The talent behind so many of our favorite films died on Monday at the age of 93 at his home in Dutchess County, N.Y.
From The New York Times:
From destitute days working in a diner and living in a $19-a-month cold-water flat, Mr. Jones climbed to Broadway and Hollywood stardom with talent, drive and remarkable vocal cords. He was abandoned as a child by his parents, raised by a racist grandmother and mute for years in his stutterer's shame, but he learned to speak again with a herculean will.
Born in Mississippi in 1931, Jones did indeed overcome that stutter. He went on to become one of the most well know voices on the planet, with iconic film roles that won him three Tony Awards, two Emmy Awards, and a Grammy.
It was director George Lucas who gave James Earl Jones massive name recognition by casting him as Darth Vader in Star Wars.
The rest was accomplished by Mr. Jones himself: a prodigious body of work that encompassed scores of plays, nearly 90 television network dramas and episodic series, and some 120 movies. They included his voice work, much of it uncredited, in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, in the credited voice-over of Mufasa in "The Lion King," Disney's 1994 animated musical film, and in his reprise of the role in Jon Favreau's computer-animated remake in 2019.
Jones served in the U.S. Army after the Korean War and earned his Ranger tab and a promotion to first lieutenant. It was during this time that Jones became a Catholic.
He began his acting career in 1953 in Manistee, Michigan, a small fishing and tourist destination on Michigan's west coast. After a short marriage to actress Julienne Marie, Jones married actress Cecilia Hart in 1982. They had one son, Flynn.
I'll leave you with some of his most iconic scenes:
R.I.P.
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