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James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931) is an American actor. His career has spanned more than 60 years, and he has been described as "one of America's most distinguished and versatile" actors[5] and "one of the greatest actors in American history".[6] Since his Broadway debut in 1957, Jones has won many awards, including a Tony Award for his role in The Great White Hope, which also earned him a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role for the film version of the play. Jones has won three Emmy Awards, including two in the same year in 1990. He is also known for his voice roles as Darth Vader in the Star Wars film series and Mufasa in Disney's The Lion King, as well as many other film, stage and television roles.
Jones has been said to possess "one of the best-known voices in show business, a stirring basso profondo that has lent gravel and gravitas" to his projects, including live-action acting, voice acting, and commercial voice-overs.[7][8] In 1970, he won a Grammy Award for Great American Documents. As a child, Jones had a stutter. In his episode of Biography, he said he overcame the affliction through poetry, public speaking, and acting, although it lasted for several years. A pre-med major in college, he went on to serve in the United States Army during the Korean War before pursuing a career in acting. On November 12, 2011, he received an Honorary Academy Award.[6] On November 9, 2015, Jones received the Voice Arts Icon Award.[9] On May 25, 2017, he received an Honorary Doctor of Arts degree from Harvard University and concluded the event's benediction with "May the Force be with you".[10]
Military
With the war intensifying in Korea, Jones expected to be deployed as soon as he received his commission as a second lieutenant. As he waited for his orders, he worked as a part-time stage crew hand at the Ramsdell Theatre in Manistee, Michigan, where he had earlier performed. Jones was commissioned in mid-1953, after the Korean War's end, and reported to Fort Benning to attend the Infantry Officers Basic Course. He attended Ranger School and received his Ranger Tab (although he said during an interview on the BBC's The One Show, screened on November 11, 2009, that he "washed out" of Ranger training). He 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. His battalion became a training unit in the rugged terrain of the Rocky Mountains. Jones was promoted to first lieutenant prior to his discharge.[21]
He moved to New York, where he studied at the American Theatre Wing. He worked as a janitor to support himself.
Jones has been said to possess "one of the best-known voices in show business, a stirring basso profondo that has lent gravel and gravitas" to his projects, including live-action acting, voice acting, and commercial voice-overs.[7][8] In 1970, he won a Grammy Award for Great American Documents. As a child, Jones had a stutter. In his episode of Biography, he said he overcame the affliction through poetry, public speaking, and acting, although it lasted for several years. A pre-med major in college, he went on to serve in the United States Army during the Korean War before pursuing a career in acting. On November 12, 2011, he received an Honorary Academy Award.[6] On November 9, 2015, Jones received the Voice Arts Icon Award.[9] On May 25, 2017, he received an Honorary Doctor of Arts degree from Harvard University and concluded the event's benediction with "May the Force be with you".[10]
Military
With the war intensifying in Korea, Jones expected to be deployed as soon as he received his commission as a second lieutenant. As he waited for his orders, he worked as a part-time stage crew hand at the Ramsdell Theatre in Manistee, Michigan, where he had earlier performed. Jones was commissioned in mid-1953, after the Korean War's end, and reported to Fort Benning to attend the Infantry Officers Basic Course. He attended Ranger School and received his Ranger Tab (although he said during an interview on the BBC's The One Show, screened on November 11, 2009, that he "washed out" of Ranger training). He 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. His battalion became a training unit in the rugged terrain of the Rocky Mountains. Jones was promoted to first lieutenant prior to his discharge.[21]
He moved to New York, where he studied at the American Theatre Wing. He worked as a janitor to support himself.
James Earl Jones - Wikipedia
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From stutterer to star: How James Earl Jones found his voice
James Earl Jones, the 83-year-old acting legend who recently made his return to Broadway in the play "You Can't Take It With You," discusses the highs and lo...
Thank you, my friend Maj Marty Hogan for letting us know that January 17 is the anniversary of the birth of American actor James Earl Jones with the easily recognizable deep bass voice.
He is an iconic actor and in was wonderful he lent his voice to as Darth Vader in the Star Wars film series and Mufasa in Disney's The Lion King.
Happy 88th Birthday James Earl Jones!
He is a wonderful man and actor in that order.
Images:
1. James Earl Jones and his wife, television and stage actress, Cecilia Hart, at the 2016 Tony Awards. Hart and Jones married in 1982, the same year that he played Othello opposite her Desdemona on Broadway. Cecilia died in 2016.
2. 2011: James Earl Jones receives the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences “Honorary Oscar” for Lifetime Achievement to the motion picture industry for “his legacy of consistent excellence and uncommon versatility.”
3. 1996: Guest of honor James Earl Jones at the American Academy of Achievement Summit in Sun Valley, Idaho.
4. 1991: James Earl Jones holding his awards at the Primetime Emmy Awards. Jones received two Emmy Awards: for Outstanding Supporting Actor in Heat Wave and for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Gabriel’s Fire.
From stutterer to star: How James Earl Jones found his voice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agi8JHyOZj0
Background from achievement.org/achiever/james-earl-jones/
"James Earl Jones was born in Arkabutla Township, Mississippi. His parents separated before his birth and he was raised by his grandparents on a farm that had been in the family since Reconstruction. When he was only five, the family moved north to a farm in rural Michigan, and the young boy found the adaptation so traumatic that he developed an incapacitating stutter. For years he refused to speak more than a few words at a time, even to his family. In school he pretended to be mute, and communicated only in writing. He began to express himself by writing poetry. In high school a sympathetic teacher named Donald Crouch saw through Jones’s insecurity. He challenged each student in the class to write a poem. Jones found inspiration in the citrus fruit the federal government had distributed in the area to relieve wartime shortages. When he turned in an “Ode to Grapefruit,” written in the epic meter of Longfellow’s “Hiawatha,” the teacher pretended to believe that Jones could not have written the poem himself, and challenged him to prove it by reciting it in front of the class. With his own verses committed to memory, Jones found he could speak without stuttering. Crouch encouraged Jones to compete in high-school debates and oratorical contests. One happy day in his senior year, he won both a public-speaking contest and a scholarship to the University of Michigan.
James Earl Jones was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi in 1931, the son of Robert Earl Jones (1910-2006), an actor, boxer, butler, and chauffeur who left the family after James Earl’s birth, and his wife, Ruth Jones, a teacher and maid. Jones and his father reconciled many years later and Jones was raised by his maternal grandparents. (Carl Van Vechten)
Jones entered the University of Michigan planning to study medicine, but found himself drawn to the theater. After completing service as an Army Ranger, he set off for New York City to pursue acting studies. It was not an easy choice. He lived in a $19-a-month apartment and scrubbed floors to make ends meet. Serious jobs for black actors were scarce, and Jones had before him the sobering example of his father, Robert Earl Jones, an actor who had been blacklisted for his political activism.
After a number of small roles, James Earl Jones attracted the attention of critics and audiences with his intense performance in the American premiere of Jean Genet’s absurdist drama, The Blacks. This historic 1961 production introduced the theater public to a new generation of outstanding African American actors; the cast included Roscoe Lee Brown, Raymond St. Jacques, Cicely Tyson, Godfrey Cambridge and Maya Angelou. Jones earned multiple awards for his performances in Moon on A Rainbow Shawl in 1962, and garnered an Obie as Best Actor in Off-Broadway Theater for his performance in Clandestine on the Morning Line. He received two Obies in 1965 for his work in Bertolt Brecht’s Baal and Shakespeare’s Othello.
In 1968 Jones earned widespread acclaim for his performance in The Great White Hope playing a character based on Jack Johnson, the first African American heavyweight champion. His performance in the play on Broadway won him his first Tony Award; he received an Oscar nomination for his performance in the 1970 film version.
In the decades since, James Earl Jones has continued to appear in memorable roles on stage, in feature films, and on television. He made his big screen debut in Dr. Strangelove in 1963, and has worked in over 50 films, appearing in everything from Conan the Barbarian to Field of Dreams. He played “Admiral Greer” in the highly popular series of films based on the Tom Clancy novels The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, and Clear and Present Danger.One of his favorite roles is that of the South African minister in the classic Cry, The Beloved Country. Younger audiences will recognize his voice as “King Mufasa” in the animated classic The Lion King, and as Darth Vader in the Star Wars films.
James Earl Jones has appeared on television regularly since the early 1960s. One of his most memorable appearances was as the writer Alex Haley in Roots II. In 1991, he won an Emmy for Best Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in the title role of Gabriel’s Fire,and as Best Supporting Actor for his role in the television film Heat Wave, making him the first person to win two acting Emmys in the same year. He is also heard by millions around the world every day intoning the words, “This is… CNN.”
Throughout his career, he has regularly returned to the live theater, winning acclaim for his performances in Of Mice and Men, in Athol Fugard’s Master Harold and the Boys, and as King Lear for the New York Shakespeare Festival. Over the years he has received numerous honors for his work. He won a second Tony Award for his stunning performance in the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Fences by August Wilson and directed by Lloyd Richards.
In 1992 he received the National Medal of Arts for his services to American culture. The following year, he won critical praise for his autobiography, Voices and Silences. He was honored by his peers with the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Screen Actors Guild in 2009 and received an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2011.
More than 40 years after his breakthrough performance in The Great White Hope, James Earl Jones remains active on both stage and screen. After returning to Broadway in a 2005 revival of the play On Golden Pond, he had leading roles on Broadway or on London’s West End in every season from 2008 to 2015. In 2008 he played Big Daddy in the Tennessee Williams classic Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, a role he reprised on London’s West End the following year. In 2010 and 2011, he enjoyed successful runs in New York and London starring opposite Vanessa Redgrave in an acclaimed revival of Driving Miss Daisy.
He played a cunning ex-president in the 2012 Broadway revival of Gore Vidal’s political drama The Best Man. The following year, he reunited with his Driving Miss Daisy co-star Vanessa Redgrave in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing at the Old Vic in London. On Broadway, he played the cheerfully eccentric grandfather in the classic comedy You Can’t Take It With You in 2014, and starred opposite Cicely Tyson in a revival of the two-character drama The Gin Game in 2015.
Cecilia Hart and James Earl Jones married in 1982, the same year that he played Othello opposite her Desdemona on Broadway. Cecilia died in 2016.
James Earl Jones was married to actress Cecilia Hart from 1982 until her death in 2016. They had one child, Flynn Earl Jones. Between roles, James Earl Jones makes his home on a secluded farm in upstate New York. In 2017, James Earl Jones received a Special Tony Award for lifetime achievement in the theater."
FYI Nicci Eisenhauer Kathlean KeeslerSGT Tim Fridley (Join to see) CPT Enrique M. Michael Horne SSG David Andrews CW5 Jack Cardwell SPC Gary Welch SGT Rick Colburn SMSgt Tom Burns SP5 Geoffrey Vannerson SPC Paul C. MSgt Dale Johnson Capt (Join to see) CWO3 Randy Weston Alan K.
He is an iconic actor and in was wonderful he lent his voice to as Darth Vader in the Star Wars film series and Mufasa in Disney's The Lion King.
Happy 88th Birthday James Earl Jones!
He is a wonderful man and actor in that order.
Images:
1. James Earl Jones and his wife, television and stage actress, Cecilia Hart, at the 2016 Tony Awards. Hart and Jones married in 1982, the same year that he played Othello opposite her Desdemona on Broadway. Cecilia died in 2016.
2. 2011: James Earl Jones receives the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences “Honorary Oscar” for Lifetime Achievement to the motion picture industry for “his legacy of consistent excellence and uncommon versatility.”
3. 1996: Guest of honor James Earl Jones at the American Academy of Achievement Summit in Sun Valley, Idaho.
4. 1991: James Earl Jones holding his awards at the Primetime Emmy Awards. Jones received two Emmy Awards: for Outstanding Supporting Actor in Heat Wave and for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Gabriel’s Fire.
From stutterer to star: How James Earl Jones found his voice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agi8JHyOZj0
Background from achievement.org/achiever/james-earl-jones/
"James Earl Jones was born in Arkabutla Township, Mississippi. His parents separated before his birth and he was raised by his grandparents on a farm that had been in the family since Reconstruction. When he was only five, the family moved north to a farm in rural Michigan, and the young boy found the adaptation so traumatic that he developed an incapacitating stutter. For years he refused to speak more than a few words at a time, even to his family. In school he pretended to be mute, and communicated only in writing. He began to express himself by writing poetry. In high school a sympathetic teacher named Donald Crouch saw through Jones’s insecurity. He challenged each student in the class to write a poem. Jones found inspiration in the citrus fruit the federal government had distributed in the area to relieve wartime shortages. When he turned in an “Ode to Grapefruit,” written in the epic meter of Longfellow’s “Hiawatha,” the teacher pretended to believe that Jones could not have written the poem himself, and challenged him to prove it by reciting it in front of the class. With his own verses committed to memory, Jones found he could speak without stuttering. Crouch encouraged Jones to compete in high-school debates and oratorical contests. One happy day in his senior year, he won both a public-speaking contest and a scholarship to the University of Michigan.
James Earl Jones was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi in 1931, the son of Robert Earl Jones (1910-2006), an actor, boxer, butler, and chauffeur who left the family after James Earl’s birth, and his wife, Ruth Jones, a teacher and maid. Jones and his father reconciled many years later and Jones was raised by his maternal grandparents. (Carl Van Vechten)
Jones entered the University of Michigan planning to study medicine, but found himself drawn to the theater. After completing service as an Army Ranger, he set off for New York City to pursue acting studies. It was not an easy choice. He lived in a $19-a-month apartment and scrubbed floors to make ends meet. Serious jobs for black actors were scarce, and Jones had before him the sobering example of his father, Robert Earl Jones, an actor who had been blacklisted for his political activism.
After a number of small roles, James Earl Jones attracted the attention of critics and audiences with his intense performance in the American premiere of Jean Genet’s absurdist drama, The Blacks. This historic 1961 production introduced the theater public to a new generation of outstanding African American actors; the cast included Roscoe Lee Brown, Raymond St. Jacques, Cicely Tyson, Godfrey Cambridge and Maya Angelou. Jones earned multiple awards for his performances in Moon on A Rainbow Shawl in 1962, and garnered an Obie as Best Actor in Off-Broadway Theater for his performance in Clandestine on the Morning Line. He received two Obies in 1965 for his work in Bertolt Brecht’s Baal and Shakespeare’s Othello.
In 1968 Jones earned widespread acclaim for his performance in The Great White Hope playing a character based on Jack Johnson, the first African American heavyweight champion. His performance in the play on Broadway won him his first Tony Award; he received an Oscar nomination for his performance in the 1970 film version.
In the decades since, James Earl Jones has continued to appear in memorable roles on stage, in feature films, and on television. He made his big screen debut in Dr. Strangelove in 1963, and has worked in over 50 films, appearing in everything from Conan the Barbarian to Field of Dreams. He played “Admiral Greer” in the highly popular series of films based on the Tom Clancy novels The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, and Clear and Present Danger.One of his favorite roles is that of the South African minister in the classic Cry, The Beloved Country. Younger audiences will recognize his voice as “King Mufasa” in the animated classic The Lion King, and as Darth Vader in the Star Wars films.
James Earl Jones has appeared on television regularly since the early 1960s. One of his most memorable appearances was as the writer Alex Haley in Roots II. In 1991, he won an Emmy for Best Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in the title role of Gabriel’s Fire,and as Best Supporting Actor for his role in the television film Heat Wave, making him the first person to win two acting Emmys in the same year. He is also heard by millions around the world every day intoning the words, “This is… CNN.”
Throughout his career, he has regularly returned to the live theater, winning acclaim for his performances in Of Mice and Men, in Athol Fugard’s Master Harold and the Boys, and as King Lear for the New York Shakespeare Festival. Over the years he has received numerous honors for his work. He won a second Tony Award for his stunning performance in the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Fences by August Wilson and directed by Lloyd Richards.
In 1992 he received the National Medal of Arts for his services to American culture. The following year, he won critical praise for his autobiography, Voices and Silences. He was honored by his peers with the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Screen Actors Guild in 2009 and received an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2011.
More than 40 years after his breakthrough performance in The Great White Hope, James Earl Jones remains active on both stage and screen. After returning to Broadway in a 2005 revival of the play On Golden Pond, he had leading roles on Broadway or on London’s West End in every season from 2008 to 2015. In 2008 he played Big Daddy in the Tennessee Williams classic Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, a role he reprised on London’s West End the following year. In 2010 and 2011, he enjoyed successful runs in New York and London starring opposite Vanessa Redgrave in an acclaimed revival of Driving Miss Daisy.
He played a cunning ex-president in the 2012 Broadway revival of Gore Vidal’s political drama The Best Man. The following year, he reunited with his Driving Miss Daisy co-star Vanessa Redgrave in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing at the Old Vic in London. On Broadway, he played the cheerfully eccentric grandfather in the classic comedy You Can’t Take It With You in 2014, and starred opposite Cicely Tyson in a revival of the two-character drama The Gin Game in 2015.
Cecilia Hart and James Earl Jones married in 1982, the same year that he played Othello opposite her Desdemona on Broadway. Cecilia died in 2016.
James Earl Jones was married to actress Cecilia Hart from 1982 until her death in 2016. They had one child, Flynn Earl Jones. Between roles, James Earl Jones makes his home on a secluded farm in upstate New York. In 2017, James Earl Jones received a Special Tony Award for lifetime achievement in the theater."
FYI Nicci Eisenhauer Kathlean KeeslerSGT Tim Fridley (Join to see) CPT Enrique M. Michael Horne SSG David Andrews CW5 Jack Cardwell SPC Gary Welch SGT Rick Colburn SMSgt Tom Burns SP5 Geoffrey Vannerson SPC Paul C. MSgt Dale Johnson Capt (Join to see) CWO3 Randy Weston Alan K.
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I just love anything that James earl Jones stars in, that in itself makes a better movie with his talent.
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