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MUMBAI: James Earl Jones, who overcame prejudice and a terrible stutter to establish himself as a renowned figure in theatre and screen, ultimately providing his powerful, deep voice to Darth Vader, CNN, and 'The Lion King,' has passed away. He was ninety-three. According to his agent Barry McPherson, Jones passed away at home on Monday morning. It was unclear at first what the cause was.
The pioneering Jones received two Emmys, a Grammy, a Golden Globe, two Tony Awards, the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Centre Honours, an honorary Oscar, and a special Tony for lifetime achievement Worked well into his eighties. A Broadway theatre was renamed in his name, having been renamed in 2022.
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In his last years of life, he had a ferocious work habit, a wry sense of humor, and an elegant figure. He had notebooks full of notes from the creative team and had already memorized the play when he showed up for rehearsals for the Broadway run of 'The Gin Game' in 2015. He claimed that he was constantly serving the work.
RIP James Earl Jonespic.twitter.com/cCh3D4mkrl
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"The need to story tell has always been with us," he told The Associated Press then. "I think it first happened around campfires when the man came home and told his family he got the bear, the bear didn't get him."
Jones 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. He won a 1977 Grammy for his performance on the "Great American Documents" audiobook.
"If you were an actor or aspired to be an actor, if you pounded the payment in these streets looks for jobs, one of the standards we always had was to be a James Earl Jones," Samuel L. Jackson once said.
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.’ In a rare romantic comedy, ‘Claudine,’ Jones had an onscreen love affair with Diahann Carroll.
RIP James Earl Jones =pic.twitter.com/cCh3D4mkrl
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Jones debuted on Broadway in 1958's 'Sunrise At Campobello' and went on to win two Tony Awards for 'Fences' (1987) and 'The Great White Hope' (1969). In addition, he received nominations for Gore Vidal's The Best Man (2012) and On Golden Pond (2005). His command of both Athol Fugard and Shakespeare was praised.
The Iceman Cometh, Driving Miss Daisy, You Can't Take It With You, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof are some more recent Broadway appearances. He was one of the first African American actors to play a continuous role in a daytime drama when, as a rising stage and television actor, he made an appearance in 'As the World Turns' in 1965.
He appeared in off-Broadway plays as well as 'Othello,' 'Macbeth,' and 'King Lear' with the New York Shakespeare Festival Theatre.
On January 17, 1931, Jones was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi, by the light of an oil lamp in a shack. Before the baby was born, Robert Earl Jones, his father, had left his wife to follow his dreams of becoming a boxer and then an actor.
Jones's mother took him to her parents' farm near Manistee, Michigan, when he was six years old. The boy was raised by his grandparents after being adopted.
"A world ended for me, the safe world of childhood," 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."
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Credit- Free Press Journal
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