By Jeff Spry,
www.space.com
The distinguished stage and screen performer passed away Monday in New York.
James Earl Jones, that mellifluous master actor and iconic voice of “Star Wars”’ Darth Vader and “The Lion King’s” Mufasa has passed away at the age of 93 in Dutchess County, New York, on Monday, Sept. 9. Per Deadline, this was confirmed by his agent at Independent Artists Group.
This legendary Hollywood actor was born on Jan. 17, 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi, the son of a smalltime prizefighter and occasional actor. With his father mostly absent from his upbringing, he was reared by his maternal grandmother prior to relocating to Michigan where he later attended the University of Michigan and was first introduced to the art of dramatic acting.
In a career that spanned over 60 years, Jones was a celebrated performer of stage and screen, appearing in roughly 200 Hollywood films, plays, and TV shows for which he was honored with a pair of Primetime Emmy Awards, a Daytime Emmy, Golden Globe, a spoken-word Grammy Award, and three Tony Awards for “The Great White Hope,” “Fences”, and Lifetime Achievement.
Jones was also a member of that rare society of performers to have won the coveted EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony), with his 2012 Academy Award statuette being a non-competitive Honorary prize. That special gold trophy was bestowed for “his legacy of consistent excellence and uncommon versatility.”
But he’s perhaps most famous for lending his commanding baritone pipes to Darth Vader in the original “Star Wars Trilogy” released from 1977 to 1983. He returned to provide Vader with his intimidating delivery in “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith” (2005), “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (2016), “Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker” (2019), the animated “Star Wars: Rebels” TV show and the live-action “Obi-Wan Kenobi” series on Disney+.
George Lucas landed Jones for the voice for his 1977 space fantasy’s black-garbed villain, Darth Vader, replacing the on-set dialogue recorded by actor David Prowse whose British accent wasn’t dark enough for the Sith Lord. For his one-day job delivering such memorable Vader lines as “I find your lack of faith disturbing,” Jones was paid a paltry lump sum of $7,000.
“James was an incredible actor, a most unique voice both in art and spirit,” said Star Wars creator George Lucas in a statement Monday.
“For nearly half a century he was Darth Vader, but the secret to it all is he was a beautiful human being. He gave depth, sincerity and meaning to all his roles, amongst the most important being a devoted husband to the late Ceci and dad to Flynn. James will be missed by so many of us…friends and fans alike.”