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James Earl Jones, the renowned actor best recognized for his countless film roles and his powerful voice as Darth Vader in the "Star Wars" franchise, has passed away, an agent for the actor confirmed to ABC News.
He was 93 years old.
In the company of his family, Jones passed away on Monday morning at his Dutchess County, New York, home, according to longtime agent Barry McPherson.
Career and Achievements
Acting for over sixty years, the thespian won three Tony Awards, including a lifetime honor in 2017, two Emmys, and a Grammy. It was his powerful, deep voice that made the iconic villain of Darth Vader come to life. 2011 saw him honored for his lifetime accomplishments at the Academy Awards.
Born in Mississippi in 1931, Jones famously struggled with a severe stutter as a young child.
"People would come to the house and there'd be introductions made and I couldn't introduce myself," he told PBS in 2014 of just how bad the affliction was back then. Jones said he learned to stay silent for long stretches at a time.
"I found it was, oh, so good sometimes because silence isn't bad. It's good to listen. And I learned to listen," Jones told PBS.
Early Life and Career
Jones's stutter was the catalyst for his career as an actor, as his high school English teacher had helped him speak more clearly through poetry. Jones had his sights set on Broadway for his theatrical and artistic career following his time in college, the Army, and the Korean War.
In the 1950s and '60s, Jones was a Broadway staple. His work was nominated for four Tony Awards, from "On Golden Pond" to "The Best Man." He won for "The Great White Hope" in 1969 and "Fences" in 1987.
Television and Film Success
At nearly the same time, he was receiving praise on television. For his work on "East Side/West Side," the eventual two-time Emmy Award winner received his first nomination in the 1960s.
In 1991, he received his Primetime Emmys for Best Actor in the series "Gabriel's Fire" and Best Supporting Actor in the miniseries "Heat Wave." Additionally, in 2000, he was awarded a Daytime Emmy for the children's program "Summer's End."
Jones later earned his first Oscar nod, adapting "The Great White Hope" to the silver screen in 1970, playing boxer Jack Jefferson. Jones was just the second Black actor after Sidney Poitier to be recognized by the academy with a nomination.
Iconic Role as Darth Vader
For the majority of the 1970s, Jones kept up his busy schedule between stage, television, and film. Afterwards, he was chosen to provide the voice of Darth Vader, a brand-new antagonist, in the space opera "Star Wars: A New Hope" in 1977.
Bodybuilder David Prowse would don the black mask of the Sith lord, but Jones was the voice behind many famous quotes from the movie and its follow-ups, such as "I find your lack of faith disturbing" and, of course, his big reveal to Luke Skywalker in "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980).
"I'm simply special effects," he told the American Film Institute in 2009 about voicing a character who was physically played by someone else. "George [Lucas] wanted, pardon the expression, a darker voice, so he hires a guy born in Mississippi, raised in Michigan, who stutters. That's the voice, that's me. I lucked out. From all these so-called handicaps, I lucked out to get a job."
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