James Earl Jones, voice of Darth Vader and ‘Field of Dreams’ star, dead at 93
By new York post.com Published Sep. 9, 2024, 4:53 p.m. ET
James Earl Jones, the voice of ‘Star Wars’ villain Darth Vader, passed away at his Dutchess County, NY, home on Monday, Sept. 9 at the age of 93.
His reps at Independent Artist Group confirmed his death to Deadline.
Jones was the recipient of many awards throughout his lifetime, even scoring the rare EGOT honor with an asterisk — he won Emmy, Grammy and Tony Awards (including the Tony for Lifetime Achievement in 2017) and earned an honorary Oscar in 2011.
Born on Jan. 17, 1931, in Arkabutla, Mississippi, Jones’ deep and booming bass brought life to several animated film characters, such as Mufasa in 1994’s Disney-animated smash hit “The Lion King,” Voice Box at Hardware Store in 2005’s “Robots” and The Giant in the 2009 movie retelling of the “Jack and the Beanstalk” fairytale.
He also starred in 1993 film “The Sandlot” as Mr. Mertle, a former baseball player who was the owner of the famed Hercules and Goliath, and as Pendleton in the 2018 drama, “Warning Shot.” He played the role of King Jaffe Joffer in the 1998 hit, “Coming to America.”
In 2022, Manhattan’s Cort Theatre on West 48th Street was named The James Earl Jones Theatre to celebrate his contributions to the stage. It was the same place where he performed “Sunrise at Campobello” in 1958, just a year into his Broadway career.
Jones’ long Hollywood career defied expectations.
Jones was mute for nearly eight years, until he was 14, as he suffered from a serious stutter that developed after he moved to Michigan at a young age, according to The Stuttering Foundation.
His stutter was was suspected to be caused by childhood trauma, according to TIME — and it was actually his high school English teacher, poet Donald Crouch, who helped him work to overcome it.
As Crouch challenged him to memorize poems and recite them in front of his class, Jones was able to speak more clearly.
“He got me engaged in the debating class, the dramatic reading class and so on,” Jones told The Daily Mail in a 2010 interview. “He got me talking, and reading poetry — Edgar Allan Poe was my favorite.”
After high school, Jones went to The University of Michigan, initially to study medicine, but found himself falling in love with acting, switching his major to drama.
He completed service as an Army Ranger before moving to New York to pursue acting. He lived in an apartment that cost $19 per month and did other chores, like scrubbing floors, to make money, according to The Academy of Achievement.
In 1961, Jones performed in the American premiere of “The Blacks,” a play written by Jean Genet that explored race, inspired by Ghana’s 1957 independence.
The beloved performer won a Tony for Best Actor in a Play in 1969 for his role as Jack Jefferson in Howard Sackler’s “The Great White Hope,” a devastating story about the first black heavyweight boxing champion. Jones was also nominated for an Academy Award for the 1970 film adaptation.
In 1987, he won another Tony for playing Troy Maxson in “Fences” by August Wilson. He portrayed a former baseball star who worked as a garbage man in 1957 Pittsburgh.
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