lit a candle 2d agoFrom a small farm in Michigan to the whole world listening to his voice. He overcame so much and gave us stories that will live forever. Rest well.
Their story
James Earl Jones was born on 17 January 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi, to Ruth Connolly, a teacher and maid, and Robert Earl Jones, a boxer, butler, and chauffeur who left the family soon after the birth and later became a stage and screen actor. Jones later said his parents' ancestry…
James Earl Jones was born on 17 January 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi, to Ruth Connolly, a teacher and maid, and Robert Earl Jones, a boxer, butler, and chauffeur who left the family soon after the birth and later became a stage and screen actor. Jones later said his parents' ancestry included African American, Irish, and Native American lines. From about age five he was raised by his maternal grandparents, John Henry and Maggie Connolly, on their farm in Dublin, Michigan, after the family joined the Great Migration north. The uprooting, he wrote in *Voices and Silences*, felt like the end of a safe childhood. He developed a stutter so severe that he largely stopped speaking for years, communicating at school with notes until an English teacher, Donald Crouch, pressed him to read his own poetry aloud and helped him reclaim speech.
He graduated in 1949 from Dickson Rural Agricultural School (now Brethren High School) in Brethren, Michigan, then entered the University of Michigan as a pre-med student, joined ROTC, and shifted toward drama. He graduated in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts in drama. Commissioned as an Army officer after the Korean War armistice, he trained at Fort Benning, earned a Ranger Tab, and served with a cold-weather training unit near Camp Hale, Colorado, before leaving service as a first lieutenant. He worked at the Ramsdell Theatre in Manistee, then moved to New York, studied at the American Theatre Wing, and supported himself as a janitor while seeking roles. Broadway credits began with understudy work in *The Egghead* (1957) and the featured role of Edward the butler in *Sunrise at Campobello* (1958).
In the 1960s he became a leading Shakespearean presence at Shakespeare in the Park, playing Othello, King Lear, and other classical roles. Stanley Kubrick cast him as Lt. Lothar Zogg in *Dr. Strangelove* (1964), his feature-film debut, after seeing him on stage. Off-Broadway work in Jean Genet's *The Blacks* (1961) placed him among a generation of Black actors who would reshape American theatre. Stardom arrived with Howard Sackler's *The Great White Hope* (Arena Stage 1967; Broadway 1968), based on boxer Jack Johnson. Jones won the 1969 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play; the 1970 film version brought an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, making him the second African American man nominated in that category after Sidney Poitier. He continued as a classical and contemporary stage force, including *The Iceman Cometh*, *Of Mice and Men*, and a second Tony for August Wilson's *Fences* (1987) as Troy Maxson.
His voice entered global memory when he dubbed Darth Vader for *Star Wars* (1977) and its sequels while David Prowse wore the costume. At first he asked to go uncredited, comparing the work to special effects; by *Return of the Jedi* his name was on the film, and the association never left him. He later voiced Mufasa in Disney's *The Lion King* (1994) and returned for the 2019 remake, and for decades delivered CNN's "This is CNN" tagline. Screen roles ranged from *Claudine* and *Coming to America* to *Field of Dreams*, the Jack Ryan thrillers, *The Sandlot*, and *Cry, the Beloved Country*. On television he appeared in *Roots: The Next Generations*, won two Primetime Emmys in the same year (1991), and guest-starred widely. Late Broadway returns included *On Golden Pond*, *Cat on a Hot Tin Roof*, *Driving Miss Daisy*, *The Best Man*, *You Can't Take It with You*, and *The Gin Game*. In 2017 he received a Special Tony for Lifetime Achievement; in 2011 an Academy Honorary Award; in 2022 Broadway's Cort Theatre was renamed the James Earl Jones Theatre.
He married actress Julienne Marie in 1968; they divorced in 1972. In 1982 he married actress Cecilia Hart; their son, Flynn Earl Jones, was born in 1983. Hart died of complications from ovarian cancer in 2016. Jones spoke publicly in 2016 about living with type 2 diabetes diagnosed in the mid-1990s. He was a devout Roman Catholic convert from his Army years and described narrating the New Testament as among his greatest honors. In 2022 he authorized archival recordings for AI recreation of Vader's voice and stepped back from new Vader performances.
Jones died at his home in Pawling, New York, on 9 September 2024, aged 93, surrounded by family, his agent Barry McPherson confirmed. The Horn & Thomes funeral home obituary stated death due to natural causes; McPherson did not immediately give national outlets a more specific medical cause. Arrangements were private; the family asked memorial gifts for Hudson Valley Hospice or The Actors Fund. Find a Grave reports cremation with ashes retained by the family. Tributes came from George Lucas, Mark Hamill, Disney leadership, CNN, MLB, Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, and countless colleagues who called him a standard of dignity for Black actors and for American speech itself.
Biography adapted from EN Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Earl_Jones); AP News obituary (https://apnews.com/article/james-earl-jones-dies-19ea259ff3f44b91b2ed8730b702c23f); The Washington Post obituary; NPR; .
In their own words
“I was a stutterer. I couldn't talk. So my first year of school was my first mute year, and then those mute years continued until I got to high school.”
Recounting childhood speech block after moving to Michigan. Interviews cited on EN Wikipedia / Education Update and related profiles.
“When Linda Blair did the girl in *The Exorcist*, they hired Mercedes McCambridge to do the voice of the devil coming out of her... So when it came to Darth Vader, I said, no, I'm just special effects.”
Explaining why he initially refused Vader credit (Newsday Fast Chat, 2008). Wikipedia citing Newsday.
“The need to storytell has always been with us... I think it first happened around campfires when the man came home and told his family he got the bear, the bear didn't get him.”
On acting as service to story (AP interview around *The Gin Game*, 2015). AP obituary.
“One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can't utter.”
*Voices and Silences* (with Penelope Niven). Wikiquote.
“I have never traveled to anyone else's drumbeat.”
Memoir reflection on independence. Wikiquote / *Voices and Silences*.
“We were missing the dad.”
Recalling first playing Mufasa with lofty dignity until the team realized fathers are often dopey and goofy as well as grand (D23 / Disney Legend remembrance quoting Jones).
“You cannot change anybody's mind, no matter what you do... But you can change the way they feel.”
On art and Athol Fugard's example (AP). AP obituary.
Photos
7James Earl Jones in 2010 (Glasgow Film Festival)
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As Othello with Jill Clayburgh as Desdemona, Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, 9 April 1971
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A laughing James Earl Jones (Hopkins MLK gala, Baltimore, 2006)
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James Earl Jones in Baltimore
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Right. Shakespeare to Vader. The range.