James Earl Jones was born in January 17, 1931, he is a talented American Actor. Jones, is one of the most versatile and amazing actor, his performance on screen stage is fabulous, also he is one of the most amazing actors in American history. His voice has been praised as “a stirring basso profondo that has lent gravel and gravities” to his projects.
Jones has received many awards including, Three Tony Awards two Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award. His fame in career began from 1985. He has received the National Medal of Arts in year 1992, the kennedy Center Honor in 2002, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in year 2009 and the Honorary Academy Award in 2011.
Before pursuing his acting career, Jones has also served to the US Army while the Korean War. His first Broadway came in 1957, he has portrayed in many Shakespeare plays including, Othello, Hamlet, Coriolanus and King Lear.
He worked faster in theatre winning his 1st Tony Award in 1968, for his performance in, The Great White Hope, which he repeated in the 1970 film adaptation earning him Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations.
In 1997, Jones, won his 2nd Tony Award for his portrayal in August Wilson’s Fences. James was further Tony nominated for his performance in On Golden Pond in 2005, and The Best Man in 2012. Few other debut portrayals including, Cat on a Hat Tin Roof in year 2008, Driving Miss Daisy in 2010-2011, You Can’t Take It With You in 2014, and The Gin Game in 2015-2016. In 2017, Jones has won a Special Tony Award for lifetime achievement.
Jones, started from the film, Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove in 1964. James won a Golden Globe Award nomination for Claudine in 1974. He became popular after his mesmerizing voice as Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise, starting with the real 1977 movie
. Other famous roles such as, Conan The Barbarian in 1982, Matewan in 1987, Coming To America in 1988, Field of Dreams in 1989, The Hunt For Red October in 1990, The Sandlot in 1993, and The Lion King in 1994. He has repeated his portrayal in Star Wars media, The Lion King in 2019 and Coming 2 America in year 2021.
Jones, was born in, Arkabutla, Mississippi. His mother, (1911-1986),Ruth, a teacher and maid, and father, Robert Earl Jones who’s born in 1910-2006, a boxer, butler and chauffeur. Jones’s father separated shortly after Jones’s Birth and later he became a stage and screen actor in NY and Hollywood.
James and his father, not get to know each other until the 1950s, when they confessed. James addressed, to a interviewer that his mother and father, were both of mixture of Africa American, Irish and Native of American ancestry.
When he was just 5, he was raised by his maternal grandparents, John Henry and Maggie Connolly, On their farm in Jackson, Michigan; they shifted from Mississippi in the Great migration. James found the change to living with his grandparents in Michigan traumatic and developed a stammer so severe that he rejected to speak.
“ I was a Stammer. I wasn’t able to talk. So I can say my first year of school was my first mute year, and later, those mute years continued until I got to high school. James, credits his English teacher, Donald Crouch, who discovered he had a gift of writing poetry, he helped to end his silence. His teacher always challenge him to speak via reading poetry aloud to the class.
James, completed his graduation in 1949, from Dickson Rural Agriculture School, in Brethren, Michigan, where James, served as vice president of his class. He studied at the, University of Michigan, where he was starting a pre med major. Later he joined, Reserve Officers Training Corps and excelled.
James, feel like, comfortable with the structure of the military ambience and enjoyed the vibe of his fellow cadets in the Pershing Rifles Drill Team and Scabbard and Blade Honor Society.
At the time of the course of his studies, James found he was not cut out to be a doctor. He showed interest towards on drama at the University Of Michigan with the thought of doing something interested, earlier he thought, he would have to go off a fight in the Korean War. Later, 4 years of college, James completed his graduation in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts with a major in drama.
James has had an Great career in movies, television and theatre. He began his career from, starring in 1964 political satire film Dr. Strangelove as Lt. Lothar Zogg. After, he went on to star in the 1970 film The Great White Hope as Jack Jefferson, a role he 1st played in the Broadway production of the Same Name. Additionally, his TV projects including, filming Woodrow Paris in the series Paris between 1979 and 1980.
He gave his voice to various roles on the animated series The Simpson in 3 separate seasons in (1990, 1994, 1998). As well as his theatre projects including, Sunrise at Campobello 1958-1959, Danton’s Death in 1965, The Iceman Cometh In 1973-1974, Of Mice And Men in 1974-1975, On Golden Pond in 2005, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof in 2008, and You Can’t Take it With You in 2014-2015.
James, married actress and singer, Julienne Marie in 1968, James encounter her while performing as Othello in 1964. The duo had no children and divorced in 1972. After sometimes, he married to Cecilia Hart, in 1982, the couple had a son, Flynn, born in 1982.
Due to ovarian cancer his wife, Hart, passed away on October 16, 2016. He announced for the first time in nearly 20 years about his long term health issues with Type 2 diabetes, in April 2016. James, was diagnosed in middle of 1990s later his doctor recognize he had fallen asleep while exercising at a gym.
