Tony Nudo's HOLLYWOOD LEGENDS.NET

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JAMES EARL JONES

For most of us.. James charmed, amazed, fascinated, & ﬁxated us to our seats in Star Wars! As the deep baritone voice of Vader.. Darth Vader, that is!! Thing? We never saw him! As a kid.. I had hopes of ﬁnally seeing the voice beyond the helmet.. So when Luke pulled that helmet off... GAAAHH!! The frail face didn't match the voice!! It was a KILLER of anticipation!! My little brother was/is REALLY into the 'Star Wars' LEGOs. So we did a lil parody on it, based on said helmet removal, fosho!! {if you're easily offended- you can just skip this green text.. I don't know how else to ﬁnish this tale.. So annywaay - along came a lil ﬁlm called 'Soul Man'.. which I was quite enjoying until nature called- as I was answering the call, in mid-terd.. I heard 'Darth Vader'.. Fast as I could, I came off the toilet fast as I could.. To FINALLY see who Darth was without the 'Darth' on! To my surprise? He wasn't frail, nor was he the white fella I saw in the 'Vader' suit in Star Wars.. He was a black man.. With an INCREDIBLE screen presence about him!! Then?.. It made sense!!}

Since? He's been superb in EVERYTHING I have seen him in since!! SUPER CLASS A actor! With that?.. His story..

Born James Earl Jones, in Arkabutla, Mississippi.. His dad split not long after James arrival! This made for a HELL ofa surmountable circumstance for his mom! Thus, he was raised by his grandparents.. James & his dad, reconnected years later... Living in Michigan with his grandparents- wasn't peaches and cream. James has stated in the past that his grandmother, Maggie, was a bitch & the most 'racist person he'd ever known.. FORTUNATELY- this led James to form & ﬁnd his own independent thinking on ANY issues of life! Not to mention the transition of life from Mississippi to Michigan was traumatic in itself.. In the process of all the grit & shit young James was dealing with.. He developed a stutter so severe that he simply 'holed up tight & quit taking all together!' He remained 'mute' for 8 years until a teacher in Michigan- he credited for helping him overcome his stutter.. By this point- he was in high school. The teacher, Donald Crouch, urged him to challenge his reluctance 'to speak' with a soothity.. Of it, 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 graduated, here.. Upon graduating, James entered the University of Michigan. Though, initially, his major was pre-med.. He instead joined the reserves (as you do).. & thrived from the structure of a military environment. In the course of his study, however, James discovered (not far in), that pre-med was 'OUT' for him.. & dropped out of medical school!! He instead- focused in on drama at the University. Fate was in FULL motion. It was a program that he 'thoroughly' enjoyed!! Whilst at the university's drama program, He began his acting career at the Ramsdell Theater, in Manistee, Michigan..

Upon graduating in 1955, he became a stage manager at the theater. He also performed his first professional gig in Shakespeare's 'Othello,' in a theater stage production. James enjoyed very much, the stage and every element thereof. His first film role came as a 'B-52' bombardier in 'Dr. Strangelove.' His first 'starring' role came in the 70s in 'The Great White Hope.' Twas a role he was familiar with as he had performed the same role on Broadway years earlier..

His lengthy, 'full-of-girth' resume can be found here.

His most 'famed' role.. Is a role - that only his voice made work.. Of course is that.. Of 'Darth Vader' in Star Wars. A gig he was 'only' paid 7 grand for (for the 1st one ONLY! haha Let's just be clear on that.) James was the voice of 'EVERY' Darth Vader after the first one as well (ALLL the sequels & prequels, games, and figurines too!) A fella by the name of David Prowse, was in the 'Vader' suit. James was dubbed in as 'Vader's' dialogue - due mainly to George Lucas deeming David's voice as being a 'STRONG Western country accent. However, by James own request, (& no doubt to the PRAISE OF LUCAS), James was uncredited for the original releases of the 'Star Wars Trilogy.' He was credited later 'credited,' for the 1st film in a 1997 re-release... James explained...

"When Linda Blair did the girl in The Exorcist, they hired Mercedes McCambridge to do the voice of the devil coming out of her. And there was controversy as to whether Mercedes should get credit. I was one who thought no, she was just special effects. So when it came to Darth Vader, I said, no, I'm just special effects. But it became so identified that by the third one, I thought, OK (I'll let them put my name on it..)" Cool stuff!! FoSho!!

He lives here (aerial), in New York. Here's a shot of the beginnings of his driveway.

James has also voiced for promo tags to become the mid-90's-early 2000s voice of CNN (both U.S. & Internationally), voice work for 'The Simpsons', Mufasa in the Disney film, 'The Lion King' and its direct-to-video sequel, 'The Lion King II: Simba's Pride.' He also was the voice for the opening for NBC's coverage of the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics, longtime spokesman for Bell Atlantic and later Verizon, lent his voice to a part in the Adam Sandler comedy 'Click', & narrated all 27 books of the 'New Testament' in the audiobook 'James Earl Jones Reads the Bible'.

In 1982- James married actress Cecilia Hart, together they had one child, son Flynn Earl Jones. His wife, however, died on October 16, 2016, after a one-year battle with ovarian cancer

VERY, VERY, cool interview!! FoSho'Nuff! Remember this?? Haha!!

James is 'FAAAR' from finished, & for fans like myself, that's a wonderful thing!!

TRIVIA

He has been dealing with diabetes since the mid 1990s