James Earl Jones, an American stage and film actor with versatility and awards, passed away on Monday, according to his reps. Jones was best known for portraying the legendary “Star Wars” villain Darth Vader with his powerful, deep voice. His age was ninety-three.

From his interpretations of August Wilson and Shakespeare’s plays to his unforgettable voiceovers in the popular space saga and as Mufasa in the beloved Disney film “The Lion King,” Jones won over audiences with his ability to represent both the common person and the supernatural.

He received an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement, two Emmys, a Grammy, and three Tony awards, including a lifetime award.

After Sidney Poitier, he was the only other Black male to receive an Academy Award nomination for best actor in 1971.

All of these honors were earned with difficulty since Jones, who was born on January 17, 1931, in a segregated Mississippi, had to overcome a childhood stutter that frequently prevented him from speaking at all.

“Stuttering hurts.” In 2010, Jones told the Daily Mail, “I used to try to read my lessons in Sunday school, and the kids behind me would just fall on the floor laughing.”

At the encouragement of an English teacher, he began reciting his own poetry in order to develop vocal control. This was important because Darth Vader, who would eventually terrorize millions of people in “Star Wars,” needed this voice.

Although David Prowse donned Vader’s black cape and intimidating face mask, Jones provided the voice, radiating the Dark Side’s wicked energy. Jones did not physically play the part.

In a crucial battle sequence in “The Empire Strikes Back,” Vader declares to Mark Hamill’s character, Luke Skywalker, “I am your father.” It is a turn that will go down in movie history.

“Star Wars” creator George Lucas praised Jones in 2015 at an event in New York, saying, “He created, with very little dialogue, one of the greatest villains that ever lived.”

Broadway

At the age of five, Jones relocated from Mississippi to Michigan, where his maternal grandparents reared him.

He didn’t consider an acting profession at first; he was studying to be a doctor before switching to drama and graduating from the University of Michigan.

“I considered becoming a soldier even before I started acting classes,” Jones admitted to PBS public television in 1998.

“And only after my service was almost over did the thought of becoming an actor occur to me.”

Jones joined the US Army after graduating from college and then relocated to New York to pursue his acting career. To make ends meet, he worked as a janitor at night.

In 1958, he debuted on Broadway in “Sunrise at Campobello” at the Cort Theatre, which became the James Earl Jones Theatre in 2022.

In addition to taking on well-known Shakespearean roles on stage, like as Othello and King Lear, he also appeared in a number of Wilson pieces that explored Black America’s history.

Jones exuded strength and dominance on stage. Director Kenny Leon remarked of him, “He embodied the elegance and dignity of African American men.”

But soon, the big screen called.

Admirals and kings

Jones made his screen debut in Stanley Kubrick’s Cold War comedy “Dr Strangelove” in 1964 as Lieutenant Zogg.

Throughout his career, he would play a number of military roles. Most notably, he would play Admiral Greer in three films based on Tom Clancy’s well-known character Jack Ryan: “The Hunt for Red October,” “Patriot Games,” and “Clear and Present Danger.”

He has portrayed a number of kings, including Mufasa, the father of Simba in “The Lion King” (1994) and King Jaffe Joffer in the Eddie Murphy comedy “Coming to America” (1988).

His first significant honor was a 1969 Tony for best actor in a play for “The Great White Hope,” in which he played the brilliant but troubled boxer Jack Jefferson, who was modeled after the first Black heavyweight world champion, Jack Johnson.

In the play’s cinematic adaptation, Jones brought the part back to life, garnering a Golden Globe and his lone Oscar nomination for the role. He received an honorary Academy Award in 2011.

Jones was a major player on Broadway far into his 80s. He costarred with Cicely Tyson in “The Gin Game” in 2015 and received another Tony nomination for her performance in the 2012 revival of “The Best Man.”

Additionally, he used the same greeting to viewers of the cable news network CNN for years: “This is CNN.”

“Darker voice”

However, the part for which he was most well-known was the one in which he was never seen on television.

In the end, Lucas had to choose between Jones and legendary actor Orson Welles for the part.

George believed he desired a — excuse the pun — deeper voice. Jones stated to the American Film Institute in 2009, “So he hires a guy who stutters and that’s the voice and that’s me. He was born in Mississippi and raised in Michigan.”

After originally objecting to receiving credit for the movie because he thought his voiceovers were just extra special effects, Jones finally gave in and continued to play the role in a number of motion pictures, TV shows, and video games.

He stepped down from the role in his nineties. However, he gave the start-up company that is collaborating with Lucasfilm the rights to his voice recordings so they can be preserved and recreated for use in artificial intelligence projects in the future.

Vanity Fair claims that the technology was utilized in the Disney+ miniseries “Obi-Wan Kenobi” in 2022.

Cecilia, Jones’ second wife, passed away in 2016. One boy was born to them.