James Earl Jones, an acclaimed actor known for his iconic voice, passed away Monday, Sept. 9 at age 93. Jones, who is known for voicing Darth Vader in “Star Wars” and Mufasa in “The Lion King,” said that perhaps the ”greatest honor” among his many accomplishments was recording the New Testament, which he did in memory of the man who helped him find his voice and Christian faith.
The Legacy of James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi, in 1931. He struggled with a stutter early in his life due to trauma he experienced when his family moved to Michigan during The Great Migration. Because of his stutter, Jones would stay silent for long periods of time. “I became just a non-verbal person,” he said in an interview. “I became a writer. And I was resigned to that.”
It was a teacher in high school named Professor Donald Crouch who helped Jones to grow comfortable speaking in public through an appreciation for poetry and the sound of the English language. Jones later credited Crouch for helping him find his faith as well as voice.
“He never pushed anything at me again; he just wanted all his students to wake up,” Jones told Guideposts Magazine in 1993. “He never even pressed us with religion but figured if we did wake up we would find God, find our calling and, in so doing, find life.”
A love of words attracted Jones to acting. “It wasn’t acting. It was language. It was speech,” he said, according to CNN. “It was the thing that I’d…denied myself all those years (as a boy). I now had a great—an abnormal—appreciation for it.”
Jones’ father, Robert Earl Jones, was himself an actor who knew poet and playwright Langston Hughes. James Earl Jones’ interest in acting developed while he was a student at the University of Michigan, in part because of his father. After university, however, he served as an Army Ranger. He then left the Army and became a prominent Shakespearean and Broadway actor.
Jones’ first movie role was as a bombardier in Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 film, “Dr. Strangelove.” Jones won a Tony for portraying Jack Jefferson in “The Great White Hope” and became the second Black man (after Sidney Poitier) to be nominated for an Academy Award after he portrayed Jefferson in the film adaptation of the play.
When George Lucas used Jones’ voice in the first “Star Wars” movie in 1977, Jones was uncredited by his own request, his reason being, “I’m just special effects.” The actor famously voiced the character of Darth Vader, who was played in costume by David Prowse. However, Jones became so known for that role as time went on that he allowed himself to be credited starting with “Return of the Jedi.”
