James Earl Jones died today, in Dutchess County, NY; he was 93. With his passing, it seems like an entire era has passed. He received a B.A. in drama in 1955, and did various theatre gigs before and after a stint in the U.S. Army. During the Army he became Catholic, and continued to be for the rest of his life. After some moderate success on stage, he had his film debut with Dr. Strangelove in 1964 (Kubrick had liked his stage portrayal of Othello), but his career really began to take off with his role in 1970 with The Great White Hope (he had starred in the stage version a few years earlier). He was quite busy from then on, but of course had his most iconic voice role in 1977, when he was dubbed in for Darth Vader in Star Wars. It was an uncredited role, as would be the same role in Empire Strikes Back, and the first movie earned Jones a grand total of $7000, although he did receive credit in The Return of the Jedi. (Jones himself would always say that he didn't think of it as an ordinary acting role, but more as a contribution to special effects, so he didn't mind not being credited for it, but by the third movie thought he might as well be, given that everyone knew it was him, anyway.) But this was far from Jones's peak as an actor; he contributed to a long string of very successful movies in the 80s and 90s, becoming one of the most recognizable actors of the era.
In the past several years, James Earl Jones signed a few contracts to allow certain rights-holders to continue to use his voice, as imitated by computer software, for new parts. But the world is less for the loss of the warmhearted and famously approachable man behind the voice.
