Age, Biography, and Wiki
James Earl Jones was born on January 17, 1931, in Jackson, Michigan. Throughout his life, he overcame a severe stutter to become one of the most recognized voices in entertainment history. Jones passed away on September 9, 2024, at the age of 93.
| Occupation | Soap Opera Actor |
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| Date of Birth | 17 January 1931 |
| Age | 94 Years |
| Birth Place | Arkabutla, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Capricorn |
| Country | U.S |
| Date of death | 9 September, 2024 |
| Died Place | Pawling, New York, U.S. |
Height, Weight & Measurements
While specific measurements like height and weight are not widely documented, James Earl Jones was known for his commanding presence on stage and screen.
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Dating & Relationship status
Jones was married twice: first to actress Julienne Marie from 1968 to 1972, and then to actress Cecilia Hart from 1982 until her death in 2016. He had one child with Cecilia Hart.
For his roles on Broadway, Jones won two Tony Awards for Best Actor in a Play for playing a boxer in the Howard Sackler play The Great White Hope (1968) and a working class father in August Wilson's Fences (1987). He was also nominated for other Tonys for his roles as part of an elderly couple in On Golden Pond (2005) and as a former president in The Best Man (2012). Jones also acted in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2008), Driving Miss Daisy (2010–2011), You Can't Take It with You (2014), and The Gin Game (2015). He received a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2017.
His father left the family shortly after James Earl's birth and later became a stage and screen actor in New York and Hollywood. Jones and his father did not get to know each other until the 1950s, when they reconciled. He said in interviews that his parents were both of mixed African-American, Irish, and Native American ancestry.
In 1973, Jones played Hickey on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theatre in a revival of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh and starred in the title role of William Shakespeare's King Lear opposite Paul Sorvino, René Auberjonois, and Raul Julia at the New York City Shakespeare Festival in Central Park, which was recorded and broadcast in the PBS Great Performances series the following year. In 1974, Jones played Lennie on Broadway in the 1974 Brooks Atkinson Theatre production of the adaptation of John Steinbeck's novella, Of Mice and Men, with Kevin Conway as George and Pamela Blair as Curley's wife.
In 1987, Jones starred in August Wilson's play Fences as Troy Maxson, a middle aged working class father who struggles to provide for his family. The play, set in the 1950s, is part of Wilson's ten-part "Pittsburgh Cycle". The play explores the evolving African-American experience and examines race relations, among other themes. Jones won widespread critical acclaim, earning himself his second Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. Beside the Star Wars sequels, Jones was featured in several other box office hits of the 1980s: the action/fantasy film Conan the Barbarian (1982), the Eddie Murphy comedy Coming to America (1988), and the sports drama/fantasy Field of Dreams (1989) which earned an Academy Award for Best Picture nomination. He also starred in the independent film Matewan (1987), which dramatized the events of the Battle of Matewan, a coal miners' strike in 1920 in Matewan, a small town in the hills of West Virginia. He received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his performance.
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| Husband | Julienne Marie (m. 1968-1972) Cecilia Hart (m. 1982-October 16, 2016) |
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Net Worth and Salary
At the time of his death, James Earl Jones had a net worth of approximately $40 million. His financial success was largely due to his extensive work in film, television, and theater. Notably, he was paid only $7,000 for his role as Darth Vader in the original Star Wars film—a decision that cost him tens of millions of dollars in potential earnings if he had opted for backend profits.
In 1985, Jones was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame He was also the 1987 First recipient of the National Association for Hearing and Speech Action's Annie Glenn Award. In 1991, he received the Common Wealth Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Dramatic Arts. In 1992, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts by George H. W. Bush. He received the 1996 Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars. Also in 1996, he was given the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member George Lucas. In 2002, he was the featured Martin Luther King Day speaker for Lauderhill, Florida. In 2011, he received the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center Monte Cristo Award Recipient. He also received an Honorary Academy Award on November 12, 2011. He was the 2012 Marian Anderson Award Recipient. Jones won the 2014 Voice Icon Award sponsored by Society of Voice Arts and Sciences at the Museum of the Moving Image. In 2017, he received an Honorary Doctor of Arts from Harvard University. He was honored with a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2017. In 2019, he was honored as a Disney Legend. In March 2022, Broadway's Cort Theatre was renamed the James Earl Jones Theatre in his honor.
Business and Real Estate Investments
Jones owned multiple properties in Pawling, New York, having started his real estate investments in the 1980s. Over the years, he acquired 10 properties, including homes and parcels of land.
James Earl Jones (January 17, 1931 – September 9, 2024) was an American actor. A pioneer for black actors in the entertainment industry, Jones is known for his extensive and acclaimed roles on stage and screen. Jones is one of the few performers to achieve the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony). He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1985, and was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 1992, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2002, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2009, and the Academy Honorary Award in 2011.
Born in Arkabutla, Mississippi during the Jim Crow era, Jones overcame a childhood stutter. A pre-med major in college, he served as an officer in the U.S. Army during the Korean War before pursuing a career in acting. His deep voice was praised as a "stirring basso profondo that has lent gravel and gravitas" to his projects. Jones made his Broadway debut in the play Sunrise at Campobello (1957) and gained fame starring in several productions with Shakespeare in the Park including Othello (1964), Coriolanus (1965), Hamlet (1972), and King Lear (1973).
With the Korean War intensifying, Jones expected to receive orders to active duty and be deployed as soon as he received his commission as a second lieutenant. While he waited for his orders, he worked on the stage crew and acted at the Ramsdell Theatre in Manistee, Michigan. Jones was commissioned in mid-1953, after the Korean War's end, and reported to Fort Benning to attend the Infantry Officers Basic Course. He attended Ranger School and received his Ranger Tab. Jones was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 38th Regimental Combat Team. He was initially to report to Fort Leonard Wood, but his unit was instead sent to establish a cold-weather training command at the former Camp Hale near Leadville, Colorado. His battalion became a training unit in the rugged terrain of the Rocky Mountains. Jones was promoted to first lieutenant prior to his discharge.
Jones began his acting career at the Ramsdell Theatre in Manistee, Michigan. In 1953, he was a stage carpenter, and between 1955 and 1957, he acted and was a stage manager. In his first acting season at the Ramsdell, he portrayed Othello. His early career also included an appearance in the ABC radio anthology series Theatre-Five. In 1957, he made his Broadway debut as understudy to Lloyd Richards in the short-lived play, The Egghead, by Molly Kazan. The play ran only 21 performances, but three months later, in January 1958, Jones created the featured role of Edward the butler in Dore Schary's Sunrise at Campobello at the Cort Theatre.
Jones had an extensive career in film, television, and theater. He started out in film by appearing in the 1964 political satire film Dr. Strangelove as Lt. Lothar Zogg. He then went on to star in the 1970 film The Great White Hope as Jack Jefferson, a role he first played at Washington's Arena Stage in the world premier of Howard Sackler's play of the same name.
Social Network
While James Earl Jones was not particularly active on social media platforms during his lifetime, his legacy continues to be celebrated by fans across various platforms.
In 1974, Jones co-starred with Diahann Carroll in the film Claudine, the story of a woman who raises her six children alone after two failed and two "almost" marriages. The film is a romantic comedy and drama, focusing on systemic racial disparities black families face. It was one of the first major films to tackle themes such as welfare, economic inequality, and the typical marriage of men and women in the African American community during the 1970s. Jones and Carroll received widespread critical acclaim and Golden Globe nominations for their performances. Carroll was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.
In 1977, Jones played Balthazar in the television series Jesus of Nazareth. That same year, he made his debut in his iconic voiceover role as Darth Vader in George Lucas's space opera blockbuster film Star Wars: A New Hope, which he would reprise for the 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 post-production because Prowse's strong West Country accent was deemed unsuitable for the role by director George Lucas. At his own request, Jones was uncredited for the release of the first two Star Wars films, though he would be credited for the third film and eventually also for the first film's 1997 "Special Edition" re-release. As he explained in a 2008 interview:
In 2013–2014, he appeared with Malcolm McDowell in a series of commercials for Sprint in which the two dramatically recited mundane phone and text-message conversations. In 2015, Jones starred as the Chief Justice Caleb Thorne in the American drama series Agent X with actress Sharon Stone, Jeff Hephner, Jamey Sheridan, and others. The television series was aired by TNT from November 8 to December 27, 2015, running only one season and 10 episodes. Jones officially reprised his voice role of Darth Vader for the character's appearances in the animated TV series Star Wars Rebels and the live-action film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), as well as for a three-word cameo in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019).
Jones died at his home in Pawling, New York, on September 9, 2024, at the age of 93. He died surrounded by his family. In a statement, CNN said that Jones "was the voice of CNN and our brand for many decades, uniquely conveying through speech instant authority, grace, and decorum. That remarkable voice is just one of many things the world will miss about James." Jones's alma mater, the University of Michigan, paid tribute to him by posting a "We Are Michigan" video narrated by Jones on Twitter. The NAACP, SAG-AFTRA, The Public Theater, and MLB also paid tribute to Jones. The Empire State Building in New York City was lit up to resemble Darth Vader. Vice President Kamala Harris praised Jones, writing that "[He] used his voice to challenge America's thinking on civil rights and race, and he continued to move our nation forward through his art." Former President Bill Clinton released a statement praising Jones as "a brilliant actor who brought to life some of the most iconic characters ever". Actor Denzel Washington paid tribute to Jones calling him his "hero" adding, "I wasn't going to be as big as him. I wanted to sound like him. He was everything to me as a budding actor. He was who I wanted to be." Numerous members of the entertainment industry also paid tribute to Jones including George Lucas, Mark Hamill, Kevin Costner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barry Jenkins, Spike Lee, Viola Davis, Whoopi Goldberg, Courtney B. Vance, and Alec Baldwin.
Following his death, The New York Times described Jones's career as "a prodigious body of work" and called him "one of America's most versatile actors in a stage, film and television career". The Hollywood Reporter referred to Jones as "one of the most-admired American actors of all time". The Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw wrote, "like Sidney Poitier or Harry Belafonte or Paul Robeson, [Jones] was an African American actor with a beautiful voice which was the key to his dignity and self-respect as a performer; it was how his characters rose above racism and cruelty", and described Jones as "movie royalty". Academy Award–winning actress Viola Davis said that Jones's career reflected "black excellence".
Jones was recognized as a groundbreaker and pioneer for African Americans for his significant roles on stage and television. In 1965, Jones became one of the first African American actors in a continuing role on a daytime drama acting in As the World Turns. Critic Clive Barnes said that Jones's theater roles were "like a black avenging angel ... Even when corrupted by misery, his presence has an almost moral force to it, and his voice rasps out an agony nearly too personally painful in its nakedness". In 2011, Academy Award-nominated actor Alec Baldwin called Jones "one of the greatest actors in American history". In 2022, the Cort Theatre was renamed after James Earl Jones, becoming the second Broadway venue named after a Black theatrical artist, the first being the August Wilson Theatre named after the playwright August Wilson. The Cort Theatre was the same stage on which Jones made his Broadway debut in 1958.
Education
Jones attended Jackson High School in Michigan and later studied at the University of Michigan, where he developed an interest in acting. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War before pursuing his acting career.
From the age of five, Jones was raised by his maternal grandparents, John Henry and Maggie Connolly, on their farm in Dublin, Michigan; they had moved from Mississippi in the Great Migration. Jones found the transition to living with his grandparents in Michigan traumatic and developed a stutter so severe that he refused to speak. He said, "I was a stutterer. I couldn't talk. So my first year of school was my first mute year, and then those mute years continued until I got to high school." He credited his English teacher, Donald Crouch, who discovered he had a gift for writing poetry, with helping him end his silence. Crouch urged him to challenge his reluctance to speak through reading poetry aloud to the class.
In 1949, Jones graduated from Dickson Rural Agricultural School (now Brethren High School) in Brethren, Michigan, where he served as vice president of his class.
He attended the University of Michigan where he was initially a pre-med major. He joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps and excelled. He felt comfortable within the structure of the military environment and enjoyed the camaraderie of his fellow cadets in the Pershing Rifles Drill Team and Scabbard and Blade Honor Society. After his junior year, he focused on drama with the thought of doing something he enjoyed before, he assumed, he would have to go off to fight in the Korean War. Jones graduated from the university in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in drama.
In 1969, Jones participated in making test films for the children's education series Sesame Street; these shorts, combined with animated segments, were shown to groups of children to gauge the effectiveness of the then-groundbreaking Sesame Street format. As cited by production notes included in the DVD release Sesame Street: Old School 1969–1974, the short that had the greatest impact with test audiences was one showing bald-headed Jones counting slowly to ten. This and other segments featuring Jones were eventually aired as part of the Sesame Street series itself when it debuted later in 1969 and Jones is often cited as the first celebrity guest on that series, although a segment with Carol Burnett was the first actually to be broadcast. He also appeared on the soap opera Guiding Light.
On July 13, 1993, accompanied by the Morgan State University choir, Jones spoke the U.S. national anthem before the 1993 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Baltimore. In 1996, he recited the classic baseball poem "Casey at the Bat" with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, and on June 1, 2007, he did the same before a Philadelphia Phillies home game. In 1994, he performed the role of "Ebenezer Scrooge" alongside Martin Sheen and Robert MacNeil in a public reading of A Christmas Carol at the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City, which was broadcast on PBS.
