XPost: rec.arts.sf.movies, rec.arts.tv
James Earl Jones, Distinguished Actor
and Voice of Darth Vader, Dies at 93
-------------------------------------
James Earl Jones, the prolific film, TV and theater actor
whose resonant, unmistakable baritone was most widely
known as the voice of "Star Wars" villain Darth Vader,
died Monday morning at his home in Dutchess County, N.Y.,
his rep confirmed to Variety. He was 93.
After overcoming a profound stutter as a child, Jones
established himself as one of the pioneering Black actors
of his generation, amassing a bountiful and versatile
career spanning over 60 years, from his debut on Broadway
in 1958 at the Cort Theatre - renamed the James Earl Jones
Theatre in 2022 - to his most recent performance in 2021's
"Coming 2 America." For that film, Jones reprised his role
as King Jaffe Joffer from the 1988 Eddie Murphy comedy
"Coming to America" - one of several roles, along with
Darth Vader, that Jones revisited, including the voice of
King Mustafa in Disney's animated feature "The Lion King"
in 1994, the 1998 direct-to-video sequel and the 2019
remake, and CIA deputy director Vice Admiral James Greer
in three Jack Ryan movies, 1990's "The Hunt for Red
October," 1992's "Patriot Games" and 1994's "Clear and
Present Danger."
Among his more than 80 film credits, Jones' other notable
movies include as a B-52 bombardier in Stanley Kubrick's
1964 Cold War satire "Dr. Strangelove" (his feature film
debut), as the first Black president of the United States
in 1972's "The Man," as the fearsome villain in 1982's
"Conan the Barbarian," as a reclusive author in 1989's
"Field of Dreams," as a blind former baseball star in
1993's "The Sandlot," and as a minister living in apartheid
South Africa in 1995's "Cry, the Beloved Country."
Jones was nominated for four Tony Awards, and won two, in
1969 for playing boxer Jack Johnson in "The Great White
Hope" (which he reprised on film in 1970, receiving his
only Oscar nomination), and in 1987 for originating the
role of Troy Maxson in August Wilson's Pulitzer
Prize-winning drama "Fences." He was nominated for eight
primetime Emmy awards, winning twice in 1991, for
supporting actor in the miniseries "Heat Wave," about the
1965 Watts riots, and for lead actor in the drama series
"Gabriel's Fire," about a wrongfully imprisoned ex-cop who
becomes a private detective. It was the first time an actor
won two Emmys in the same year.
Jones earned a Kennedy Center Honor in 2002, the Screen
Actors Guild Life Achievement award in 2009, an honorary
Oscar in 2011 and a lifetime achievement Tony Award in 2017.
His Grammy award in 1977 for spoken word album makes Jones
only one a handful of actors to receive an EGOT.
Jones' looming yet ultimately affable presence and rich
speaking voice made him a natural for Shakespeare, and he
played some of the great roles, such as Macbeth and Othello,
for Joseph Papp's American Shakespeare Festival. Jones
narrated several documentaries, from 1972's "Malcom X" to
the 2007 Disneynature doc "Earth," and, famously, he intoned
the tagline "This is CNN" for the cable news channel.
His television credits, which number over 70, including many
movies and miniseries such as "Roots" and "The Atlanta Child
Murders," recurring roles on "L.A. Law," "Homicide: Life on
the Street" and "Everwood," and guest roles on shows like
"The Simpsons," "Picket Fences," "Law & Order," "Frasier"
and "House."
As for his most famous role, Jones was paid $7,000 to lend
his voice to Darth Vader in 1977's "Star Wars: A New Hope,"
but he declined screen credit for that film and its sequel,
1980's "The Empire Strikes Back," out of deference to the
actor who played the role on screen, David Prowse. By 1983's
"Return of the Jedi," however, Jones had become fully
synonymous with one of the most memorable and terrifying
villains in cinema history, and received credit for his work.
He returned to lend Vader's voice again for 2005's
"Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" and 2016's "Rogue One:
A Star Wars Story," but for the 2022 Disney+ series "Obi-Wan
Kenobi," Jones instead authorized Lucasfilm to use archival
recordings and AI technology to recreate Vader's voice.
When asked in 2014 by the New York Times about how he'd kept
his career alive for so long, Jones' response evoked the kind
of plainspoken humility that he had so often brought to his
performances as well.
"The secret is never forgetting that you're a journeyman
actor and that nothing is your final thing, nothing is your
greatest thing, nothing is your worst thing," Jones said.
"I still consider myself a novice."
James Earl Jones was born in 1931 on a farm in in Arkabutla,
Miss. His father, Robert Earl Jones, left home soon after to
pursue his own acting career (the two more-or-less reconciled
when the younger Jones was in his 20s, and they even performed
together). When Jones was 5, he moved with his maternal
grandparents to Michigan. The shock of the relocation induced
a stammer so severe that he often could communicate only in
writing. It wasn't until high school when he started to
overcome his stutter, when his English teacher, upon learning
that Jones composed poetry, encouraged him to read his writing
aloud in class.
As an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan,
Jones initially set out to study medicine, but wound up more
interested in drama. His first stage role was a small part in
the 1957 Off Broadway production "Wedding in Japan." He took
side jobs to supplement occasional theater work in Broadway's
"Sunrise at Campobello," "The Cool World" and "The Pretender."
He also appeared in summer stock.
In 1960, Jones joined Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival.
The following year he made his first serious impact in a
landmark Off Broadway production of Jean Genet's "The Blacks"
as the protagonist Deodatus. Afterwards, for Papp, he played
Oberon in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," the first of many
heralded Shakespearean turns. His masterful 1964 performance
as Othello for Papp was moved Off Broadway, where the
production ran for almost a year.
Jones' first big break into cinema came by way of Papp's
production of "The Merchant of Venice," in which Jones played
the Prince of Morocco to George C. Scott's Shylock. When
Stanley Kubrick came to see Scott, whom he was considering for
one of the leads in "Dr. Strangelove," the film director was
so impressed that he cast Jones in the film, too. In 1966,
Jones had the title role in "Macbeth" at the New York
Shakespeare Festival, again to great acclaim. He also booked a
recurring role on "As the World Turns" in 1966, marking the
first time a Black actor had a continuing role on a daytime
soap opera
Still, he was almost one of Broadway's best-kept secrets until
1968, in Howard Sackler's "The Great White Hope" as Jack
Johnson, the first Black man to win the world heavyweight
boxing championship. The Tony, the acclaim and its timing in
the late '60s propelled Jones into the spotlight at a time
when it was difficult for Black actors to secure quality roles.
But the actor, however, has said that the accolades he received
for for both the play and its film adaptation did not do that
much for his career.
It wasn't until 1977, when Jones' voice terrified audiences for
the first time as Darth Vader, that things truly began to shift
for him. That same year, Jones also appeared in ABC's "Roots"
playing the author Alex Haley, whose genealogical novel of the
same title inspired the groundbreaking miniseries. He never
quite became an outright star in the classic sense of the word,
but the back-to-back successes that year did ultimately make
Jones a household name, whose presence connoted a stature and
gravitas to projects that might otherwise be lacking.
Theatre is where Jones most frequently was a box office draw in
his own right - and well into his 80s. He returned to Broadway
in 2005 for a production of "On Golden Pond" opposite Leslie
Uggams, drawing another Tony nomination. In 2008, he played Big
Daddy in a production of Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin
Roof" that featured an all-Black cast including Terrence Howard,
Anika Noni Rose and Phylicia Rashad.
Two years later, he returned to Broadway in a revival of
"Driving Miss Daisy" opposite Vanessa Redgrave; the
production's move to London in 2011 meant he had to miss the
Honorary Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles. Instead, Sir Ben
Kingsley surprised Jones with his statuette in person after
he'd concluded a matinee performance of the show.
Jones was first married to actress-singer Julienne Marie. His
second wife of 34 years, actress Cecilia Hart, died in 2016. He
is survived his son, Flynn Earl Jones.
<
https://variety.com/2024/film/news/james-earl-jones-dead-darth-vader-lion-king-1236138656/>
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)