James Earl Jones, the revered actor who voiced Star Wars villain Darth Vader, and Lion Kings Mufasa starred in many other films died at his home in Dutchess County, New York on Monday 9, 2024. He was 93.
Born on January 17, 1931, in Arkabutla, Mississippi Jones was widely known by Nigerians for playing the role of Jaffer Joffa the king of Zamunda in the 1988 film ‘Coming to America’.
Jones was a 2002 Kennedy Center Honoree and received Lifetime Achievement Awards from SAG-AFTRA in 2009 and by the National Board of Review in 1995.
Jones is one of the few entertainers to have won the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony), though his Academy Award was Honorary. Jones has received two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Daytime Emmy, a spoken-word Grammy Award in 1977 and three Tony Awards.
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The actor amassed nearly 200 screen credits during his brilliant 60-year career, He probably is best known for his voice role as the dastardly Darth Vader in George Lucas’ original Star Wars trilogy: Star Wars (1977) The Empire Strikes Back, 1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). He also reprised the villainous role in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019) and TV’s Obi-Wan Kenobi and Star Wars: Rebels.
Jones also voiced The Lion King‘s Mufasa in both the 1994 animated pic and 2019 hybrid remake. Among his dozens of other films are The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976), A Piece of the Action (1977), Conan the Barbarian (1982), Soul Man (1986), Coming to America (1988), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Patriot Games (1992), Sneakers (1992), The Sandlot (1993), Clear and Present Danger (1994), Judge Dredd (1995), Gang Related (1997) and Coming 2 America (2021).
He also lent his sonorous voice to the famous “This is CNN” promo campaign for the cable news network and recurring as the narrator on Third Rock from the Sun. He also appeared on The Simpsons three times.
Among his scores of TV are guest roles on such classics series as The Big Bang Theory, House, Two and a Half Men, Homicide: Life on the Street, Frasier, Touched by an Angel, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Picket Fences, Law & Order, Sesame Street, Highway to Heaven, NYPD Blue; daytime soaps Guiding Light and As the World Turns; and miniseries Roots: The Next Generation and Jesus of Nazareth.
