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James Earl Jones, the legendary performer who gave Darth Vader his iconic voice, has passed away. Jones was 93 years old, and his career as an actor spanned seven decades. A cause of death hasn’t yet been publicly released, but Jones died at his home in Dutchess County, New York.
Jones was born on January 17, 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi. He was considered to be one of the greatest actors of his era, and he was also one of the few who have ever won the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony). During his long career, Jones earned two Emmy awards, a Grammy, and three Tony Awards as well as an honorary Academy Award in 2012.
Prior to breaking into Hollywood, Jones made his Broadway debut in 1957 and established himself as a Shakespearean actor. He won his first Tony Award for The Great White Hope in 1968 before reprising his role in the film adaptation two years later. But his first movie was Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove in 1964, and he parlayed that part into numerous roles over the decades including leading roles in Conan the Barbarian, Coming to America, Field of Dreams, The Hunt for Red October, The Sandlot, and both versions of The Lion King.
Jones’ most prominent role came in 1977 when he was cast as the voice of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars. He reprised his role in The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Revenge of the Sith, Rogue One, and Star Wars Rebels.
On television, Jones was an early guest star on The Simpsons as Bleeding Gums Murphy, the jazz idol of Lisa Simpson. His voice also became synonymous with the Cable News Network when he recorded the promo “This is CNN.”
One of Jones’ final live-action movies came in 2021 when he reprised his role as King Jaffe Joffer in Coming 2 America. In 2022, Jones retired from portraying Darth Vader and signed a deal with Lucasfilm that allowed the studio to recreate his voice for the Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries. Any future appearances of Darth Vader will be created the same way with Respeecher.
Jones was married twice. He had a single child, Flynn Earl Jones, with his second wife, Cecilia Hart. Jones and Hart were married until her death at age 68 in 2016.
Image credit: Getty Images/The Washington Post
