EGOT winning american film, television, and broadway actor James Earl Jones has passed away on September 9, 2024 at the age of 93.
Jones made his film debut in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. He received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Claudine. Jones gained international fame for his voice role as Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise, beginning with the original 1977 film. Jones' other notable roles include in Conan the Barbarian, Matewan, Coming to America, Field of Dreams, The Hunt for Red October, The Sandlot, and the voice of Mufasa in The Lion King. Jones reprised his roles in Star Wars media, The Lion King (2019) remake, and Coming 2 America.
Jones' television work includes playing Woodrow Paris in the series Paris between 1979 and 1980. He voiced various characters on the animated series The Simpsons in three separate seasons. He then was cast as Gabriel Bird, the lead role in the series Gabriel's Fire which aired from 1990 to 1991. For that role, he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and was nominated for his fourth Golden Globe Award, this time for Best Actor in a Television Series Drama. He played Bird again in the series Pros and Cons, which ran from 1991 to 1992; that earned him his fifth and final Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series Drama. He then had small appearances in the series Law & Order, Picket Fences , Mad About You, Touched by an Angel, Frasier. His role in Picket Fences earned him another Primetime Emmy Award nomination, one for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. His later television work includes small roles in Everwood, Two and a Half Men, House, and The Big Bang Theory.
Jones' theater work includes numerous Broadway plays, including Sunrise at Campobello (1958–1959), Danton's Death (1965), The Iceman Cometh (1973–1974), Of Mice and Men (1974–1975), Othello (1982), On Golden Pond (2005), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2008) and You Can't Take It with You (2014–2015). He was also in various off Broadway productions and Shakespeare stage adaptations such as The Merchant of Venice (1962), The Winter's Tale (1963), Othello (1964–1965), Coriolanus (1965), Hamlet (1972), and King Lear (1973). His roles in The Great White Hope (1969) and Fences (1987) earned him two Tony Awards, both for Best Leading Actor in a Play.
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James Earl Jones, RIP
Just heard the heartbreaking news, one of the greatest, most awesome and all time INCREDIBLE actors of all time, as well as one of the sweetest, kindest and most selfless human beings ever, has passed away. The seemingly immortal James Earl Jones, one of the most famous actors of his generation, well respected on both big and small screens AND on the stage for over SEVEN DECADES, respeonsible for portraying some of my favourite screen characters ever ... this might be the one that hurts me the most this year ...
Of course, like everybody, he will FOREVER be most closely associated with Star Wars, as the voice of probably the greatest screen villain of all time, Darth Vader.
But he was also King Jaffe Joffer, the father of Eddie Murphy's wayward prince in Coming to America and its sequel ...
The Counter Culture author Terence Mann in the magnificent Field of Dreams, as well as ...
NSA Agent Abbott in director Phil Alden Robinson's next film, the underrrated suspense thriller Sneakers ...
Simba's dad Mufasa in The Lion King ...
Jack Ryan's CIA boss and father figure, Admiral Jim Greer, in The Hunt For Red October, Patriot Games AND Clear & Present Danger ...
Lt. Luther Zogg in one of my favourite screen comedies of all time, Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove, Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying & Love the Bomb (his VERY FIRST big screen role) ...
and, of course, MY very favourite role that he EVER PLAYED, the role I will always MOST FONDLY remember him for, one of my very favourite ever screen villains, the dastardly ancient wizard Thulsa Doom in Conan the Barbarian.
Oh yeah, and also those brilliant and thoroughly hilarious Sprint adverts in which he and Malcolm McDowell would read out inane social media posts with the utmost gravitas as though it was Shakespeare ...
The man had an AMAZING RUN, and he is guaranteed to go down as one of the all time greats, beloved around the world and destined to become one of the true icons of the 20th AND 21st Centuries, remembered LONG after his passing. But he's STILL gone far too soon ...
James Earl Jones, January 17th 1931 - September 9th 2024. Rest In Power.
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James Earl Jones (January 17th, 1931- September 9th, 2024)
One of my all-time favorite actors. He was such a great man with one of the most iconic voices in the world. Loved him in Star Wars, The Lion King, The Sandlot, Field of Dreams, Merlin (1998), and so many other works.
James Earl Jones was one-of-a-kind and he will be greatly missed. RIP 😔
One of my favorite scenes from any Disney movie.
“Remember who you are.”
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Whenever you feel alone, just remember that those kings will always be there to guide you. And so will I.
Born to a turbulent family on a Mississippi farm, James Earl Jones passed away today. He was ninety-three years old. Abandoned by his parents as a child and raised by a racist grandmother (although he later reconciled with his actor father and performed alongside him as an adult), the trauma of his childhood developed into a stutter that followed him through his primary school years – sometimes, his stutter was so debilitating, he could not speak at all. In high school, Jones found in an English teacher someone who found in him a talent for written expression, and encouraged him to write and recite poetry in class. He overcame his stutter by graduation, although the effects of it carried over for the remainder of his life.
Jones' most accomplished roles may have been on the Broadway stage, where he won three Tonys (twice winning Best Actor in a Play for originating the lead roles in 1969's The Great White Hope by Howard Sackler and 1987's Fences by August Wilson) and was considered one of the best Shakespearean actors of his time.
But his contributions to cinema left an impact on audiences, too. Jones received an Honorary Academy Award alongside makeup artist Dick Smith (1972's The Godfather, 1984's Amadeus) in 2011. From the end of Hollywood's Golden Age to the dawn of the summer Hollywood blockbuster in the 1970s to the present, Jones' presence – and his basso profundo voice – could scarcely be ignored. Though he could not sing like Paul Robeson nor had the looks of Sidney Poitier, his presence and command put him in league of both of his acting predecessors.
Ten of the films James Earl Jones appeared in, whether in-person or voice acting, follow (left-right, descending):
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) – directed by Stanley Kubrick; also starring Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, and Slim Pickens
The Great White Hope (1970) – directed by Martin Ritt; also starring Jane Alexander, Chester Morris, Hal Holbrook Beah Richards, and Moses Gunn
Star Wars saga (1977-2019; A New Hope pictured) – multiple directors, as the voice of Darth Vader, also starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, David Prowse, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, and Frank Oz
Claudine (1974) – directed by John Berry; also starring Diahann Carroll, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, and Tamu Blackwell
Conan the Barbarian (1982) – directed by John Milius; also starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sandahl Bergman, Ben Davidson, Cassandra Gaviola, Gerry Lopez, Mako, Valerie Quennessen, William Smith, and Max von Sydow
Coming to America series (1988 and 2021; original pictured) – multiple directors; also starring Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, John Amos, Madge Sinclair, Shari Headley, Jermaine Fowler, Leslie Jones, Tracy Morgan, and KiKi Layne
The Hunt for Red October (1990) – directed by John McTiernan; also starring Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, and Sam Neill
The Sandlot (1993) – directed by David Mickey Evans; also staring Tom Guiry, Mike Vitar, Patrick Renna, Chauncey Leopardi, Marty York, Brandon Adams, Grant Gelt, Shane Obedzinski, Victor DiMattia, Denis Leary, and Karen Allen
The Lion King (1994) – directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, as the voice of Mufasa; also starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, Moira Kelly, Niketa Calame, Ernie Sabella, Nathan Lane, and Robert Guillaume, Rowan Atkinson, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, Jim Cummings, and Madge Sinclair
Field of Dreams (1989) – directed by Phil Alden Robinson; also starring Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, Ray Liotta, and Burt Lancaster
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