James Earl Jones

James Earl Jones

James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931 in Arkabutla township, Mississippi in Tate County) is a well-known American film and stage actor.

Early Life

The son of Robert Earl Jones was raised by his maternal grandparents and is of Irish, Cherokee and African-American descent. He moved to rural Dublin located in Manistee County, Michigan at around five years of age. He developed a stutter so severe he refused to speak aloud. He remained functionally mute for eight years until he reached high school. He credits a 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." Ironically, he is most famous for his deep authoritative voice.

Jones went on to graduate from the University of Michigan. He was enrolled in the ROTC at Michigan and was an Army officer stationed in Alaska in the late 1950's.

His first wife was actress/singer Julienne Marie (aka Julienne Scanlon), who was born in Toledo, Ohio in 1933. They had no children together. James Earl Jones married Cecilia Hart in 1982, they have one child.

Film and Stage Career

His first film role was in Dr. Strangelove or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb in 1964. His first taste of fame came with his portrayal of boxer Jack Jefferson (based on real-life boxer Jack Johnson and a role he had played on Broadway) in the film version of The Great White Hope. For his role, Jones was nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award (losing to George C. Scott in Patton).

File:DarthVaderbeckoning.jpg

Jones provided the voice of Darth Vader in the popular Star Wars films.

He has appeared in many roles since, but is best known as the sinister voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars films (he is uncredited in some versions of the films). Darth Vader was portrayed in costume, however, by David Prowse in the original films and Hayden Christensen in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. During postproduction, Jones dubbed over Prowse as Vader's voice because George Lucas never intended to use Prowse's voice due to his English West country accent. Jones' other voice roles include Mufasa in the 1994 Disney animated feature The Lion King, the CNN tagline ("This is CNN"), the opening teaser for NBC's coverage of the 2000 & 2004 Summer Olympics, 'the Big PI in the Sky' (God) in the computer game Under a Killing Moon, and several guest spots on The Simpsons.

He also played as Terence Mann in the popular baseball film Field of Dreams, Reverend Stephen Kumalo in "Cry, The Beloved Country"; Admiral James Greer in The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger; villain Thulsa Doom in Conan the Barbarian; and author Alex Haley in the television mini-series Roots.

James Earl Jones as Thulsa Doom in Conan the Barbarian.

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. He received Kennedy Center Honors in 2002.

His other works include his potrayal of General 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. He has guest-starred on such sitcoms as Will & Grace and Everwood. Jones also lended his voice for a narrative part in the Adam Sandler comedy, Click, released in June 2006.

Awards

James Earl Jones won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 1991 for his role as Gabriel Bird in Gabriel's Fire.

Trivia

• Jones' death was erroneously announced in 1998 by Pittsburgh Pirates radio baseball commentator Lanny Frattare when James Earl Ray died.
• The Simpsons episode where Bleeding Gums Murphy died ("'Round Springfield") has a tribute to Jones where Simpsons cast member Harry Shearer sends up Jones' three most famous roles: Mufasa ("You must avenge my death, Kimba... dah, I mean Simba"), Darth Vader ("Luke, I am your father"), and the CNN announcer ("This is CNN").
• His casting as the pompous King Jaffe Joffer in the 1988 Eddie Murphy film Coming to America, alongside the late Madge Sinclair, is believed to have inspired their later pairing in The Lion King. They also co-starred in Gabriel's Fire.
• His name did not originally appear in the ending credits of Star Wars (1977), though he was credited in The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978). At the time of the film's release, he felt he hadn't done enough to deserve a credit. His name was added to the special edition release of the film in 1997. Lucas liked his commanding voice very much and had no intention of using David Prowse's, who spoke Vader's lines during filming.
• George Lucas originally planned to use Orson Welles' voice to dub over David Prowse's. He later decided against it, deeming Welles' voice too recognizable. Instead he chose to use Jones' relatively obscure voice for the voice of Darth Vader. However, Welles did perform the narration for the film's first trailer, released in late 1976.
• Jones is widely believed to be politically conservative, since he voiced his support for the Iraq war in October 2002, and also said he had supported the first Gulf War and the Kosovo War. However, in another interview he stated that his endorsement is not for hire, and described his political beliefs as a private matter. According to Charlton Heston, Jones is a card-carrying member of the National Rifle Association (NRA).
• He was hospitalised with pneumonia while performing in On Golden Pond on Broadway in June 2005.
• Jones has said he answers all his fan mail personally, and that he signs so many autographs through the mail he believes his autograph is worthless.
• Jones was also (uncredited) the voice of the masked Darth Vader in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

Quotes

• "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."
• "The arts have always been an important ingredient to the health of a nation, but we aren't there yet."

External links

• Academy of Achievement Profile http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/jon2pro-1
• Academy of Achievement Biography http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/jon2bio-1
• Academy of Achievement Interview http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/jon2int-1
• Academy of Achievement Photo Gallery http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/jon2gal-1
• James Earl Jones at IMDb