James Earl Jones

"The rumor is that he thought of Orson Welles, and then probably thought that Orson might be too recognizable, so what he ends up picking is a voice that was born in Mississippi, raised in Michigan, and was a stutterer. And, that happened to be my voice."

―James Earl Jones, on how George Lucas chose him to voice Darth Vader^[3]

James Earl Jones (January 17, 1931 – September 9, 2024) was an American actor who voiced Darth Vader in the Star Wars saga. A renowned stage actor, he dubbed over David Prowse's performance in Vader's suit for the original trilogy, with Bob Anderson also serving as Vader's stuntman and Sebastian Shaw playing the unmasked Vader. Jones also performed some of Vader's dialogue in The Star Wars Holiday Special of 1978, the animated television series Star Wars Rebels between 2014 and 2016, and the latter year's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. He also voiced additional lines in 2005's Revenge of the Sith and 2019's The Rise of Skywalker. Jones lended his voice as Darth Vader for Lucasfilm to use via an artificial intelligence program for the 2022 television series Obi-Wan Kenobi, with Hayden Christensen performing as Vader in his suit.

Biography[]

From stutter to stage[]

"They taught us not to put ethnic or gender limits on the characters that we studied. They taught us speech for Shakespeare, and speech for Arthur Miller, and speech for Tennessee Williams, and speech for George Lucas."

―James Earl Jones^[2]

Born on January 17, 1931 in Mississippi state of the United States of America,^[1] James Earl Jones became a stage actor despite growing up with a stutter. He was raised in Michigan, his family having moved north to that state along with other African Americans as part of the Great Migration, and Jones served in the US Army within the country during the Korean War. He then moved to New York City to pursue a career in drama at the American Theatre Wing. Jones became known as a distinguished actor of William Shakespeare's plays on Broadway. He debuted on film with a small role in director Stanley Kubrick's 1964 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and featured in test films for the children's television series Sesame Street in 1969. Jones additionally won a Tony Award for his role in the Howard Sackler play The Great White Hope in 1969, was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in the 1970 film adaptation, and co-starred alongside Diahann Carroll in the 1974 film Claudine. Jones also played Malcolm X in the 1977 Muhammad Ali film The Greatest, won another Tony Award for his part in the August Wilson play Fences in 1987, and voiced Mufasa in Disney's 1994 The Lion King.^[2]

The voice of Vader[]

"David Prowse worked very hard to create Darth Vader…I take no credit for the character. I think that performance is in your head. Vader is good proof that if you stay out of the way of a character…good, effective dialogue will evoke in the viewer or listener all kinds of wonderful things that come from the viewer's mind."

―James Earl Jones^[3]

Darth Vader was played by David Prowse, encased in an armored suit.^[4] While George Lucas initially considered asking filmmaker Orson Welles with his famous deep voice to voice Darth Vader, Lucas decided to cast James Earl Jones, who "won hands down" as he "created, with very little dialogue, one of the greatest villains that ever lived."^[2] In March of 1977, James Earl Jones spent only one day recording Vader's voice-over dialogue for Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope at Goldwyn Studios.^[5] As such, Jones refused to be credited on Star Wars and 1980's Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, even going as far as telling people he did not do the voice-over.^[6] He recalled that upon reading Vader's line "No, I am your father" for The Empire Strikes Back, he believed that Vader was lying and wondered how the events of Star Wars would unfold from there.^[3] While Prowse continued his role as Vader, he was also joined by the swordmaster Bob Anderson in the lightsaber duels of Empire and the next film, Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi.^[4]

With Prowse and Anderson reprising their roles in Vader's suit and Jones returning to voice Vader for Return of the Jedi,^[4] Jones finally allowed himself to be credited as Vader's voice for the film's release in 1983.^[6] Veteran actor Sebastian Shaw additionally performed as the unmasked Vader, having been redeemed by the character's son, Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill.^[4]

Playing the newly introduced Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back, Billy Dee Williams told Rolling Stone magazine in 1980 that he had spoken with George Lucas about the racialist implications of contrasting the evil Darth Vader, "the dark, black fear," with the "white knight" of Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi. Williams, himself a black actor, then said that the addition of Lando Calrissian—a black character who is ultimately on the side of the protagonists—makes clear that Star Wars is instead focusing on symbolism divorced from skin color, with "darkness" being averse to "clarity." With audiences also learning that Darth Vader was a human who had been corrupted by the dark side of the Force, Williams thought that the man, rather than just a "mechanical monster," has become a more frightening character.^[7] James Earl Jones himself stated that his job "was to keep awareness out of Darth Vader's voice—take all the humanity out of it." Specifically, he kept the voice within strict inflection boundaries, where "there was no way to enlighten the voice with awareness."^[3] After attending a comic-book convention, Jones said that he was "happy to be a part of the whole cult movement" of Star Wars even though some fans were "fanatics."^[6]

Further Star Wars work and legacy[]

"James was an incredible actor, a most unique voice both in art and spirit. 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 devoted husband to the late Ceci and dad to Flynn. James will be missed by so many of us…friends and fans alike."

―George Lucas^[3]

James Earl Jones returned to the role of Vader for George Lucas' 2005 Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. Hayden Christensen played as Anakin Skywalker and, once the character has fallen to the dark side of the Force, as the suited Darth Vader. While the film was in production, Jones spoke of Christensen: "I see great potential toward all the Darth Vader choices in that young man." Of the character, Jones later said that "Darth Vader doesn't think he's evil," and the addition of the prequel trilogy meant that the Star Wars story^[3]—which Lucas himself described as the "tragedy" of Anakin Skywalker^[8]—has become: "How does one become evil and how is one redeemed from it?"^[3] In 2011, James Earl Jones received an honorary Academy Award, completing his EGOT roster.^[9] Jones reprised his role as Darth Vader's voice in several episodes of the television series Star Wars Rebels and in the 2016 anthology film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.^[10]

In the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi, Vader's voice was artificially created with Respeecher, which uses archival recordings and a proprietary artificial intelligence algorithm to create new dialogue with the voices of performers. Respeecher, which also created the voice of young Luke Skywalker for The Book of Boba Fett, was used as Jones had stepped back from the role. After recording a short line for 2019's Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker, Jones had mentioned he was looking into winding down Vader to Matthew Wood at Skywalker Sound. Wood presented Jones with Respeecher's work, and the actor signed off on using his archival voice recordings to keep Vader alive and vital even by artificial means. Jones is credited for guiding the performance on Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Wood described his contribution as "a benevolent godfather." They informed the actor about their plans for Vader and heeded his advice on how to stay on the right course. As a Ukrainian start-up with employees in Kyiv and Lviv, Respeecher communicated extensively with Matthew Wood and director Deborah Chow on creating Darth Vader's dialogue in the days leading up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and continued fine-tuning Vader's voice amidst Russian bombardments.^[11]

While James Earl Jones reflected that he was very pleased with being "a part of that whole legend" of Star Wars, he said that he was "just an observer. I'm a special effect, you know, at best."^[3] Jones passed away on September 9, 2024,^[2] with a plethora of tributes.^[3] US Vice President Kamala Harris praised Jones for overcoming his stutter and "every obstacle to dazzle the world on stage and screen," voicing "some of the most notable characters in our culture" and challenging "America's thinking on civil rights and race."^[9] Lucasfilm's President Kathleen Kennedy described Jones as "one of the most versatile and talented actors of our time," applauding his "commanding presence on screen" and "warm personality off screen." George Lucas lauded Jones' sincerity to his roles and devotion as husband to Cecilia Hart and father to Flynn Jones.^[3] C-3PO actor Anthony Daniels applauded the late Jones's acting talents and compassion in a social media post,^[12] while Hamill put out a post of his own on the passing of his on-screen father.^[13]

Works[]

Filmography[]

Year	Title	Series	Contribution(s)	Notes
1977	Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope		Darth Vader
1978	The Star Wars Holiday Special		Darth Vader
1980	Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back		Darth Vader
1983	Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi		Darth Vader
2005	Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith		Darth Vader	Uncredited^[3]
2014	Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion	Star Wars Rebels	Darth Vader	ABC premiere
2015	Star Wars Rebels: The Siege of Lothal	Star Wars Rebels	Darth Vader
2016	"Shroud of Darkness"	Star Wars Rebels	Darth Vader
2016	"Twilight of the Apprentice"	Star Wars Rebels	Darth Vader
2016	Rogue One: A Star Wars Story		Darth Vader
2018	"A World Between Worlds"	Star Wars Rebels	Darth Vader	Archived audio
2019	Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker		Darth Vader
2022	"Part III"	Obi-Wan Kenobi	Darth Vader
2022	"Part IV"	Obi-Wan Kenobi	Darth Vader
2022	"Part V"	Obi-Wan Kenobi	Darth Vader
2022	"Part VI"	Obi-Wan Kenobi	Darth Vader