Jones is known for his roles in “Field of Dreams” and Oscar-nominated “The Great White Hope,” but he’s most celebrated for having one of the most distinguished and recognizable voices in Hollywood.
Jones breathed life into the iconic role of “Star Wars” villain Darth Vader and is known to a generation as the voice of Mufasa in “The Lion King.” He was even a spokesperson for both Bell Atlantic and Verizon.
Throughout more than 60 years in Hollywood, Jones has won numerous awards and is among the few people with the rare distinction of receiving an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar (honorary), and Tony, despite not being an official EGOT winner.
Hollywood was quick to commemorate Jones following news of his death this week.
Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the original “Star Wars” trilogy, posted “#RIP dad” with a broken heart emoji on X.
Growing up in silence
Years before he was known for his legendary voice, Jones was a shy, stuttering student in Michigan who didn’t like speaking until a teacher encouraged him to get up in front of a class and recite a poem he wrote. According to an interview with CNN, Jones’ stutter was so bad that he stopped speaking for nearly a decade until he was 14.
“I had an English teacher in high school who discovered that when I read my own poetry that I didn’t stutter because I wasn’t in confrontation with other people’s feelings or thoughts but my own,” Jones said on “The Dick Cavett Show” in 1972. “I practiced reading poetry for a while, and I think that’s what got me into a feeling for reading dramatic things or dramatic interpretations.”
An award-winning career
Jones started his career in the theater in the 1950s. He appeared in many shows, including “Hamlet,” “Of Mice and Men,” “The Great White Hope” (1968), and “Fences,” the latter two for which he won Tony Awards.
He later starred in the movie adaptation of “The Great White Hope,” for which he was nominated for best actor at the Oscars. While many know him for roles in “Star Wars” and “The Lion King,” Jones appeared in a plethora of films in the ’80s and ’90s, including “Conan the Barbarian,” “Coming to America,” “Field of Dreams,” “The Hunt for Red October,” and “The Sandlot.”
While he never won an Oscar for any of his roles, Jones received an honorary Academy Award in 2011. Jones wasn’t able to accept his award in person as he was in London at the time, performing “Driving Miss Daisy.” Instead, the Academy aired a nine-minute presentation honoring him at the West End theater overseas.
Jones earned his Grammy for best spoken word album for his work on 1977’s “Great American Documents.” His two Emmys came in the same year for his roles on ABC’s “Gabriel’s Fire” and TNT’s “Heat Wave” in 1991.
Jones continued working on Broadway later in life appearing in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (2009) “Driving Miss Daisy” (2010), and opening a 2015 revival of “The Gin Game.”
The voice of Darth Vader
One of Earl’s most famous roles was voicing “Star Wars” villain Darth Vader in the original trilogy. Many didn’t know he was voicing the character until 1983’s “Return of the Jedi.”
Jones asked to be uncredited in the first two films. He believed that in providing voice to the character, but not acting the part, as David Prowse did, his work was akin to special effects.
“When Linda Blair did the girl in ‘The Exorcist,’ they hired Mercedes McCambridge to do the voice of the devil coming out of her. And there was controversy as to whether Mercedes should get credit,” Jones told Newsweek in 2008. “I was one who thought no, she was just special effects. So when it came to Darth Vader, I said, no, I’m just special effects.”
Jones said he denied voicing the character until “Return of the Jedi” came out and actually told people it was “Annie” actor Geoffrey Holder who voiced the legendary character. Jones told the American Film Institute he came into the role when director George Lucas realized Prowse’s Scottish accent wasn’t correct for the role. In that same interview, Jones said he was paid $7,000 to voice Vader in “A New Hope.”
In addition to the three original “Star Wars” movies, Jones also voiced the character in “Rogue One” and the animated series “Star Wars Rebels.”
Jones most recently reprised his role as the voice of Mufasa in a CG reimagining of “The Lion King” for Disney.
Jones was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in the ’90s. He told Rachael Ray he was in a center for dieting and weight control when a doctor suggested he get tested after falling asleep in a gymnasium. Jones told Good Housekeeping in 2018 that he managed the disease, in which a person’s blood glucose levels may rise higher than normal, by sticking with a balanced diet, exercising, and paying attention to his mental health.
Jones was married twice. He and his first wife, Julienne Marie, met at a “Shakespeare in the Park” production of “Othello.” A decade later, Jones married Cecilia Hart in 1982. The two also played opposite one another in a rendition of “Othello.” Hart died in 2016.
He is survived by his son, Flynn Earl Jones, from his second marriage.
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