RIP James Earl Jones

He was Darth Vader, Mufasa, King Jaffe Joffer, the voice of CNN, and a host of other characters. James Earl Jones' accomplishments included two Emmys, two Tonys, a Grammy award, and an honorary Oscar, making him one of the rare EGOTs, but he also had a slew of other awards and honors.

Jones was born in Mississippi and moved to Michigan as a child. He developed a stutter so bad that he refused to talk all the way through elementary school. After military service and graduating college with a drama degree, Jones became known for his Shakespearean roles on Broadway. The leap to movies came with a role in Dr. Strangelove in 1964, but he really broke through when he reprised his Broadway role as Jack Jefferson in the movie The Great White Hope in 1970. Jones had already been on TV on the soap operas Guiding Light and As The World Turns, and on Sesame Street. Jones was asked to dub over the voice of David Prowse in the 1977 film Star Wars, and became the voice of Darth Vader forever after. He portrayed Alex Haley in Roots, Thulsa Doom in Conan the Barbarian, and King Jaffe Joffer in Coming to America, a role that, along with Madge Sinclair, inspired the look and sound of Mufasa and his mate Sarabi in The Lion King. IMDb lists 190 screen credits for James Earl Jones.

Jones died today at his home in Pawling, New York. He was 93.