1. James Earl Jones was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1985, and was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 1992, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2002, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2009, and the Academy Honorary Award in 2011.
James Earl Jones made his Broadway debut in the play Sunrise at Campobello and gained fame starring in several productions with Shakespeare in the Park including Othello, Coriolanus, Hamlet, and King Lear.
James Earl Jones was nominated for other Tonys for his roles as part of an elderly couple in On Golden Pond and as a former president in The Best Man.
James Earl Jones acted in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Driving Miss Daisy, You Can't Take It with You, and The Gin Game.
James Earl Jones received a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2017.
On film, James Earl Jones made his acting debut in Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove.
James Earl Jones reprised his role as a boxer in the film adaptation of The Great White Hope, earning a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
James Earl Jones gained international fame for his voice role as Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise.
James Earl Jones was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi, on January 17,1931, to Ruth, a teacher and maid, and Robert Earl Jones, a boxer, butler, and chauffeur.
James Earl Jones's father left the family shortly after James Earl's birth and later became a stage and screen actor in New York and Hollywood.
James Earl Jones said in interviews that his parents were both of mixed African-American, Irish, and Native American ancestry.
In 1949, James Earl Jones graduated from Dickson Rural Agricultural School in Brethren, Michigan, where he served as vice president of his class.
James Earl Jones attended the University of Michigan where he was initially a pre-med major.
James Earl Jones joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps and excelled.
James Earl Jones felt comfortable within the structure of the military environment and enjoyed the camaraderie of his fellow cadets in the Pershing Rifles Drill Team and Scabbard and Blade Honor Society.
James Earl Jones graduated from the university in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in drama.
James Earl Jones was commissioned in mid-1953, after the Korean War's end, and reported to Fort Benning to attend the Infantry Officers Basic Course.
James Earl Jones attended Ranger School and received his Ranger Tab.
James Earl Jones was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 38th Regimental Combat Team.
James Earl Jones was initially to report to Fort Leonard Wood, but his unit was instead sent to establish a cold-weather training command at the former Camp Hale near Leadville, Colorado.
James Earl Jones's battalion became a training unit in the rugged terrain of the Rocky Mountains.
James Earl Jones was promoted to first lieutenant prior to his discharge.
James Earl Jones moved to New York City, where he studied at the American Theatre Wing and worked as a janitor to support himself.
James Earl Jones began his acting career at the Ramsdell Theatre in Manistee, Michigan.
The play ran only 21 performances, but three months later, in January 1958, James Earl Jones created the featured role of Edward the butler in Dore Schary's Sunrise at Campobello at the Cort Theatre.
James Earl Jones tackled roles such as Othello and King Lear, Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Abhorson in Measure for Measure, and Claudius in Hamlet all at Shakespeare in the Park.
In 1961, James Earl Jones appeared in an Off-Broadway production of The Blacks by Jean Genet, alongside eight subsequently prominent Black actors, including Roscoe Lee Browne, Cicely Tyson, Lou Gossett and others.
Kubrick was there initially to cast Scott in Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, but then considered James Earl Jones saying "I'll take the black one too".
In December 1967, James Earl Jones starred alongside Jane Alexander in Howard Sackler's play, The Great White Hope, at the Arena Stage in Washington, DC James Earl Jones took the role of the talented but troubled boxer "Jack Jefferson", who is based on the real champion Jack Johnson.
James Earl Jones himself won the 1969 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play, and the Drama Desk Award for his performance.
In 1969, James Earl Jones participated in making test films for the children's education series Sesame Street; these shorts, combined with animated segments, were shown to groups of children to gauge the effectiveness of the then-groundbreaking Sesame Street format.
James Earl Jones appeared on the soap opera Guiding Light.
In 1970, James Earl Jones reunited with Jane Alexander in the film adaptation of The Great White Hope.
James Earl Jones portrayed boxer Jack Johnson, a role he had previously originated on stage.
James Earl Jones's performance was acclaimed by critics and earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.
James Earl Jones was the second African-American male performer after Sidney Poitier to be nominated for this award.
In 1973, James Earl Jones played Hickey on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theater in a revival of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh and starred in the title role of William Shakespeare's King Lear opposite Paul Sorvino, Rene Auberjonois, and Raul Julia at the New York City Shakespeare Festival in Central Park, which was recorded and broadcast in the PBS Great Performances series the following year.
In 1974, James Earl Jones played Lennie on Broadway in the 1974 Brooks Atkinson Theatre production of the adaptation of John Steinbeck's novella, Of Mice and Men, with Kevin Conway as George and Pamela Blair as Curley's wife.
In 1974, James Earl Jones co-starred with Diahann Carroll in the film Claudine, the story of a woman who raises her six children alone after two failed and two "almost" marriages.
In 1977, James Earl Jones played Balthazar in the television series Jesus of Nazareth.
Darth Vader was portrayed in costume by David Prowse in the film trilogy, with James Earl Jones dubbing Vader's dialogue in post-production because Prowse's strong West Country accent was deemed unsuitable for the role by director George Lucas.
At his own request, James Earl Jones was uncredited for the release of the first two Star Wars films, though he would be credited for the third film and eventually for the first film's 1997 "Special Edition" re-release.
In 1977, James Earl Jones received a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Great American Documents.
In late 1979, James Earl Jones appeared on the short-lived CBS police drama Paris.
James Earl Jones starred that year in the critically acclaimed TV mini-series sequel Roots: The Next Generations as the older version of author Alex Haley.
In 1987, James Earl Jones starred in August Wilson's play Fences as Troy Maxson, a middle aged working class father who struggles to provide for his family.
James Earl Jones won widespread critical acclaim, earning himself his second Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.
James Earl Jones starred in the independent film Matewan, which dramatized the events of the Battle of Matewan, a coal miners' strike in 1920 in Matewan, a small town in the hills of West Virginia.
James Earl Jones received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his performance.
In 1985, James Earl Jones lent his bass voice as Pharaoh in the first episode of Hanna-Barbera's The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible.
From 1989 to 1992, James Earl Jones served as the host of the children's TV series Long Ago and Far Away.
James Earl Jones lent his distinctive bass voice to the role of Mufasa in the 1994 Disney animated film The Lion King.
James Earl Jones had the distinction of winning two Primetime Emmys in the same year, in 1991 as Best Actor for his role in Gabriel's Fire and as Best Supporting Actor for his work in Heat Wave.
James Earl Jones performed voice work for The Simpsons: in the 1990 "Treehouse of Horror" Halloween special and in two other episodes.
In both formats of that show, James Earl Jones played a former policeman wrongly convicted of murder who, upon his release from prison, becomes a private eye.
In 1995, James Earl Jones starred in Under One Roof as Neb Langston, a widowed African-American police officer sharing his home in Seattle with his daughter, his married son and children, and Neb's newly adopted son.
James Earl Jones portrayed Thad Green on "Mathnet", a parody of Dragnet that appeared in the PBS program Square One Television.
In 1998, Jones starred in the widely acclaimed syndicated program An American Moment.
James Earl Jones took over the role filled by Charles Kuralt, upon Kuralt's death.
On July 13,1993, accompanied by the Morgan State University choir, James Earl Jones spoke the US national anthem before the 1993 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Baltimore.
In 2002, Jones received Kennedy Center Honors at the John F Kennedy Center in Washington, DC Also at the ceremony were fellow honorees Paul Simon, Elizabeth Taylor, and Chita Rivera.
James Earl Jones voiced the CNN tagline, "This is CNN", as a part of the network's tenth anniversary in 1990.
James Earl Jones lent his voice to the opening for NBC's coverage of the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics.
Jones narrated all 27 books of the New Testament in the audiobook James Earl Jones Reads the New Testament.
In November 2009, James Earl Jones reprised the role of Big Daddy in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof at the Novello Theatre in London's West End.
In 2009, for his work on film and television, James Earl Jones was presented with the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award by Forest Whitaker.
In October 2010, James Earl Jones returned to the Broadway stage in Alfred Uhry's Driving Miss Daisy, along with Vanessa Redgrave at the Golden Theatre.
In November 2011, James Earl Jones starred in Driving Miss Daisy in London's West End, and on November 12 received an honorary Oscar in front of the audience at the Wyndham's Theatre, which was presented to him by Ben Kingsley.
In March 2012, James Earl Jones played the role of President Art Hockstader in Gore Vidal's The Best Man on Broadway at the Schoenfeld Theatre: he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.
In 2013, James Earl Jones starred opposite Vanessa Redgrave in a production of Much Ado About Nothing directed by Mark Rylance at The Old Vic, London.
From February to June 2013, James Earl Jones starred alongside Dame Angela Lansbury in an Australian tour of Driving Miss Daisy.
In 2014, Jones starred alongside Annaleigh Ashford as Grandpa in the Broadway revival of the George S Kaufman comedic play You Can't Take It with You at the Longacre Theatre on Broadway.
On September 23,2015, James Earl Jones opened in a new revival of The Gin Game opposite Cicely Tyson, at the John Golden Theater, where the play had originally premiered.
In 2015, James Earl Jones starred as the Chief Justice Caleb Thorne in the American drama series Agent X alongside actress Sharon Stone, Jeff Hephner, Jamey Sheridan, and others.
James Earl Jones officially reprised his voice role of Darth Vader for the character's appearances in the animated TV series Star Wars Rebels and the live-action film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, as well as for a three-word cameo in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
In September 2022, James Earl Jones announced that he would retire from the role of voicing Darth Vader with future voice roles for Vader being created by that means.
In 1968, James Earl Jones married actress and singer Julienne Marie, whom he met while performing as Othello to her Desdemona in 1964.
James Earl Jones was diagnosed in the mid-1990s after his doctor noticed he had fallen asleep while exercising at a gym.
James Earl Jones was a devout Roman Catholic, having converted during his time in the military.
James Earl Jones described his narration of the New Testament as "his greatest honor".
James Earl Jones died at his home in Pawling, New York, on September 9,2024, at the age of 93.
James Earl Jones was everything to me as a budding actor.
The Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw wrote, "like Sidney Poitier or Harry Belafonte or Paul Robeson, [James Earl Jones] was an African American actor with a beautiful voice which was the key to his dignity and self-respect as a performer; it was how his characters rose above racism and cruelty", and described James Earl Jones as "movie royalty".
James Earl Jones was recognized as a groundbreaker and pioneer for African Americans for his significant roles on stage and television.
In 1965, James Earl Jones became one of the first African American actors in a continuing role on a daytime drama acting in As the World Turns.
In 2022, the Cort Theatre was renamed after James Earl Jones, becoming the second Broadway venue named after a Black theatrical artist, the first being the August Wilson Theatre named after the playwright August Wilson.
The Cort Theatre was the same stage on which James Earl Jones made his Broadway debut in 1958.
James Earl Jones had an extensive career in film, television, and theater.
James Earl Jones started out in film by appearing in the 1964 political satire film Dr Strangelove as Lt.
James Earl Jones then went on to star in the 1970 film The Great White Hope as Jack Jefferson, a role he first played at Washington's Arena Stage in the world premier of Howard Sackler's play of the same name.
James Earl Jones acted in Roots, Jesus of Nazareth, Picket Fences, and Homicide: Life on the Street.
James Earl Jones voiced various characters on the animated series The Simpsons in three separate seasons.
James Earl Jones received two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and a Grammy Award.
James Earl Jones was the recipient of a Golden Globe Award and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.
In 1985, James Earl Jones was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame He was the 1987 First recipient of the National Association for Hearing and Speech Action's Annie Glenn Award.
James Earl Jones received the 1996 Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars.
James Earl Jones received an Honorary Academy Award on November 12,2011.
James Earl Jones was the 2012 Marian Anderson Award Recipient.
James Earl Jones won the 2014 Voice Icon Award sponsored by Society of Voice Arts and Sciences at the Museum of the Moving Image.
James Earl Jones was honored with a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2017.