James Earl Jones, voice of Darth Vader and ‘Field of Dreams’ star, dead at 93

Jones’ long Hollywood career defied expectations. Jones was mute for nearly eight years, until he was 14, as he suffered from a serious stutter that developed after he moved to Michigan at a young age. His stutter was was suspected to be caused by childhood trauma— and it was actually his high school English teacher, poet Donald Crouch, who helped him work to overcome it. As Crouch challenged him to memorize poems and recite them in front of his class, Jones was able to speak more clearly. “He got me engaged in the debating class, the dramatic reading class and so on,” Jones told The Daily Mail in a 2010 interview. “He got me talking, and reading poetry — Edgar Allan Poe was my favorite.” After high school, Jones went to The University of Michigan, initially to study medicine, but found himself falling in love with acting, switching his major to drama. He completed service as an Army Ranger before moving to New York to pursue acting. He lived in an apartment that cost $19 per month and did other chores, like scrubbing floors, to make money. In 1961, Jones performed in the American premiere of “The Blacks,” a play written by Jean Genet that explored race, inspired by Ghana’s 1957 independence

From a galaxy far far away, to the Kingdom of Zamunda, to a cornfield in Iowa, the world mourns

May the force be with you, rest in peace James Earl Jones.