James Earl Jones was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi in 1931 but grew up mainly in Michigan. His father left the family early to pursue his acting dreams and from the age of five, Jones lived with his grandparents after his mother also left him.
He grew up with a racist grandmother and began to stutter, writes New York Times. The stuttering made him reluctant to speak. During his school days, he managed to overcome the stuttering with the help of an English teacher by reading his own poetry aloud.
His deep, rich voice has later become iconic through voice roles such as Mufasa in "The Lion King" and Darth Vader in the "Star Wars" films.
"The most unique voice"
Mark Hamill – who played Luke Skywalker, son of Darth Vader – expresses his sorrow on X.
"Rest in peace, dad", writes the actor, followed by a broken heart.
"Star Wars" creator George Lucas calls Jones an "incredible actor" and a "most unique voice both in art and spirit".
"For nearly half a century, he was Darth Vader, but the secret behind it all is that he was a beautiful person", Lucas announces.
The Darth Vader voice will, however, live on not only through the "Star Wars" films that James Earl Jones participated in. In 2022, he gave, together with his family, permission to recreate the voice using AI technology for future films.
Award-winning
James Earl Jones got his first film role as the young bombardier Lothar Zogg in Stanley Kubrick's "Dr Strangelove" in 1964. He got the role after starting a career on Broadway's stages and eventually became well-known as an interpreter of Shakespeare.
He then made many roles on film and TV, including in "Field of Dreams", "Roots", and "The Hunt for Red October". He was awarded a total of two Tonys, two Emmys, a Grammy for a spoken word album, an honorary Tony, and an honorary Oscar.
Well into the 2020s, James Earl Jones continued to work. In 2015, he played in the play "The Gin Game" on Broadway and in 2021, he reprised his role as Eddie Murphy's father in "Coming 2 America". In 2022, the Cort Theatre in New York City, where he made his theater debut in 1958, was renamed the James Earl Jones Theatre.
James Earl Jones passed away after a period of illness. He was 93 years old.
