Remembering James Earl Jones, who died on September 9 at age 93
his is what happens with the death of an actor who figured in a massively popular franchise: because nearly everybody on the planet knows whois, nearly every mainstream news report of James Earl Jones’s death must associate him first and foremost with that role. But Jones, who was born in Mississippi in 1931 and died on September 9, at age 93, did so much more—as an actor, heso much more. His career was so long and so varied that there’s no efficient way to hopscotch through it.
Jones was nominated for an Oscar only once, for his starring role as boxer Jack Jefferson in Martin Ritt’s 1971 dramaIn 1969, for playing the same role on Broadway, he’d won the first of his two Tony awards; the other came in 1987, for his performance as blue-collar worker and former Negro league baseball star Troy Maxson inAnd in 2012, he at last received an honorary Oscar, a way of recognizing his expansive film career.
But awards aren’t our only measure of greatness; actually, they’re a pretty meager one. Though Jones was a contemporary ofand Harry Belafonte, his career didn’t reach the same heights; in America at that time, we had room for only so many Black stars—our lack of imagination, not to mention tolerance, is part of the history we have to reckon with. But Jones brought the deepest kind of pleasure to audiences, and that gift should never be underestimated.
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