Hollywood great James Earl Jones in some of his most iconic roles over his long career. The career actor used his distinctive, and booming voice to cast a long career on the stage and on the screen.
Jones known as the voice of Star Wars supervillain and The Lion King's Mufasa. He passed away on September 9 at his home in Dutchess County, NY. Have YOU got a story? EmailStar Wars legend Mark Hamill has shared a short but touching tribute to James Earl Jones following his death age 93, simply writing: 'RIP Dad', alongside a broken heart emoji.
Mark was joined by a number of other celebrities including Kevin Costner and Octavia Spencer in paying tribute to screen legend James. Jones made his screen debut as a bombardier in Stanley Kubrick's 1964 black-comedy masterpiece Dr. Strangelove - and forged an acclaimed Hollywood career. He was hired by Star Wars director George Lucas for Vader's terrifying vocals - with Jones saying: 'He thought about using Orson Welles but realized he might be too recognizable, so he hired me to do the voice, by just reading the words off the page. I did it in a couple of hours.'
The Field of Dreams and Lion King star and voice of Darth Vader passed away on September 9 at his home in Dutchess County, NY, his representatives confirmed to Deadline 'I am your father,' Vader tells Luke Skywalker, portrayed by Mark Hamill, in a pivotal fight scene in The Empire Strikes Back - a twist etched in cinema history.
Jones' commercial heyday came in the 1980s and '90s, when he appeared in Conan The Barbarian , Field Of Dreams and The Hunt For Red October , among many other films. The star is pictured with his Tony Award in 1987 for his role in the play Fences - seen with Linda Lavin Discussing how he voiced the 'dignified' lion, he said: 'My first mistake was to try and make him regal. And what they really needed was something more like me. “They said,"What are you like as a father?" and I said,"Well, I’m really a dopey dad.”
'One of the interesting things that people ask me is , “What was the inspiration for Lion King?” Actually, one of the big inspirations for it was Star Wars. So the fact that he was in Star Wars, there was a real connection. He played the ultimate villain in that movie and in our movie, he played the ultimate hero. It was one of the things that made that film so memorable and different from many other Disney movies.’‘He loved to laugh, and his laugh and his voice were obviously so incredible.
'My doctor, who happened to be there, said that's not normal. He encouraged me to go get a test, and I did — and there it was: type 2 diabetes. It hit me like a thunderbolt. Jones previously said: 'When I came to NY to study acting, my father - the actor Robert Earl Jones - took me on a Grand Tour. The first night was to the opera Tosca starring Leontyne Price. I loved the singing, but I didn't understand the format of opera.'
This earned him his first two Golden Globe nominations - for Best Actor and New Star of the Year - winning the latter. Jones was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi and from the age of five was raised by his maternal grandparents on their farm in Dublin, Michigan. 'As a small child, I would communicate to my family, or at least those who didn't mind being embarrassed by my stutter or my being embarrassed. I did communicate with the animals quite freely, but then that's calling the hogs, the cows, the chickens. They don't care how you sound, they just want to hear your voice.'
'And what he meant was that if you become so conscious about it you become too busy making all those deep S-O-U-N-D-S,' and he lets the word echo in his booming voice.
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