There wasn’t a single Generation X boy who didn’t at least once (when no one was looking) wheez mechanically in and out through his teeth and pitching his voice as deep as it go, growl, “I. HAVE. YOU. NOW.”
James Earl Jones has passed away at the age of 93.
Born in 1931 in Arkabutla, Alabama to a mixed race heritage of Irish, Cherokee, and of course African American. His father was a prize fighter, turned actor turned deadbeat. His mother was frequently absent, possibly due to mental health issues. He was raised by his grandparents. In 1936, his family moved to the comparatively remote northern Michigan town of Manistee, by then young James suffered from a severe stutter. He fell silent for nearly a decade until a teacher got him to recite a poem.
He had been a pre-med major at U of M, but changed his major to Drama. When he graduated he was activated as an Army officer for the Korean War. He went to Ranger school, got his tab and then the war ended. When he returned to his studies, the stage called to him and he changed his major. He went to New York where he established himself in a few years thanks to his stentorian basso-profoundo voice that pretty much demanded that he be cast as Othello as soon as possible. He also played in productions of King Lear and Coriolanus.
He also got a lot of TV work at first in soap operas where he was typically cast as “Doctor Whoever.” In 1964, he got his first film appearance Doctor Strangelove. In 1968 he landed his first Tony Award in 1969 for the Great White Hope for his portrayal of Jack Jefferson. He was cast as Jefferson again for film version in 1970. He bounced in and out lead work in TV movies like The Man where he played the first black president of the US or Barney Hill in The UFO Incident. As he put it “I seem to only play kings and bums.”
In 1976, a young writer director had promised an English actor that he’d be flown out to Hollywood to ADR his lines, since he’d had to wear a mask during his performance. By 1977 his film was way over budget, flying out an actor from the UK, putting him up in a hotel, just to record for a day was never going to be approved by Fox. So James Earl Jones was hired for about three hours of uncredited voice work.
Everybody in Hollywood thought it was Jamican Geoffery Holder who did the voice. By the time The Empire Strikes Back came everyone knew it was James Earl Jones and David Prowse was resigned to the fact that “Darth Vader is too big of a role for just one actor to play.”
Thus began Jone career in the genre of fantasy in science fiction. For the next 40 years he star in so many genre roles I can’t accurately count them. He was everything from Thulsa Doom in Conan the Barbarian to General Solomon in Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun (which I’d completely forgotten about). In TV he was in everything from Touched by an Angel to Stargate: SG1. Athough he never accepted a role in Star Trek, (it’s rumored they asked but he wouldn’t cross that line).
1994 Jeffery Katzenberg (once again) proved himself a genius when he hired Jones to play Mufasa in the Lion King, a role that so resonated with African American fathers the film was pushed to nearly a billion dollars, (in 1994 money, it would be over $2 billion today).
As the years piled on kept working seemlessly transitioning from leads to elderstateman roles. in 2010 he returned to Broadway for a revival of Driving Miss Daisy with Vanessa Redgrave. He played himself in the Big Bang Theory. He played the King in Coming to America 2, which was his last on camera role. His final voice work was in 2022, it was of course Darth Vader.
James was a practicing Catholic since converting in the Army. He is survived by his son.
James Earl Jones
1931 – 2024
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