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James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931) is an American actor of
stage and
screen, well known for his deep
basso voice. To modern audiences, he is best known for providing the voice of
Darth Vader in the
Star Wars franchise and
Mufasa in
The Lion King and for the role of Terrence Mann in
Field of Dreams.
Early life
Childhood
James Earl Jones was born in
Arkabutla, Mississippi, the son of Ruth (
née Connolly), a teacher and maid, and
Robert Earl Jones (1910-2006), an actor,
boxer, butler, and chauffeur who left the family before James Earl's birth.
Jones and his father reconciled many years later in the 1980s and 1990s. Jones was raised by his
maternal grandparents,
farmers Maggie and John Henry Connolly,
and is of
African,
Irish,
Choctaw and
Cherokee descent.
He moved to his maternal grandparents' farm in
Jackson, Michigan at the age of five, but the adoption was traumatic and he developed a
stutter so severe he refused to speak aloud. When he moved to
Brethren, Michigan in later years a teacher at the Brethren schools started to help him with his stutter. He remained functionally
mute for eight years until he reached
high school. He credits his high school teacher, Donald Crouch, who discovered he had a gift for writing
poetry, with helping him out of his silence.
The teacher believed forced
public speaking would help him gain confidence and insisted he recite a poem in class each day. "I was a stutterer. I couldn't talk. So my first year of school was my first mute year, and then those mute years continued until I got to high school."
Education
After being educated at the Browning School for boys in his high school years, Jones attended the
University of Michigan where he
was a
pre-med.
He joined the
Reserve Officer Training Corps, and excelled. He felt comfortable within the structure of the military environment, and enjoyed the camaraderie of his fellow cadets in the
Pershing Rifles Drill Team and
Scabbard and Blade Honor Society.
[Ensian (Yearbook of the University of Michigan), p. 156 (1952)] During the course of his studies, Jones discovered he was not cut out to be a doctor. Instead he refocused himself on drama, with the thought of doing something he enjoyed, before, he assumed, he would have to go off to fight in the
Korean War. After four years of college, Jones left without his degree.
Military
With the war intensifying in Korea, Jones supposed he would be shipped off to the war as soon as he received his officer's commission. Instead, he went home. As he waited for his orders to active duty, he found a part-time stage crew job at the Manistee Summer Theater, where he had performed before. By the end of summer 1953, Jones received his
second lieutenant's commission, his official orders, and was off to
Fort Benning to attend Basic Infantry Officers School. While there, Jones went through
Ranger School, graduated, and received his
Ranger Tab (although he stated during an interview on the BBC's
The One Show screened on 11 November 2009 that he "washed out" of Ranger training). His first duty station was supposed to be at
Fort Leonard Wood,
Missouri, but his orders changed, and his unit was instead sent to
Colorado where the
Army planned to establish a cold weather training command at the old
Camp Hale near
Leadville, Colorado. His regiment was established as a training unit, to train in the bitter cold weather and the rugged terrain of the
Rocky Mountains. Jones eventually earned the rank of First Lieutenant.
Film and stage career
Early career
Jones had his acting career beginnings at the
Ramsdell Theatre in
Manistee, Michigan. In 1953 he was a stage carpenter. During the 1955 – 1957 seasons he was an actor and stage manager. He performed his first portrayal of
Shakespeare’s
Othello in this theater in 1955.
[Ramsdell Theatre History]
His first film role was as a young and trim Lt. Lothar Zogg, the B-52 bombardier in
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb in 1964, which was more famous for the work of
Peter Sellers and
Slim Pickens. His first big role came with his portrayal of boxer Jack Jefferson in the film version of the
Broadway play
The Great White Hope, which was based on the life of boxer
Jack Johnson. For his role, Jones was nominated
Best Actor by the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, making him the second African-American male performer (following
Sidney Poitier) to receive a nomination.
In 1969, Jones participated in making test films for a proposed children's television series called
Sesame Street; these shorts, combined with animated segments, were shown to groups of children to gauge the effectiveness of the then-groundbreaking
Sesame Street format. As cited by production notes included in the
DVD release
Sesame Street: Old School 1969-1974, the short that had the greatest impact with test audiences was one showing bald-headed Jones counting slowly to ten. This and other segments featuring Jones were eventually aired as part of the
Sesame Street series itself when it debuted later in 1969 and Jones is often cited as the first celebrity guest on that series, although a segment with
Carol Burnett was the first to actually be broadcast.
In the early 1970s, James appeared with
Diahann Carroll in a film called
Claudine, the story of a woman who raises her six children alone after two failed marriages and one "almost" marriage. Ruppert, played by Jones, is a garbage man who has deep problems of his own. The couple somehow overcomes each other's pride and stubbornness and gets married.
Darth Vader
He has appeared in many roles since, but is best known as the sinister
voice of
Darth Vader in the original
Star Wars trilogy. Darth Vader was portrayed in costume by
David Prowse in the original trilogy, with Jones
dubbing Vader's dialogue in
postproduction due to Prowse's strong
West Country accent being unsuitable for the role
[news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4690148.stm]. At his own request, he was originally uncredited for the release of the first two films (he would later be credited for the two in the 1997 re-release):
While many assume he is the uncredited, briefly heard voice of Darth Vader at the conclusion of
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Jones, when specifically asked if he had supplied the voice, possibly from a previous recording, told
New York Newsday:
"You'd have to ask Lucas about that. I don't know."
Over the years, Jones reprised his role as the voice of Vader several times: He is credited in the movie
Robots with the voice of Darth Vader from a voice module. Playing the king of Zamunda in the comedy
Coming to America, he echoed four Darth-Vader phrases. He also vocally appeared as Vader in the comedy film
The Benchwarmers and the video games Monopoly Star Wars and
Star Wars: The Interactive Video Board Game. Jones voice is also used for the Jedi Training academy attraction at Disneyland MGM.
Other voiceover work
His other voice roles include
Mufasa in the
1994 film Disney animated blockbuster
The Lion King, and its sequel,
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. Archived audio from the former has been used in the
Square Enix and
Disney crossover game
Kingdom Hearts II. He also voiced the Emperor of the Night in
Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night. He also has done the
CNN tagline, "This is CNN"; the opening for
NBC's coverage of the 2000 and 2004
Summer Olympics; "the Big PI in the Sky" (God) in the
computer game
Under a Killing Moon; a
Claymation film about
The Creation; and several guest spots on
The Simpsons. He also voice-plays
Black Manta in
Superman/Batman: Public Enemies.
Notable film roles
Jones played the older version of author
Alex Haley, in the television mini-series
Roots: The Next Generations;
the villain
Thulsa Doom, in
Conan the Barbarian; the character Terence Mann, in the baseball film
Field of Dreams; the feared neighbour and owner of the dog Hercules in
The Sandlot; King Jaffe Joffer, in
Coming to America; Reverend Stephen Kumalo, in
Cry, The Beloved Country; and Admiral James Greer, in
The Hunt for Red October,
Patriot Games, and
Clear and Present Danger. He also made a cameo appearance in a penultimate episodes of
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
Notable stage roles
Jones is an accomplished stage actor as well; he has won
Tony awards in 1969 for
The Great White Hope and in 1987 for
Fences.
Othello,
King Lear, Oberon in
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Abhorson in
Measure for Measure, and Claudius in
Hamlet are
Shakespearean roles he has played. He received
Kennedy Center Honors in 2002.
In February 2008, he began starring on Broadway as Big Daddy in a limited-run, all-
African-American production of
Tennessee Williams's
Pulitzer Prize-winning
drama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, directed by
Debbie Allen and mounted at the
Broadhurst Theatre.
In November 2009, James will reprise the role of Big Daddy in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof at the Novello Theatre in London's West End. This production also stars Sanaa Lathan as Maggie, Phylicia Rashad as Big Mamma, and Adrian Lester as Brick.
Other work
His other works include his portrayal of
GDI's commanding general
James Solomon in
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, a starring role in the
television program Under One Roof as widowed police officer Neb Langston for which he received an
Emmy nomination, and television and radio advertising for Verizon Business
DSL and Verizon Online DSL from
Verizon Communications.
Jones appeared in the 1963-1964 television season in an episode of
ABC's drama series about
college life,
Channing starring
Jason Evers and
Henry Jones. He appeared on the soap opera
Guiding Light. He portrayed Thad Green on
Mathnet, a parody of
Dragnet.
He has played lead characters on television in three series. First, he appeared on the short-lived
CBS police drama
Paris, which aired during Fall 1979. That show was notable as the first program on which
Steven Bochco served as executive producer. The second show aired on
ABC between 1990 and 1992, the first season being titled
Gabriel's Fire and the second (after a format revision)
Pros and Cons.
In both formats of that show, Jones played a former policeman wrongly convicted for murder who, upon his release from prison, became a private eye. In 1995, Jones starred in
Under One Roof, as Neb Langston, a widowed African-American police officer sharing his home in Seattle with his daughter, his married son and children and Neb's newly adopted son. The show was a mid-season replacement and lasted only six weeks.
In 1986, Jones played a Harvard law professor in the movie
Soul Man, with
C. Thomas Howell and
Rae Dawn Chong. From 1989 to 1993, Jones served as the host of the children's TV series
Long Ago and Far Away.
In 1990, Jones did a voiceover for the Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror", in which he was the narrator for the Simpsons' version of
Edgar Allan Poe's poem "
The Raven". In 1992, Jones was often seen as the host on the video tele-monitor for the Sea World resort in
Orlando, Florida. In 1996, James guest starred in the
CBS drama Touched by an Angel as the Angels of Angels in the episode "
Clipped Wings". In 1998, Jones starred in the widely acclaimed syndicated program
An American Moment (created by
James R. Kirk and Ninth Wave Productions). Jones took over the role left by Charles Kuralt, upon Kuralt's death. He has guest-starred on such sitcoms as
NBC's
Frasier and
Will & Grace, and
the WB drama
Everwood. Jones also lent his voice for a narrative part in the
Adam Sandler comedy,
Click, released in June 2006. His voice is also used to create an audio version of the
King James New Testament.
On April 7, 2005, James Earl Jones and
Leslie Uggams headed the cast in an African-American Broadway revival version of
On Golden Pond, directed by Leonard Foglia and produced by Jeffrey Finn.
On December 15, 2008, Jones made a guest appearance on the sitcom
Two and a Half Men.
On October 5, 2009, Jones made a guest appearance on the television series
House playing African dictator Antipas Dibala.
Personal life
Jones has been married to actress
Cecilia Hart since 1982. They have one child, Flynn Earl Jones. He was previously married to
American actress/singer
Julienne Marie (born March 21, 1933,
Toledo, Ohio); they had no children.
Coincidentally, both of Jones' wives had played
Desdemona to Jones'
Othello.
Jones was given a
key to the city in
Detroit, Michigan.
Awards
Academy Awards
Emmy Awards
Golden Globe Awards
Independent Spirit Awards
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Tony Awards
Other Awards
Filmography
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Footnotes
