,
The Kansas City Massacre, playing
John Dillinger gang member
Homer Van Meter. Higher profile roles followed in 1976, with his casting in
Nickelodeon and
Harry and Walter Go to New York. James also appeared in the television miniseries
Roots and popular 1970s shows such as
Gunsmoke,
The Incredible Hulk,
Mork and Mindy,
Chico and the Man,
CHiPs, and
The Rockford Files. James's career took a sudden upturn in the early 1980s with roles in
Southern Comfort and
48 Hrs. (which were both directed by
Walter Hill), but it was his performance as
Leon Kowalski in the 1982 film
Blade Runner that gave him his greatest, most lasting fame. James followed this up with roles in
Enemy Mine,
Flesh + Blood,
A Breed Apart,
Silverado,
Armed and Dangerous,
Red Heat,
Steel Dawn,
Red Scorpion,
Tango & Cash, and
Showdown. James had guest spots in the television shows
Benson,
Quincy, M.E.,
The A-Team,
Little House on the Prairie,
The Dukes of Hazzard,
Matlock,
Miami Vice,
Hunter, along with the
Hunter take off
Sledge Hammer!, and
Dynasty. In the 1990s, he appeared in
Highlander: The Series, and as Sheriff Bowman in the
Millennium season 2 episode "Luminary". He lent his voice to the character of
Parasite in
Superman: The Animated Series. In 1982, he was in the
television film Hear No Evil as Billy Boy Burns. James starred in the low-budget 1989 supernatural horror film
The Horror Show (aka
House III), where he played serial killer "Meat Cleaver Max" Jenke. In 1994, he played a grouchy sponsor who became a victim of the gruesome goings-on during a 1939 radio show in the film
Radioland Murders. Near the end of his career, he appeared as the amiable General Munro in
The Fifth Element (1997), a rare non-villainous role. Two months before his death, James reprised his role as Parasite in
Superman 64, a
video game based on
Superman: The Animated Series. Concerning his talent for playing villains in films, he stated in an interview in
Fangoria magazine, "I consider myself a classical character actor like
Lon Chaney,
Wallace Beery,
Charles Laughton. I always like to play bad guys. I'm real good at psychotic behavior." ==Death==