By Mark Kennedy
New York: James Earl Jones, who overcame racial prejudice and a severe stutter to become a icon of stage and screen – lending his deep, commanding voice to Mufasa in The Lion King and Darth Vader in Star Wars – has died. He was 93.
His agent, Barry McPherson, confirmed Jones died on Monday morning (US time) at home.
James Earl Jones arrives at the Tony Awards on June 12, 2016, in New York.Credit: AP
Jones won two Emmys, a Golden Globe, two Tony Awards, a Grammy, the National Medal of Arts and was given an honorary Oscar and a special Tony for lifetime achievement.
He cut an elegant figure late in life, with a wry sense of humour and a ferocious work habit,Jones said he was always in service of the work.
He created such memorable film roles as the reclusive writer coaxed back into the spotlight in Field of Dreams, the boxer Jack Johnson in the stage and screen hit The Great White Hope, the writer Alex Haley in Roots: The Next Generation and a South African minister in Cry, the Beloved Country.
He was also a sought-after voice actor, expressing the villainy of Darth Vader (“No, I am your father,” commonly misremembered as “Luke, I am your father”), as well as the benign dignity of King Mufasa in Disney’s animated The Lion King and announcing “This is CNN” during station breaks.
Some of his other films include Dr. Strangelove, The Greatest (with Muhammad Ali), Conan the Barbarian, Three Fugitives and playing an admiral in three Tom Clancy blockbuster adaptations – The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger.
James Earl Jones with Darth Vader.Credit: WireImage
Jones was born in a shack in Arkabutla, Mississippi, on January 17, 1931. His father, Robert Earl Jones, had already deserted the family to pursue life as a boxer and, later, an actor.
When Jones was six, his grandparents adopted and raised him on their Michigan farm.
Jones wrote in his autobiography, Voices and Silences. “The move from Mississippi to Michigan was supposed to be a glorious event. For me it was a heartbreak, and not long after, I began to stutter.”
A sympathetic high school teacher, Donald Crouch, learned that Jones wrote poetry, and demanded he read one of his poems aloud. He did so faultlessly.
Teacher and student worked together to restore his speech. “I could not get enough of speaking, debating, orating – acting,” he recalled.
At the University of Michigan, he failed a pre-med exam and switched to drama.
Credit: Matt Golding
In New York, he moved in with his father and enrolled in the American Theatre Wing program. Father and son waxed floors to support themselves while looking for acting jobs.
Stardom came in 1970 with The Great White Hope. Howard Sackler’s play about Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight boxing champion. In 1972, Jones repeated his role in the movie version.
Jones’ two wives were also actors; Marie Hendricks and later Cecilia Hart (who died in 2016). They had a son, Flynn Earl.
AP
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