WASHINGTON — James Earl Jones, the award-winning stage and screen actor whose deep and booming yet gentle voice led to multiple emblematic movie roles, including one of the greatest villains of all-time, has died. He was 93.
His agent, Barry McPherson, confirmed Jones died Monday morning at home. The cause was not immediately clear.
Jones was born January 17, 1931, in Arkabutla, Miss. He struggled with stuttering throughout his early years. It caused him to remain nearly mute for eight years of his childhood, he told The Daily Mail in 2010.
"As a small child, I would communicate to my family, or at least those who didn't mind being embarrassed by my stutter or my being embarrassed," Jones said. "I did communicate with the animals quite freely, but then that's calling the hogs, the cows, the chickens. They don't care how you sound, they just want to hear your voice."
Jones credited the help of English teacher and poet Donald Crouch with helping him overcome his impediment. Jones called Crouch "the father of my voice."
Jones' loose portrayal of Jack Johnson, the first Black heavyweight boxing champion in "The Great White Hope" earned him a Tony Award. He reprised the role on the screen in 1970 and earned an Academy Award nomination for lead actor and a Golden Globe award for Most Promising Newcomer.
Jones would win another Tony, playing the role of Troy Maxson in "Fences" and nominations for "On Golden Pond" and "The Best Man." His other stage credits include "Othello," "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "Driving Miss Daisy."
The screen role for which Jones is best known came in 1977, and it was one in which the audience never saw his face. He was the voice of Darth Vader in the "Star Wars" saga. The man under the helmet and robes was actor David Prowse. In "Return of the Jedi," when Vader's mask was removed just before his death, the role was played by Sebastian Shaw. But when the helmet was on, the voice was all Jones.
According to Jones, "Star Wars" creator George Lucas knew the 6-foot 6-inch Prowse was his Vader, but that Prowse's tenor, Scottish accent wasn't right.
"George thought he wanted a -- pardon the expression -- darker voice. So he hires a guy born in Mississippi, raised in Michigan who stutters," Jones told the American Film Institute. "I lucked out."
Jones said he would rarely break out into the Vader voice in real life.
"I have no presumptions or no arrogance about my voice," Jones told Dick Cavett in 1995, citing his stuttering.
AFI ranked Darth Vader the third-greatest movie villain of all-time behind Hannibal Lecter and Norman Bates.
Jones also voiced Mufasa twice in Disney's "The Lion King," first in the 1994 animated film and reprising the role 25 years later in the computer-animated remake meant to make the animals look real.
One of Jones' most-beloved roles was as author and baseball fan Terrence Mann in 1989's "Field of Dreams." He also played King Jaffe Joffer in the 1988 Eddie Murphy comedy "Coming to America" and again in the 2021 sequel "Coming 2 America." And he played Vice Admiral Jim Greer in three Tom Clancy-inspired Jack Ryan films in the 1990s, including "The Hunt for Red October."
His total body of work earned him an honorary Oscar in 2012.
Jones earned two Emmys in 1991, as lead actor in a drama for "Gabriel's Fire" and as supporting actor in the TV movie "Heat Wave" about the 1965 Watts riots.
Add to all of that a Grammy Award in 1977 for Best Spoken Word Recording for "Great American Documents" along with Henry Fonda, Orson Welles and Helen Hayes.
He also lent his voice to cable news with the simple phrase, "This is CNN."
Jones' first marriage ended in divorce. He met his second wife, Ceclia Hart, on the set of the TV police drama "Paris." They married in 1982 and were together 34 years before she died in 2016 of ovarian cancer. The couple had a son, Flynn Earl Jones.
Famous fans and collaborators paid tribute to the award-winning actor on Monday.
“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," said “Star Wars” creator George Lucas. "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.”
The Empire State Building shared a video on social media of Darth Vader projected in lights on the skyscraper, captioned "May the Force be with you J. E. J."
“One of the world’s finest actors whose contributions to ‘Star Wars’ were immeasurable," actor Mark Hamill said. "He'll be greatly missed."
The Associated Press contributed.