The original link for this article on James Earl Jones is <http://www.starpulse.com/Actors/Jones,_James_Earl/Biography/
>
James Earl Jones Biography:
Possessing one of the most instantly recognizable voices in
entertainment history, James Earl Jones is one of America's most
distinguished and versatile actors. Although best-known to many people
as the voice of Darth Vader in Star
Wars or as the booming "Voice of CNN," Jones has led a
decades-old career encompassing film, television, and the stage.
Born Todd Jones on January 17, 1931, in Arkabutla, Mississippi, Jones
was the son of prize-fighter-turned-actor Robert
Earl Jones, whom he would not know for many years. At a young age,
he moved to Dublin, Michigan, where he was raised on the farm of his
mother's parents. Ironically enough, given that his voice would one day
make him famous, Jones suffered from a severe stutter as a child, and he
seldom spoke as a result. It was with the help of a high school teacher
that he began to use his voice to its full potential. After entering the
University of Michigan, where he went to study medicine, Jones continued
to develop his voice with acting lessons. The lessons gave Jones an
appetite for further theatrical experience, and he quit medicine to
devote his attentions to drama study. He made his stage debut in a
community theatre production in Manistee, Michigan, his last appearance
for a while, as he subsequently served time in the military.
After his discharge, Jones moved to New York, where he attended the
American Theatre Wing to further his training and worked as a janitor to
earn a living. In 1957, he made his Broadway debut, and during the
subsequent decade, he became one of the stage's most in-demand
African-American actors. His best-known stage role was as a boxing
champion in -The Great White Hope, which in 1969 won him the first of
two Tony Awards (the second was for August Wilson's -Fences in 1987).
During this time, Jones began working on television, appearing as a
doctor on the daytime dramas Guiding Light and As the World Turns. In
doing so, he became one of the first black actors to perform regularly
on soaps. Jones also crossed over to the big screen, making his film
debut as one of Slim
Pickens' flight crew in Stanley
Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love
the Bomb (1964). In 1970, he reprised his role in The
Great White Hope for the screen, earning Best Actor Oscar and Golden
Globe nominations for his portrayal of the proud yet conflicted boxer.
Jones continued to work on the stage, screen, and television throughout
the '70s, appearing in everything from documentaries about Martin
Luther King, Jr. to the 1974 comedy Claudine
to King
Lear (1977). In 1977, a few days of uncredited voiceover work for
the character of Darth Vader led to a measure of screen immortality, as
part of the enormous success of Star
Wars was the iconic menace of the screen villain's voice. Jones also
gave life to Vader's vocal chords for the next two films in the Star
Wars trilogy.
During the '80s and '90s, Jones continued to work steadily on the stage,
screen, and television. For the latter, he found particular acclaim in
1991, winning both a Best Actor Emmy for his work in Gabriel's Fire and
a Best Supporting Actor Emmy for his role in Heat
Wave. The acclaim he earned on TV was ably complemented by that he
found in film, as he appeared in an impressive scope of work by diverse
directors in disparate genres. In the late '80s, he could be seen doing
some of the best work in his film career, first as an oppressed coal
miner in John
Sayles' Matewan
(1987), then as an embittered, Salinger-like author in Field of Dreams
(1989). Jones spent the next decade branching out into the blockbuster
action genre with his work in The Hunt for Red October (1990) and its
two sequels, Patriot
Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994). He also did strong
dramatic work in such films as Cry, the Beloved Country (1995) and A
Family Thing (1996), the latter of which cast him as Robert
Duvall's estranged half-brother. Somewhat ironically, it was the
actor's voice that endeared him to a new generation when he voiced the
character of lion patriarch Mufasa in Disney's The
Lion King (1994).
In addition to the entertainment industry awards he has received over
the course of his career, Jones has been the recipient of a number of
other honors, including The National Medal of Arts (awarded to him by
President George Bush in 1992) and honorary doctorates from Yale,
Princeton, and Columbia Universities.
Rebecca Flint, All Movie Guide
|