James Earl Jones, the legendary actor and iconic voice behind Darth Vader in "Star Wars" and Mufasa in "The Lion King" has died. He was 93 years old.
Considered one of the best stage and screen actors in the business, Jones' career spanned more than 60 years, from his debut stage role as Othello in the late 1950s to lending his voice in the 2022 Disney+ miniseries "Obi-Wan Kenobi."
He's one of few actors to garner a non-competitive EGOT, meaning he'd won at least one of each of the major performing arts awards with one being an honorary award. In total, he earned three Tony Awards, two Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award and, in 2011, an Honorary Academy Award. Jones also had a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors and is a Disney Legend.
Though born in Arkabutla, Mississippi, to a single mother after his father left to pursue a stage and screen career, Jones was raised by his maternal grandparents in Dublin, Michigan, after the age of 5. He described the move as a period of "heartbreak" in his autobiography, saying it led him to develop a stutter.
Jones worked at a Michigan theater between military services before moving to New York. He made his Broadway debut in 1958 in "Sunrise at Campobello" before tackling various Shakespearean roles in the 1960s. That was also when he made his film debut with Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" in 1964.
From then on, Jones starred in various stage and film productions. He first starred as boxer Jack Jefferson in "The Great White Hope" in 1967, and after its move to Broadway the following year, Jones won his first Tony Award in 1969 for Best Actor. He later reprised the character when the play was adapted for screen in 1970. His first leading film role, the performance earned him an Academy Award nomination.
His other film credits include playing Lennie in the stage adaptation of "Of Mice and Men" in 1973, "Claudine" in 1974 — which earned him his first Golden Globe nomination — "Coming to America" alongside Eddie Murphy, "Field of Dreams," "Clear and Present Danger," and in Disney's "The Lion King" as Mufasa.
But Jones is likely best known for voicing the role of Darth Vader in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, starting with the initial George Lucas film "Star Wars: A New Hope" in 1977. He reprised the role in 1980's "The Empire Strikes Back," 1983's "Return of the Jedi," 2005's "Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith," 2016's "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," 2019's "Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker" and in the TV shows "Star Wars: Rebels" in 2014 and "Obi-Wan Kenobi" in 2022.
As for TV, Jones won both of his Emmys in 1991, one for Best Actor in "Gabriel's Fire" and the other for Best Supporting Actor in "Heat Wave." He also lent his voice to announcing "This is CNN" as part of a promo campaign for the news network.
On stage, Jones' credits also include "Fences" — which earned him his second Tony Award for Best Actor in 1987 — "On Golden Pond," "Driving Miss Daisy," "The Best Man" and "The Gin Game." He won a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2017.
And Jones' Grammy Award came in 1977 when he won Best Spoken Word Album for voicing "Great American Documents."
Beyond his work, Jones and his late wife Cecilia Hart shared one son, Flynn.
