Legendary actor James Earl Jones dies at 93

Legendary actor James Earl Jones dies at 93

Legendary actor James Earl Jones, best known for his innumerable movie roles and the booming voice of the character of Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise, has died, his representative confirmed to ABC News.

He was 93 years old.

Jones died on Monday morning at his home in Dutchess County, New York, surrounded by his family, according to longtime agent Barry McPherson.

James Earl Jones (January 17, 1931 – September 9, 2024) was an American actor known for his iconic voice acting roles and for his work in theater. Over his career, he received three Tony Awards, two Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award.

Born in Arkabutla, Mississippi, in 1931, he had a stutter since childhood. Jones said that poetry and acting helped him overcome the challenges of his disability. A pre-med major in college, he served in the United States Army during the Korean War before pursuing a career in acting. Since his Broadway debut in 1957, he performed in several Shakespeare plays including Othello, Hamlet, Coriolanus, and King Lear.^[1] Jones worked steadily in theater, winning his first Tony Award in 1968 for his role in The Great White Hope, which he reprised in the 1970 film adaptation, earning him Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations.

Jones won his second Tony Award in 1987, for his role in August Wilson‘s Fences. He was again nominated for a Tony Award for his roles in On Golden Pond (2005), and The Best Man (2012). Other Broadway performances include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2008), Driving Miss Daisy (2010–2011), You Can’t Take It with You (2014), and The Gin Game (2015–2016). He received a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2017.^[2][3]

Jones made his film debut in Stanley Kubrick‘s Dr. Strangelove (1964). He received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Claudine (1974). Jones gained international fame for his voice role as Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise, beginning with the original 1977 film. Jones’ other notable roles include in Conan the Barbarian (1982), Matewan (1987), Coming to America (1988), Field of Dreams (1989), The Hunt for Red October (1990), The Sandlot (1993), and The Lion King (1994). Jones reprised his roles in Star Wars media, The Lion King (2019), and Coming 2 America (2021).

He was described as “one of America’s most distinguished and versatile” actors for his performances on stage and screen,^[4] and “one of the greatest actors in American history”.^[5] He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1985. He was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 1992, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2002, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2009 and the Honorary Academy Award in 2011.^[6][5] His deep voice was praised as a “stirring basso profondo that has lent gravel and gravitas” to his projects.^[7][8]

James Earl Jones was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi, on January 17, 1931,^[9] to Ruth (née Connolly); (1911–1986), a teacher and maid, and Robert Earl Jones (1910–2006), a boxer, butler, and chauffeur. His father left the family shortly after James Earl’s birth and later became a stage and screen actor in New York and Hollywood.^[10] Jones and his father did not get to know each other until the 1950s, when they reconciled. He said in interviews that his parents were both of mixed African-American, Irish, and Native American ancestry.^[11][12]

From the age of five, Jones was raised by his maternal grandparents, John Henry and Maggie Connolly,^[9] on their farm in Dublin, Michigan; they had moved from Mississippi in the Great Migration.^[13] Jones found the transition to living with his grandparents in Michigan traumatic and developed a stutter so severe that he refused to speak. He said, “I was a stutterer. I couldn’t talk. So my first year of school was my first mute year, and then those mute years continued until I got to high school.”^[13] He credits his English teacher, Donald Crouch, who discovered he had a gift for writing poetry, with helping him end his silence.^[10] Crouch urged him to challenge his reluctance to speak through reading poetry aloud to the class.^[14][15]

In 1949, Jones graduated from Dickson Rural Agricultural School^[16] (now Brethren High School) in Brethren, Michigan, where he served as vice president of his class.^[17] He attended the University of Michigan, where he was initially a pre-med major.^[10] He joined the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and excelled. He felt comfortable within the structure of the military environment and enjoyed the camaraderie of his fellow cadets in the Pershing Rifles Drill Team and Scabbard and Blade Honor Society.^[18] During the course of his studies, Jones discovered he was not cut out to be a physician.^{[citation needed]}

Instead, he focused on drama at the University of Michigan with the thought of doing something he enjoyed, before, he assumed, he would have to go off to fight in the Korean War. After four years of college, Jones graduated from the university in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts with a major in drama.^[19][20]

With the war intensifying in Korea, Jones expected to be deployed as soon as he received his commission as a second lieutenant. As he waited for his orders, he worked on the stage crew and acted at the Ramsdell Theatre in Manistee, Michigan.^[21] Jones was commissioned in mid-1953, after the Korean War’s end, and reported to Fort Benning (now Fort Moore) to attend the Infantry Officers Basic Course. He attended Ranger School and received his Ranger Tab. Jones was assigned to Headquarter and Headquarters Company, 38th Regimental Combat Team.^[22] He was initially to report to Fort Leonard Wood, but his unit was instead sent to establish a cold-weather training command at the former Camp Hale near Leadville, Colorado. His battalion became a training unit in the rugged terrain of the Rocky Mountains. Jones was promoted to first lieutenant prior to his discharge.^[23]

Jones moved to New York, where he studied at the American Theatre Wing and worked as a janitor to support himself.

The thespian, whose powerful, deep voice brought to life the iconic villain, acted for more than six decades. In the 1950s and ’60s, Jones was a Broadway staple. From On Golden Pond to The Best Man, his work earned four Tony nominations, winning for The Great White Hope in 1969 and Fences in 1987.

Almost simultaneously, he was garnering acclaim on TV, as well. The eventual two-time Emmy Award winner earned his first nod in the 1960s for his work on East Side/West Side.

He picked up both his Primetime Emmy wins in 1991, for best supporting actor in the miniseries Heat Wave and best actor for the series Gabriel’s Fire. He also won a Daytime Emmy for the children’s special Summer’s End in 2000.

Jones later earned his first Oscar nod, adapting The Great White Hope to the silver screen in 1970, playing boxer Jack Jefferson. Jones was just the second Black actor after Sidney Poitier — who was nominated in 1958 and 1963 — to be recognized by the academy with a nomination.

For the better part of the 1970s, Jones continued to juggle his work on stage, TV and film. Then, in 1977, he was cast as the voice of a new villain, Darth Vader, in the space saga Star Wars: A New Hope.

While bodybuilder David Prowse would be the figure behind the black mask of the Sith lord, Jones was the voice that uttered so many iconic lines in the film and its sequels — including “I find your lack of faith disturbing,” and then, of course, to Luke Skywalker in 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back, his big reveal, “No, I am your father.”

From 1977 to 1983, the three original Star Wars films would become some of the most revered and original movies of their time, not just for special effects, but also for the shocking plot and themes.

After Star Wars, Jones made memorable appearances in Eddie Murphy‘s 1988 film Coming to America, then starred opposite Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams in 1989. A few years later, he once again lent his voice to a famous character, starring in the Disney animated feature The Lion King as Mufasa.

Jones had almost 200 credits to his name, according to IMDB, as he stayed active for more than 60 years.

In 2011, Jones was given an honorary Academy Award for the breadth of his acclaimed work and in March 2022, it was announced that Broadway’s Cort Theatre would be renamed the James Earl Jones Theatre.

Jones married twice. His second wife, Cecilia Hart, died in 2016 after 34 years of marriage. The couple is survived by their son, Flynn Earl Jones.

This noticed draws upon information from ABC News and Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Earl_Jones