James Earl Jones — the prolific American film, TV and theatre actor known best for lending his voice to Star Wars villain Darth Vader and The Lion King's Mufasa — has died. Representatives for Jones confirmed the actor passed away Monday morning at his home in Pawling, NY, though a cause of death was not revealed. He was 93.
Born in Arkabutla, MS, in 1931, Jones struggled with a stutter in childhood, and found that acting and reading original poetry helped him overcome his speech tendency. His father, Robert Earl Jones, left the family shortly after his birth, later becoming a stage and screen actor. The two later met and reconciled in the 1950s.
Jones would serve in the Korean War after graduating from the University of Michigan, where he majored in drama to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. Pursuing a career in acting, he made his Broadway debut in 1957, and performed in several Shakespeare plays the following decade, including Othello, Hamlet, Coriolanus and King Lear. The '60s also saw Jones make his film debut in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, playing Lt. Lothar Zogg.
In 1968, Jones won his first Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role as a boxer in Howard Sackler's The Great White Hope, which he reprised in the 1970 film adaptation for his first lead film role. In 1977, Jones made his debut as the voice of Darth Vader in George Lucas's Star Wars: A New Hope, reprising the role for sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. By his own request, Jones was uncredited for the release of the first two Star Wars films, as David Drowse portrayed the villain on set, though he was credited by the third film.
In 2022, Jones announced his retirement from voicing Darth Vader, and signed a deal that will see archival voice recordings of him portraying the character for future use in Lucasfilm projects. Jones is credited for "guiding the performance" of Darth Vader in Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi, marking the first instance of the Vader speech synthesis technology's use.
Jones's film and television credits across his extensive career also include turns in Coming to America and its 2021 sequel, The Simpsons, Field of Dreams, The Hunt for Red October, Recess, Will & Grace, The Sandlot, The Lion King, Click, Frasier, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Sesame Street, Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory.
Jones's career honours include three Tony Awards, two Emmys and a Grammy Award, in addition to the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honor, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Awards and the Honorary Academy Award, the last of which made him an EGOT winner.