The legendary actor James Earl Jones, known for his countless roles in films, but especially for the powerful voice of the character Darth Vader in the “Star Wars” franchise, has died at the age of 93.
James Earl Jones was the voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars. Photo stamma.org
The actor, whose powerful, deep voice brought the iconic villain to life, has been active in the performing arts for more than six decades and has won three Tony Awards, including a 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award, two Emmy Awards and a Grammy. In 2011, he was awarded the Oscar Award for his entire career, reports ABC.
An actor of the first magnitude of the American stage, James Earl Jones is known to the general public more for the voice of Darth Vader than for his roles in “Othello”, “King Lear”, “Measure for Measure” or “Hamlet”. James Earl Jones performed the role of Othello several times throughout his career, and in 1977 he played the role of Paul Robeson in a one-man-show. Dissatisfied with the way his father had been portrayed, Paul Robeson Jr. requested a ban on the show.
“When I started my career, the theater was accessible to the proletariat and anyone could be an actor. You didn’t have to come from an elitist background or a family of actors. The doors were open for ordinary people, like Marlon Brando, for example.
When Marlon played Stanley Kowalski, every truck driver in New York said, “I can do that!” It was an extraordinary thrill, it was the era when everyone said: “I can do this too!” Women could play male roles and blacks could play white roles.” the American actor confessed in an interview.
Born on January 17, 1931, in Arkabutla, Mississippi, the actor brought to life several characters in animated films, such as Mufasa in Disney’s 1994 blockbuster The Lion King, the music box in 2005’s Robots, and the giant in the 2009 film that retells the fairy tale “Jack and the Beanstalk”.
In 2022, Manhattan’s Cort Theater on West 48th Street was named the James Earl Jones Theater to celebrate his contribution to the stage. It was the same venue where he played “Sunrise at Campobello” in 1958, just a year after his Broadway career began.
James Earl Jones didn’t speak for nearly eight years until he was 14 because he suffered from a severe stutter that developed after he moved to Michigan at a young age, according to The Stuttering Foundation. It is suspected that his stuttering was caused by childhood trauma. The one who helped him overcome it was his high school English teacher, the poet Donald Crouch. As Crouch challenged him to memorize poems and recite them in front of his class, Jones was able to speak more clearly, writes the NewYorkPost.
“He got me involved in debate class, drama class, and so on,” Jones told the Daily Mail in a 2010 interview. “He made me talk and read poetry – Edgar Allan Poe was my favorite.”
After high school, Jones attended the University of Michigan, initially to study medicine, but fell in love with acting, changing his major to theater.
He completed his military service as an Army Ranger before moving to New York to pursue acting. According to The Academy of Achievement, he lived in an apartment that cost $19 a month and worked, among other things, as a floor cleaner to make money.
Then he began to shine on the stage; exemplary roles he played in the 1993 film “The Sandlot”, playing Mr. Mertle, a former baseball player who was the owner of a famous club, Pendleton in the 2018 drama “Warning Shot”, to King Jaffe Joffer in the 1998 hit, “Coming to America” and many others.
