James Earl Jones (January 17, 1931, Arkabutla, Mississippi, USA - September 9, 2024, Pawling, New York, USA) was an American actor. His career has spanned more than 60 years, and he was described as "one of America's most distinguished and versatile" actors and "one of the greatest actors in American history". Since his Broadway debut in 1957, Jones won many awards, including a Tony Award and Golden Globe Award for his role in The Great White Hope. Jones won three Emmy Awards, including two in the same year in 1991, and he also earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role in the film version of The Great White Hope. He was 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 was described 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. 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. On November 9, 2015, Jones received the Voice Arts Icon Award. 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".
Jones was also known as the voice of Darth Vader in the 1977 film Star Wars: A New Hope and its sequels The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). Darth Vader was portrayed in costume by David Prowse in the film trilogy, with Jones dubbing Vader's dialogue in postproduction because Prowse's strong West Country accent was deemed unsuitable for the role by George Lucas. At his own request, Jones was uncredited for the original releases of the first two Star Wars films, though he later would be credited for the first film in its 1997 "Special Edition" re-release.
His other voice roles include Mufasa in the 1994 Disney film The Lion King and its direct-to-video sequel, The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. Archive recordings from the film would later be used for the English version of the 2006 video game Kingdom Hearts II since Jones himself did not reprise the role. He reprised Mufasa in the 2015 TV pilot movie The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar. Jones reprised his roles in recent Star Wars media, The Lion King (2019) and Coming 2 America (2021). In 1990, Jones performed voice work for The Simpsons first "Treehouse of Horror" Halloween special, in which he was the narrator for the Simpsons' version of Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven".
Jones died at his home in Pawling, New York, on September 9, 2024, at the age of 93. His cause of death was not immediately disclosed.
| Year | Image | Character | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-2020 | 
|
Darth Vader (Archive) | Star Wars Galaxy of Adventures |
| 2014-2018 | 
|
Darth Vader | Star Wars Rebels |
| 2005 | 
|
Voice Box Hardware Store | Robots |
| 1998 | 
|
Mufasa | The Lion King II: Simba's Pride |
| 1994 | 
|
Maggie Simpson | The Simpsons |
| 1994 | 
|
Mufasa | The Lion King |