Stage and Screen Legend James Earl Jones Dies at 93

Veteran actor James Earl Jones, who over the course of his career earned three Tony Awards (including a Special Award for Lifetime Achievement), two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award and an honorary Academy Award, died on September 9 at his home in Dutchess County, NY. He was 93.

Jones' acting career spanned seven decades. Born on January 17, 1931, in Arkabutla, Mississippi, of Irish, Cherokee and African descent, he was mostly brought up by his maternal grandparents on their farm in Michigan. He overcame a severe stutter as a child and attended the University of Michigan where he studied medicine and acting, before serving in the military during the Korean War. Jones later worked as a janitor while studying at the American Theatre Wing.

In 1958, Jones made his Broadway debut in Sunrise at Campobello (after serving as an understudy in 1957's The Egghead), and he continued to appear on stage throughout his working life. He won his first Tony Award in 1969 for The Great White Hope; he later received an Oscar nomination for reprising the role of boxer Jack Jefferson in the screen adaptation. Jones' second Tony came for Fences in 1987, with additional nominations for On Golden Pond and Gore Vidal's The Best Man. Other notable Main Stem performances include The Iceman Cometh, Of Mice and Men, Othello, and more recently, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Driving Miss Daisy and You Can't Take It With You. His final Broadway performance was in the 2015 revival of The Gin Game, in which he starred opposite Cicely Tyson. In 2022, the Cort Theatre (where Jones performed in Sunrise at Campobello) was renamed the James Earl Jones Theatre in his honor.

Emmy-nominated in 1963 for his role on East Side/West Side, in 1964 Jones made his silver screen debut as Lieutenant Lothar Zogg in Stanley Kubrick's war satire Dr. Strangelove. Additional film credits included Claudine, Conan the Barbarian, Matewan, Field of Dreams, The Sandlot, King Jaffe Joffer Coming to America, Cry, the Beloved Country, A Family Thing, and Vice Admiral James Greer in The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger.

Jones was perhaps most famous for his voice work—Darth Vader in in 1977's Star Wars, 1980's The Empire Strikes Back and 1983's Return of the Jedi, along with Mufasa in 1994's animated movie The Lion King. He also earned a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Great American Documents in 1977. On television, he won a pair of Emmys in 1991, for his leading role in the dramatic series Gabriel's Fire and his supporting role on the miniseries Heat Wave.

Awarded a Kennedy Center Honor in 2002, an honorary Academy Award in 2011 and a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2017, Jones is survived by his son, Flynn Earl Jones. He was predeceased by his second wife, Cecilia Hart, who died in 2016.