James Earl Jones has sadly passed away at his home in Dutchess County, New York. He was 93.
The actor was an icon thanks to his performances across film and television, though he just so happened to also have an iconic voice. While Jones suffered from a stutter as a child, he overcame that through his work in theatre and ultimately brought Darth Vader to life in the Star Wars franchise with a performance which remains unrivalled.
Of course, he could also be heard in The Lion King as Mufasa (both animated and live-action), another beloved character it’s hard to imagine anyone else playing. Conan the Barbarian was one of his most famous on-camera roles.
Jones received numerous accolades, including two Tony Awards, a Golden Globe, and an Emmy. He was also awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1992 and the Kennedy Center Honor in 2005.
"James Earl Jones is one of the most versatile and talented actors of our time, with an iconic body of work across film, stage and television," Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy said today. "The menacing baritone he brought to Darth Vader will forever be beloved by fans and regarded as one of the great villainous performances in cinema. His commanding presence on screen, and warm personality off screen, will be greatly missed."
"James was an incredible actor, a most unique voice both in art and spirit," adds George Lucas. "For nearly half a century he was Darth Vader, but the secret to it all is he was a beautiful human being. He gave depth, sincerity and meaning to all his roles, amongst the most important being a devoted husband to the late Ceci and dad to Flynn. James will be missed by so many of us...friends and fans alike."
Despite the actor’s passing, there’s a very good chance his version of Darth Vader will live on. In 2022, it was reported that Jones had signed over the rights to Disney and Lucasfilm to recreate his voice with artificial intelligence through the technology created by Ukrainian tech start-up Respeecher. That was heard in action in the Obi-Wan Kenobi TV series and was done to ensure his Vader can live on.
Talking in 2009 about the role, Jones recalled, "I remember on ['Empire'], when George had a chance to counsel me, he said, 'We don't know what we did right [on "A New Hope"], so let's just try what we did.' Naturally, I wanted to make Darth Vader more interesting, more subtle, more psychologically oriented. And he said, 'No. no. What we're finding out is you've got to keep his voice on a very narrow ban of inflection because he ain't human, really.' So, that was the answer."
He’d add, "When I first saw the dialogue that said, 'Luke, I am your father,' I said to myself, 'He's lying. I wonder how they are going to play that lie out?'"
Our thoughts go out to Jones’ family and friends at this time.