GOAT Personified: James Earl Jones

James Earl Jones died at 93 as the greatest African American stage & screen actor who brushed aside the plague of racism as well as a life-long stutter to also become the most recognizable voice in the world.

As the WSJ obituary said: “Across a career that spanned eight decades [and much of it during the height of the Great Civil Rights Movement], Jones appeared in celebrated & beloved films such as “Field of Dreams” & “Coming to America,” as well as in Tony-winning Broadway productions including August Wilson’s “Fences.” His biggest passion, in fact, was acting on the stage & often took on Hollywood to get enough to money to keep food on the table for his family. While he appeared in Stanley Kubrick’s iconic “Dr. Strangelove” in 1964, Jones’s break-through role was a double-whammy via “The Great White Hope,” in which he portrayed Jack Jefferson, a character based on the boxer Jack Johnson. First, he'd win a Tony for his stage performance in 1969, then, his first Oscar nomination for his starring role in the 1970 film adaptation.

But Jones would ironically become “best known for performances in which he used only his voice, from Mufasa of Walt Disney’s 1994 animated blockbuster “The Lion King,” to Star Wars villain Darth Vader. David Prowse wore the suit, but Jones’s voice made the character.” Said Star Wars creator George Lucas at the 2015 American Theatre Wing Gala honoring Jones, ‘It was really a choice between Orson Welles & James Earl Jones. James Earl … won hands down. He created, with very little dialogue, one of the greatest villains that ever lived.’” In 1995, “when a reporter … told him it was ironic someone who had a severe stutter & often refused to talk as a child would grow up to have a voice that was his calling card, Jones pointed out that ‘the great Olympic runner Wilma Rudolph had serious leg problems. Dancer Gwen Verdon had rickets as a child Demosthenes put pebbles in his mouth & became a great orator. If you acknowledge a weak muscle & exercise it, it can define your life.’”