James Earl Jones, legendary voice of Darth Vader in “Star Wars” and Mufasa in “The Lion King,” dies at the age of 93

CNN
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You can't think of James Earl Jones without hearing his voice.

That booming basso profundo, which conveyed instant dignity or menace, was Jones' trademark. It lent power to all his roles on stage and in film, most recognizably as Darth Vader in Star Wars, Mufasa in The Lion King and as the voice of CNN.

That remarkable voice is just one of many things the world will miss about the beloved actor, who died Monday at age 93, according to his agent.

Jones died surrounded by his family, his spokesman said. The cause of death was not disclosed.

“From the gentle wisdom of Mufasa to the menacing threat of Darth Vader, James Earl Jones has voiced some of the greatest characters in film history,” said Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, in a statement. “An acclaimed stage actor with nearly 200 film and television appearances, he has brought stories to life with his uniquely commanding presence and truly witty personality that have left an indelible mark on generations of audiences.”

Jones had an outstanding career that spanned some 60 years and took him from a small-town theater in northern Michigan to the highest spheres of Hollywood.

In the mid-1970s, Star Wars creator George Lucas cast the giant British actor David Prowse to play the man in the black suit, Darth Vader, but decided that someone else should voice the character.

“George thought he wanted a – excuse the expression – darker voice,” Jones once told the American Film Institute. “I got lucky.”

At the time, no one would have believed that Star Wars would become a blockbuster, let alone a lasting franchise and cultural phenomenon. Jones recorded all of his lines in a few hours and was not credited on the film. He said he was paid only $7,000 for the film, “and I thought that was good money.”

The actor and Lucas disagreed about what voice he should give to the villain Vader.

“I wanted to make Darth Vader more interesting, more subtle and more psychologically oriented,” Jones said. “He (Lucas) said, 'No, no… you have to keep his voice on a very narrow band because he's not human.'”

Darth Vader's duel with Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill, in the 1980s film “The Empire Strikes Back” became the dramatic climax of the “Star Wars” series – crowned by Jones' statement of one of the most famous lines in film history: “No, I am your father!”

Hamill issued a statement on Monday, writing on Instagram: “One of the finest actors in the world whose contribution to Star Wars was immeasurable. He will be greatly missed. #RIP dad.”

Jones said that nearly two decades later, when he voiced the dignified Mufasa in Disney's animated film The Lion King, it took him a while to find the right tone.

“My first mistake was trying to make him look royal,” Jones said of the 1994 film. “And what they really needed was someone who was more like me. They asked, 'What are you like as a father?' and I said, 'Well, I'm a really dumb father.'”

He continued, “And so they started to impose my facial expressions and a different tone of voice on Mufasa. Yes, he was authoritative, but he was just a gentle father.”

Jones was born in Mississippi in 1931. His father, Robert Earl Jones, left the family before James was born to become an actor in New York and Hollywood. He worked with playwright Langston Hughes and eventually landed supporting roles in hit films such as The Sting.

Jones' family moved from Mississippi to Michigan when he was five years old, a traumatic experience that caused him to develop a stutter. Fearful of speaking, he was nearly mute until he entered high school, where a poetry teacher helped him overcome his disability by encouraging him to read his poems aloud.

“He began to challenge me, to get me to speak again … to recognize and appreciate the beauty of words,” Jones said.

Jones studied acting at the University of Michigan, served as an Army Ranger, and then moved to New York, where he soon landed leading roles in Shakespeare's stage productions. He made his film debut in 1964 as a bombardier in Stanley Kubrick's “Dr. Strangelove.”

In 1967, Jones was cast as boxer Jack Johnson in the theater production of The Great White Hope. This role changed his career and earned him a Tony. Three years later, he reprised the role in the film adaptation, making him only the second African-American, after Sidney Poitier, to be nominated for an Oscar.

From the mid-1970s, Jones worked steadily in film and television – a success streak that never waned. Over the next five decades, he appeared in many memorable roles: as Alex Haley in the television series “Roots: The Next Generations,” as warlord Thulsa Doom in “Conan the Barbarian,” as an African king in “Coming to America,” as Kevin Costner's reluctant recruit in “Field of Dreams,” as Admiral Greer in “The Hunt for Red October” and “Patriot Hour,” and as a South African preacher in “Cry, the Beloved Land.”

On Monday, Costner remembered Jones' “booming voice,” “quiet strength” and “the kindness he radiated” in a statement on Instagram.

“There is so much to say about his legacy, so I'll just say how grateful I am that Field of Dreams is part of it. Anyone who has seen the film knows he would never be the same with anyone else in his role,” he wrote. “Only he could bring that kind of magic to a film about baseball and an Iowa cornfield. I'm grateful I got to witness him create that magic.”

Jones continued to work in his later years.

In 2021, Jones reprised the role of King Jaffe Joffer in “Coming to America 2,” the long-awaited sequel to the 1988 classic. His most recent appearance, according to IMDb, was as the voice of Darth Vader in the 2022 Disney+ miniseries “Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

In 2019, he again voiced Mufasa in Disney's remake of The Lion King, making him the only cast member to reprise his role from the first film.

He has also guest-starred on dozens of television shows over the years, from “LA Law” to “Sesame Street.” He has appeared regularly on stage, lending his deep, booming voice to everything from “The Simpsons” to a popular audio recording of the King James Bible.

Jones said that sometimes people in public didn't recognize him until they heard his voice.

“If you don't talk, it's like playing ninja,” he told Rachael Ray in 2016. “You get in the taxi and say where you want to go, and the guy turns around and says, 'Hey, aren't you that Darth Vader guy?'”

He also lent his voice to CNN's slogan “This is CNN,” complete with a dramatic pause after “This …”

A CNN spokesman said in a statement Monday that Jones “was the voice of CNN and our brand for many decades, uniquely conveying immediate authority, grace and decency through his language.”

“This remarkable voice is just one of many things the world will miss about James,” the statement continued.

Over the course of his long and prolific career, Jones won three Tonys, two Emmys, a Grammy, a Golden Globe, and numerous other awards.

“It wasn't the acting. It was the language. It was the speaking,” he said when asked what sparked his passion for acting. “It was what I had denied myself all those years (as a boy). Now I had a great – an abnormal – appreciation for it.”

“And it was the idea that you could put on a play – say, a Shakespeare play, or any other well-written play by Arthur Miller or whoever – and say things that you could never imagine saying, never think, if you were alive yourself,” he told the Academy of Achievement in 1996.

“You could say that! That's still what it's about, whether in the cinema, on television or anywhere else. That's still what it's about.”

This story has been updated with additional information.