R.I.P. James Earl Jones, EGOT-awarded actor and unmistakable voice of Darth Vader

James Earl Jones, the illustrious actor and EGOT recipient with a winding list of credits as distinctive as his iconic voice, has died. Per Deadline, Jones’ reps confirmed that the actor died this morning at his home in Dutchess County, New York. He was 93 years old. 

Jones was born on January 17, 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi to Ruth and Robert Earl Jones. Soon after James Earl was born, Robert left the family to pursue a career in boxing and later, acting. When Ruth left to search for substantial work, James Earl moved to Michigan to live with his maternal grandparents. At only five years old, the transition was so traumatic that the young boy developed a severe stutter. Because of this, he refused to speak and remained functionally mute until high school. Jones credited his English teacher, who discovered his proficiency in poetry, for helping him find his voice.

Jones enrolled in the University of Michigan to study medicine. He also joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps, where he ultimately decided that becoming a doctor was not his true calling. He pivoted to theater by studying at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, intending to bide his time until his presumed deployment to Korea to fight in the war. The change would lead him to take a part-time job as a stagehand at the Ramsdell Theatre in Manistee, Michigan. After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1955, he began acting and stage managing at the theater, earning his first of many Shakespearean roles, including starring turns in Othello and King Lear. Jones soon moved to New York, where he studied at the American Theatre Wing and worked as a janitor to support himself. 

After years of performing on stage and a handful of TV roles, Jones earned his first movie role in 1964 when he played  Lt. Lothar Zogg in Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb. He would play alongside Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, and Alec Guinness in The Comedians. As his film career began to take off, he returned to the stage in 1967 as the star of Howard Sackler's Pulitzer-winning play The Great White Hope, where he portrayed boxer Jack Johnson. Jones’ performance earned him many high-profile fans, including Muhammed Ali, who identified deeply with the story of a boxer navigating the Jim Crow era to become the first Black heavyweight boxing champion. Two years later, Jones won the Tony Award for Best Actor In A Play. This would mark the beginning of his indelible stint on Broadway, with starring roles in The Iceman Cometh and the stage adaptation of  John Steinbeck's novella, Of Mice and Men.

In film, Jones’ deep, irreplicable voice inextricably linked him to some of the most immovable franchises in the industry. In 1977, the actor began his journey with Star Wars as the voice of Darth Vader. By choice, he would not be credited for his role until the series’ third installment, Return of the Jedi. (He was eventually credited for A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back in a 1997  “Special Edition” re-release.) His voice would define another pop culture figure in the 1994 animated Disney classic, The Lion King. Jones’ regal timbre was fit for Mufasa, King of the Pride Lands, betraying a wisdom that would guide the film despite his brief appearance. Jones reprised the role 25 years later in the live-action remake, starring Donald Glover. 

In TV, Jones made his mark in acclaimed works like Roots: The Next Generations and Under One Roof,  for which he was nominated for an Emmy for his role as Neb Langston. In 1990, he would lead the series Gabriel's Fire, which led him to an Emmy win. Jones often made for a delightful guest on many beloved series, including (but not limited to), 3rd Rock From The Sun, Will & Grace, and  Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. For The Simpsons, Jones narrated Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven for the show’s first installment of Treehouse Of Horror.  

Of course, Jones’ impact in film, stage, and television extends far beyond his voice. With over 180 screen credits alone, his commanding presence added a level of prestige to any moment and shaped characters that would remain relevant for generations. His final role was in 2021’s Coming 2 America, a sequel to the Eddie Murphy starrer Coming To America. Jones played Jaffe Joffer, King of Zamunda and Akeem’s (Murphy) overprotective father in both productions. Though many actors with a similarly impressive portfolio might attribute their fortune to maintaining a particular sense of taste, Jones considered himself a journeyman, simply collecting the roles that felt right to him in the moment, whether they included cell phone commercials or a chance to be a king. "Denzel Washington, Sidney Poitier, Robert Redford, Tom Cruise: those guys have well-planned careers,” Jones told The Guardian in 2009. “I'm just on a journey. Wherever I run across a job, I say, 'OK, I'll do that.'"  For many, Jones stands as a symbol of perseverance, an example of how we are all far greater than our trauma. He is survived by his son, Flynn.