‘Star Wars’ icons mourn James Earl Jones

Famous fans and collaborators are paying tribute to James Earl Jones, the award-winning actor and commanding voice of Darth Vader, who died Monday at 93.

His agent, Barry McPherson, confirmed that Jones died at home in New York’s Hudson Valley region. The cause was not immediately clear.

“James was an incredible actor, a most unique voice both in art and spirit. For nearly half a century he was Darth Vader, but the secret to it all is he was a beautiful human being,” Star Wars creator George Lucas, said in a statement to AP. “He gave depth, sincerity and meaning to all his roles, amongst the most important being devoted husband to the late Ceci and dad to Flynn. James will be missed by so many of us ... friends and fans alike.”

Actor Mark Hamill, who played Vader’s son Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars movies, called Jones “one of the world’s finest actors whose contributions to Star Wars were immeasurable”.

The pioneering Jones, who in 1965 became one of the first African American actors in a continuing role on a daytime drama ( As the World Turns) and worked deep into his ‘80s, won two Emmys, a Golden Globe, two Tony Awards, a Grammy, the National Medal of Arts and the Kennedy Center Honors. He was also given an honorary Oscar and a special Tony for lifetime achievement. In 2022, a Broadway theatre was renamed in his honour.

Film roles

Jones created such memorable film roles as the reclusive writer coaxed back into the spotlight in Field of Dreams, the boxer Jack Johnson in the stage and screen hit The Great White Hope, the writer Alex Haley in Roots: The Next Generation and a South African minister in Cry, the Beloved Country.

He was also a sought-after voice actor, expressing the villainy of Darth Vader (“No, I am your father,” commonly misremembered as “Luke, I am your father”), as well as the benign dignity of King Mufasa in both the 1994 and 2019 versions of Disney’s The Lion King and announcing “This is CNN” during station breaks. He won a 1977 Grammy for his performance on the Great American Documents audiobook.

Some of his other films include Dr Strangelove, The Greatest (with Muhammad Ali), Conan the Barbarian, Three Fugitives and playing an admiral in three blockbuster Tom Clancy adaptations – The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. In a rare romantic comedy, Claudine, Jones had an on-screen love affair with Diahann Carroll.

Jones made his Broadway debut in 1958’s Sunrise At Campobello and would win his two Tony Awards for The Great White Hope (1969) and Fences (1987). He was also nominated for On Golden Pond (2005) and Gore Vidal’s The Best Man (2012). He was celebrated for his command of Shakespeare and Athol Fugard alike. More recent Broadway appearances include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Driving Miss Daisy, The Iceman Cometh, and You Can’t Take It With You.

Actor Denzel Washington, in an interview with the AP at the Toronto International Film Festival, shared that Jones provided needed representation in his early days in the industry. “He meant everything to me. The first two roles I played in college were The Emperor Jones and Othello, which were two of his. He was the north star. It was James Earl Jones. For me and for us, being in the theatre in New York in the late ’70s, theatre was what I thought I was going to do, to play The Emperor Jones like James. I wanted to be James Earl Jones. To be honest with you, when I started there weren’t a whole lot of black people for me to be like. We weren’t the leading men,” said Washington.

Disney CEO Bob Iger also paid his respects in a statement. “From the gentle wisdom of Mufasa to the menacing threat of Darth Vader, James Earl Jones gave voice to some of the greatest characters in cinema history. A celebrated stage actor with nearly 200 film and television credits to his name, the stories he brought to life with a uniquely commanding presence and a true richness of spirit have left an indelible mark on generations of audiences.”