James Earl Jones

James Earl Jones was born on January 17, 1931, on the Arkabutla farm of his maternal grandfather, John Henry Connolly, in Tate County, Mississippi. He was the only son of Robert Earl Jones — a prizefighter who later worked as a butler and chauffeur and went on to a career on the stage and screen — and Ruth Connolly, a teacher and maid. His father left the family soon after his birth, and from the age of five the boy was raised chiefly by his grandparents, moving with them to Michigan.

The uprooting was so wounding that young James developed a severe stutter and fell almost entirely silent, living as a functional mute through much of his childhood. A high-school teacher, Donald Crouch, drew him back into speech through poetry and public recitation — the first freeing of a voice that would one day become one of the most recognized on earth. Jones studied at the University of Michigan and served as a U.S. Army officer during the Korean War era before committing himself fully to the theater.

On the stage he became the principal American classical actor of his generation, winning Tony Awards for The Great White Hope (1969) and Fences (1987). He earned a Grammy for the spoken-word recording Great American Documents, two Primetime Emmys in a single year (1991), and an Honorary Academy Award in 2011. To generations beyond the theater he was the thunder behind Darth Vader in the Star Wars trilogy and the warmth of Mufasa in The Lion King.

He died on September 9, 2024, at his home in Pawling, New York, at the age of 93. May the voice that rose from silence to move a whole world be honored forever.