Tributes are pouring in following the news of the death of distinguished actor James Earl Jones. Widely regarded as one the world’s great stage and screen actors, Jones passed away this morning at his home in Dutchess County, NY at the age of 93.
Jones, among the few entertainers to attain EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) status, is also well known as the voice of Star Wars villain Darth Vader and The Lion King’s Mufasa.
Widely regarded as among the world’s great stage and screen actors Jones is one of the few entertainers to have won the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony), though his Academy Award was Honorary. Jones has received two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Daytime Emmy, a spoken-word Grammy Award in 1977 and three Tony Awards.
The actor amassed nearly 200 screen credits during his brilliant 60-year career, starting some early-’60s TV guest roles and Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 classic Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). He probably is best known for his voice role as the dastardly Darth Vader in George Lucas’ original Star Wars trilogy: Star Wars (1977) The Empire Strikes Back, 1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). He also reprised the villainous role in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019) and TV’s Obi-Wan Kenobi and Star Wars: Rebels.
Movie fans will remember such chilling, immortal Vader quotes as “When I left you, I was but the learner — now I am the master,” “I find your lack of faith disturbing” and, of course, “No, I am your father.”
Also among Jones’ best-loved roles is Terence Mann, the reclusive 1960s author who reluctantly teams with Kevin Costner’s Ray Kinsella to unlock the latter’s visions of baseball lore in Field of Dreams (1989). Based on the 1982 novel Showless Joe Jackson, the film from writer-director Phil Alden Robinson tugged — no, yanked — at heartstrings with its sweet nostalgia, high-concept plot, father-son dynamics and general excellence.
It earned three Oscar nominations including Best Picture; it lost to Driving Miss Daisy — a film whose Broadway adaptation starred Jones as Hoke Colburn, the character played by Morgan Freeman on the big screen.
Jones also voiced The Lion King‘s Mufasa in both the 1994 animated pic and 2019 hybrid remake. He also lent his sonorous voice to the famous “This is CNN” promo campaign for the cable news network and recurring as the narrator on Third Rock from the Sun.
Among his scores of TV are guest roles on such classics series as The Big Bang Theory, House, Two and a Half Men, Homicide: Life on the Street, Frasier, Touched by an Angel, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Picket Fences, Law & Order, Sesame Street, Highway to Heaven, NYPD Blue; daytime soaps Guiding Light and As the World Turns; and miniseries Roots: The Next Generation and Jesus of Nazareth.
(Excerpt) Read more in: Deadline