James Earl Jones, beloved actor and voice of Darth Vader, dies at 93

One of America’s most beloved actors, James Earl Jones, died Monday at age 93. He was at home in Dutchess County, N.Y. surrounded by his family, his longtime agent Barry McPherson confirmed.

From award-winning Broadway performances to the iconic voice that brought Darth Vader to life, James Earl Jones has an unmistakable presence on stage and on screen.

Jones was born on January 17, 1931, in Arkabutla, Mississippi. He struggled with stuttering throughout his early years. It caused him to remain nearly mute for eight years of his childhood, he told The Daily Mail in 2010.

It was the stutter that led Jones into acting after a high school teacher used poetry to help him speak more clearly. After college and then the Army, serving in the Korean War, Jones eyed Broadway for his start in theater and the arts.

In the 1950s and ’60s, Jones was a Broadway staple. From “On Golden Pond” to “The Best Man,” his work earned four Tony nominations, winning for “The Great White Hope” in 1969 and “Fences” in 1987.

The screen role for which Jones is best known came in 1977, and it was one in which the audience never saw his face. He was the voice of Darth Vader in the “Star Wars” saga. Jones voiced Darth Vader in every Star Wars film for the next four decades and also appeared in some of the franchise’s numerous television spin-offs before abdicating his throne to AI technology in 2022. His last contribution to the franchise came in 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker.

The same year that he debuted as Darth Vader, Jones won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Great American Documents, where he read Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. He won his second Tony Award for 1987’s Fences, which depicted a Black working class family struggling to survive in the 1950s.

Jones appeared in a number of films in the 1980s and ’90s, including Conan the Barbarian, Coming to America, Field of Dreams, The Hunt for Red October, The Sandlot, Clear and Present Danger, and Cry, the Beloved Country. In 1994, he voiced Mufasa in Disney’s The Lion King.

He turned to television in the ’90s, and won two Emmys® in 1991: one for Best Actor for Gabriel’s Fire, and one for Best Supporting Actor in Heat Wave. In a series of guest star roles, Jones lent his voice to The Simpsons and appeared in hit series like Law and Order, Will & Grace, and Frasier. In 1998, he began hosting An American Moment following the death of Charles Kuralt.

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