Caption: Jones alongside the Darth Vader character.Article information
- Author, Editor
- Title by the author, BBC News World
- September 9, 2024
Updated 10 September 2024
James Earl Jones, the actor who voiced the character of Darth Vader in “Star Wars,” has died at the age of 93.
Jones died Monday morning surrounded by his family, his agent said.
The American actor had a prolific career that included such titles as “Field of Dreams,” “Coming to America” and “Conan the Barbarian.” He also voiced Mufasa in Disney’s 1994 film “The Lion King.”
But Jones, who was born in 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi, was certainly best known to the general public for lending his distinctive raspy voice to supervillain Darth Vader.
The actor voiced Vader in the original Star Wars film, which was released in 1977, and its sequels “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi.”
He reprised the role in later Star Wars films, including Star Wars: Rogue One and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, both released in the late 2010s.
In these films, another actor donned the Darth Vader costume and provided the famous villain’s movement, while Jones provided his deep, instantly recognizable voice.
“I love being a part of that whole myth, that whole cult,” Jones said in an interview, adding that he was happy to oblige fans who asked him to recite the line “I am your father.”
The actor said he never made much money playing Darth Vader (just US$9,000 for the first film) and considered it simply a special effects job.
He did not even ask to appear in the credits of the first two Star Wars films, according to the Reuters news agency.
Caption: Jones with her honorary Oscar, received in 2012.
Part of the EGOT club
Throughout his career spanning more than six decades, Jones participated in almost 200 film, television and theatre productions, according to the EFE news agency.
He made his big screen debut in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, although fame came to him in 1970 with his role in the film The Great White Hope, in which he played the first African-American US heavyweight champion.
For that role he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Leading Actor in 1971, although he would not win the statuette until 2012, when he received an honorary Oscar.
He made his Broadway debut in 1958 in Sunrise at Campobello, which won the Tony Award for Best Play.
Throughout his career he won two of these awards as an actor, one for his role in the stage version of The Great White Hope and another for Fences.
Jones also won two Emmys and a Grammy, making him one of the privileged few members of the EGOT club (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony winners).
Click here to read more stories from BBC News Mundo.
And remember that you can receive notifications in our app. Download the latest version and activate them.
