96 Facts About James Earl Jones

James Earl Jones was born on January 17,1931 and is an American actor.

James Earl Jones has been described as "one of America's most distinguished and versatile" actors for his performances in film, television, and theater, and "one of the greatest actors in American history".

James Earl Jones's voice has been praised as a "a stirring basso profondo that has lent gravel and gravitas" to his projects, including live-action acting, voice acting, and commercial voice-overs.

James Earl Jones made his film debut in Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film Dr Strangelove.

James Earl Jones worked steadily in theater winning his first Tony Award in 1968 for his role in The Great White Hope, which he reprised in the 1970 film adaptation earning him Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations.

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James Earl Jones received his second Golden Globe Award nomination for his leading role opposite Diahann Carroll in the 1974 romantic comedy-drama film Claudine.

James Earl Jones gained international fame for providing the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise, beginning with the original 1977 film.

James Earl Jones won his second Tony Award in 1987 for his role in August Wilson's Fences.

James Earl Jones appeared in You Can't Take it With You with Annaleigh Ashford and in The Gin Game alongside Cicely Tyson.

James Earl Jones has reprised his roles in recent Star Wars media, The Lion King and Coming 2 America.

Over his career, James Earl Jones has won three Tony Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award.

James Earl Jones was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1985.

James Earl Jones was invited by President Barack Obama to perform Shakespeare at the White House Evening for Poetry in 2009.

James Earl Jones received an Honorary Academy Award on November 12,2011.

James Earl Jones received an Honorary Doctor of Arts degree from Harvard University on May 25,2017.

James Earl Jones was honored with a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2017.

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 has said in interviews that his parents were both of mixed African-American, Irish and Native American ancestry.

James Earl Jones was educated at the Browning School for boys in his high school years and graduated in 1949 as vice president of his class from Dickson Rural Agricultural School in Brethren, Michigan.

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 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.

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James Earl Jones was assigned to Headquarter 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, where he studied at the American Theatre Wing.

James Earl Jones began his acting career at the Ramsdell Theatre in Manistee, Michigan.

James Earl Jones performed his first portrayal of Shakespeare's Othello in this theater in 1955.

The play ran only 21 performances, however three months later, James Earl Jones created the featured role of Edward the butler in Dore Schary's Sunrise at Campobello at the Cort Theatre in January 1958.

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.

Also during this time, James Earl Jones made his film debut in Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb as the young Lt.

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.

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.

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 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 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.

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In 1977, James Earl Jones made his debut in his iconic voiceover role as Darth Vader in George Lucas' space opera blockbuster film Star Wars: A New Hope, which he would reprise for the sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

Darth Vader was portrayed in costume by David Prowse in the film trilogy, with James Earl Jones dubbing Vader's dialogue in postproduction 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, which was notable as the first program on which Steven Bochco served as executive producer.

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 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 has 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 has played lead characters on television in three series.

In both formats of that show, James Earl Jones played a former policeman wrongly convicted of murder who, upon his release from prison, became 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 with his 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 left by Charles Kuralt, upon Kuralt's death.

In 1990, James Earl Jones performed voice work for The Simpsons first "Treehouse of Horror" Halloween special, in which he was the narrator for the Simpsons' version of Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven".

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James Earl Jones voiced the Emperor of the Night in Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night and Ommadon in Flight of Dragons.

In 2002, Jones received Kennedy Center Honors at the John F Kennedy Center in Washington DC Also at the ceremony included fellow honorees Paul Simon, Elizabeth Taylor, and Chita Rivera.

James Earl Jones has done the CNN tagline, "This is CNN", as well as "This is CNN International", and the opening for CNN's morning show New Day.

James Earl Jones was a longtime spokesman for Bell Atlantic and later Verizon.

James Earl Jones lent his voice to the opening for NBC's coverage of the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics; "the Big PI in the Sky" in the computer game Under a Killing Moon; a Claymation film, The Creation; and several other guest spots on The Simpsons.

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.

Also 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 for Best Performance in a Lead Role in a Revival.

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, James Earl Jones starred alongside Annaleigh Ashford as Grandpa in the Broadway revival You Can't Take it With You at the Longacre Theatre, Broadway.

On September 23,2015, James Earl Jones opened in a new revival of The Gin Game opposite Cicely Tyson, in 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 brief voice cameo in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

James Earl Jones reprised the role of King Jaffe Joffer in Coming 2 America, the sequel to Coming to America.

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 with AI voice software using archive audio of James Earl Jones.

In 1968, James Earl Jones married actress and singer Julienne Marie, whom he met while performing as Othello in 1964.

James Earl Jones was diagnosed in the mid-1990s after his doctor noticed he had fallen asleep while exercising at a gym.

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James Earl Jones is Catholic, having converted during his time in the military.

James Earl Jones has 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 in the Broadway production of the same name.

James Earl Jones voiced various characters on the animated series The Simpsons in three separate seasons.

In 2011 James Earl Jones received the Honorary Academy Award presented to him by Ben Kingsley.

James Earl Jones has received two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and a Grammy Award.

James Earl Jones is 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 won the 2014 Voice Icon Award sponsored by Society of Voice Arts and Sciences at the Museum of the Moving Image.