James Earl Jones, the beloved stage and screen actor who lent his iconic, deep voice to Darth Vader in Star Wars and Mufasa in The Lion King, has died at 93.
Regarded as one of the best actors of his generation, Jones’ career spanned Shakespeare to Hollywood hits. He is one of the few actors to have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony Award.
The actor’s death was reported by Deadline, via his representatives at Independent Artist Group.
James Earl Jones was born January 17, 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi and raised by his grandparents in Dublin, Michigan. While he would later become one of the most famous voices in the world, he says he suffered from a stutter in his youth.
“I was a stutterer. I couldn’t talk,” Jones recalled in a 1996 interview. “So my first year of school was my first mute year, and then those mute years continued until I got to high school.” A teacher encouraged him to overcome his stutter by reading poetry aloud.
Jones served in the US Army during the Korean War, and after decided to pursue a career in acting. He studied at the American Theatre Wing, working as a janitor to support himself. By the 1960s, Jones was establishing himself as one of his generation’s great Shakespearean actors, playing roles like Othello and King Lear. He also made his film debut in Stanley Kubrick’s classic 1964 comedy Dr. Strangelove, as bombadier Lt. Lothar Zogg.
In 1967, he played a boxer in The Great White Hope, winning the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. He reprised the role in the 1970 film version, receiving his first Academy Award nomination.
Amidst all his acclaimed acting work, Jones soon landed his most well-known and iconic role — one where he didn’t even have to appear on set: voicing the villainous Darth Vader in Star Wars. While Vader was played in costume by David Prowse, Jones dubbed over the lines with his own deep bass voice, helping to create one of the most famous characters in movie history.
While Jones originally opted to go uncredited for the role, it has become perhaps his most famous performance. He continued to voice Vader for decades, in the two sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, the prequel Revenge of the Sith and the spin-off Rogue One. In 2022, Jones retired from the role, but signed an agreement for his voice to be used in future projects using artificial intelligence and archive recordings.
Jones also provided the voice of another beloved movie character, Mufasa in the 1994 Disney film The Lion King. Jones later reprised the role in the 2019 remake.
Throughout the ’80s and ’90s, Jones appeared in many Hollywood films, including Conan the Barbarian, Coming to America, Field of Dreams, and The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games and The Sandlot. He also won his second Tony Award, starring in the original production of August Wilson’s Fences.
He received eight Emmy Award nominations for his television work, winning twice in 1991: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for Heat Wave and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Gabriel’s Fire.
Jones also continued to perform on Broadway: over the past 20 years he starred in revivals of On Golden Pond, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Driving Miss Daisy, The Best Man and You Can’t Take it With You.
Jones was the recipient of many awards and honors throughout his acclaimed career. He received an Honorary Academy Award in 2011, making him one of the only people to have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award, known as “EGOT.” Broadway’s Cort Theatre was renamed the James Earl Jones Theatre in his honor in 2022.
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Goldie Hawn’s 7-year-old granddaughter is pretty much a spitting image of her famous grandma
Given that Goldie Hawn is not only ageless but also has a wonderful and endearing relationship with her spouse Kurt Russell and is arguably the most entertaining person in Hollywood, you can’t help but watch her.
She is a devoted mother and grandmother to her three biological children, one stepchild, and six grandchildren, and her social media accounts reflect this.
Hollywood romances don’t usually last very long. Celebrity relationships usually come and go. Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, though, are unquestionably an example of how to make it work even after a long marriage.
In 1983, Goldie began dating fellow Hollywood celebrity and the love of her life, Kurt Russell. More than three decades later, the pair is still deeply in love with and adores one another; they don’t even feel the need to be married.
“So as long as my emotional state is in a state of devotion, honesty, caring, and loving, then we’re fine. I like waking up every day and seeing that he is there and knowing that I have a choice. There is really no reason to marry,” Goldie told Woman’s Day in 2007.
Kurt stated, “Everyone has their marker on what is really important and where you draw the line,” in an interview with the Daily Mail in 2018. The kids come first was Goldie and my main principle.
Through the Goldie Hawn Foundation’s MindUp initiative, which she founded in 2003 to assist improve settings for kids so they may succeed in school and in life, Goldie puts the needs of all children first.
Every time you see her with her daughter Kate Hudson, a Hollywood star in her own right, you can tell how much she loves her own kids. With her second husband Bill Hudson, Goldie had a daughter named Kate and her older brother Oliver.
The amusing mother-daughter team recently made an appearance on the Ellen show, where Goldie made fun of how close she was to daughter Kate when she gave birth to Rani Rose Hudson Fujikawa, who is now one year old.
“The doctor was in there and I could see the head and then it disappeared,” Goldie animatedly declared on the show. “And I’m looking over his shoulder, then the doctor turned to me and said ‘Goldie if you get any closer you’re gonna fall in.’”
In addition, Kate has two sons: Ryder Russell, 15, and Bingham Hawn Bellamy, 8.
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