James Earl Jones, the man who lent his voice to many iconic characters, has sadly passed away at the age of 93.
The news was confirmed by his representatives at Independent Artist Group to Deadline.
Widely celebrated as one of the greatest actors of his generation, Jones is among the elite few to have achieved EGOT status, having won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards.
His accolades include two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Daytime Emmy, a spoken-word Grammy Award in 1977, and three Tony Awards.
In 2012, he was honored with an Honorary Academy Award.
Jones’ film career began with a role in Stanley Kubrick’s classic Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb in 1964, and he went on to appear in some of cinema’s most successful and beloved films.
He is perhaps best known for his unforgettable voice performance as Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy, a role he reprised in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), and most recently in the 2022 television series Obi-Wan Kenobi.
“I knew the voice had to be very, very special,” Lucas said in 2015 during an American Theatre Wing gala honoring Jones, cited by Rolling Stone.
“It was a tough choice, but in the end, it was a really easy choice. It was really a choice between Orson Welles and James Earl Jones. James Earl Jones won hands down. He created, with very little dialogue, one of the greatest villains that ever lived.”
Jones himself reflected on the experience in The Making of Star Wars, saying, “I understand that George did contact Orson Welles to read for the voice of Darth Vader before he contacted me. I was out of work, and he said, ‘Do you want a day’s work?’” Jones earned just $7,000 for the role in the first film and was initially left uncredited, though he was later added to the credits in subsequent releases.
Beyond Star Wars, Jones is also celebrated for voicing Mufasa in Disney’s The Lion King, both in the 1994 animated classic and the 2019 live-action adaptation.
Our thoughts are with his loved ones at this time.
