ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
The actor James Earl Jones has died at age 93. His voice was one for the ages.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "STAR WARS: EPISODE IV - A NEW HOPE")
JAMES EARL JONES: (As Darth Vader) The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.
SHAPIRO: Of course, Jones was the ominous voice of Darth Vader in "Star Wars." He also voiced Mufasa, the Lion King's father. NPR's Mandalit del Barco has this appreciation of the distinguished stage and screen actor.
MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE: James Earl Jones had a powerful, authoritative, booming baritone, but as a child in Michigan, raised by his grandparents, he stuttered and barely spoke.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
JONES: It was just too embarrassing.
DEL BARCO: Jones told Fresh Air's Terry Gross in 1993 that he was able to call out to animals as a farm kid doing chores.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
JONES: But when strangers came to the house, the mute happened. I didn't want to confront them. I wasn't ready. I hid in the state of muteness.
DEL BARCO: Jones credits his high school English teacher with helping him overcome that.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
JONES: He one day discovered that I wrote poetry. And he said to me, this poem is so good, I don't think you really wrote it. I think you plagiarized it, which was a shock to me. And he said, the way you can prove it to me that you wrote it was to get in front of the class and recite it by heart. And I accepted the challenge and did it. And we both realized then we had a means, we had a way of regaining the power of speech through reading poetry.
DEL BARCO: Jones found his voice. And after a stint in the Army, studying pre-med in college, working as a janitor and considering the priesthood, that voice led him to the theater in New York. Audiences found his stage presence commanding. In 1969, Jones won a Tony Award as best actor in "The Great White Hope." He played a champion boxer modeled after real-life champ Jack Johnson.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE GREAT WHITE HOPE")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Are you the Black hope?
JONES: (As Jack Jefferson) Well, I'm Black, and I'm hoping.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Answer him straight, Jack.
JONES: (As Jack Jefferson) Hey. Look, man. I ain't fighting for no race. I ain't redeeming nobody. My mama told me Mr. Lincoln done that. Ain't that why you shot him?
DEL BARCO: That's Jones in the 1970 film adaptation that earned him an Oscar nomination.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
JONES: "The Great White Hope" put me, for instance, on the cover of Newsweek magazine. I said, that's something.
DEL BARCO: He talked to NPR in 2014 as part of a series called My Big Break.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
JONES: I decided if I could handle a leading role in the Broadway play, then I can probably go ahead and get married and raise a family. I could afford to raise a family.
DEL BARCO: Jones, who was born in Arkabutla, Miss., was married twice and had a son. On stage, Jones performed classic roles like "Macbeth," "Othello" and "The Ice Man Cometh." He won a second Tony in 1987 for his role in the August Wilson play "Fences."
(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "FENCES")
JONES: (As Troy Maxson) Come here, boy, when I talk to you.
DEL BARCO: He played an ex-baseball player who has trouble relating to his son.
(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "FENCES")
JONES: (As Troy Maxson) You live in my house. You sleep your behind on my bed clothes. You put my food in your belly because you are my son. You're my flesh and blood, not because I like you.
DEL BARCO: On film, Jones was a B-52 bombardier in Stanley Kubrick's film "Dr. Strangelove." He played the first Black president in the 1972 film "The Man." He was a disillusioned author in 1989's "Field Of Dreams" and a South African pastor in the 1995 "Cry, The Beloved Country." But he was best known as the voice of that villain Darth Vader, the role who played in five of the "Star Wars" movies, including "The Empire Strikes Back."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "STAR WARS: EPISODE V - THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK")
JONES: (As Darth Vader) If you only knew the power of the dark side. Obi Wan never told you what happened to your father.
MARK HAMILL: (As Luke Skywalker) He told me enough. He told me you killed him.
JONES: (As Darth Vader) No. I am your father.
DEL BARCO: In 2015, he was honored at the American Theatre Wing Gala in New York. At the ceremony, "Star Wars" creator George Lucas said he was faced with the choice of casting Orson Welles or James Earl Jones. Lucas said he chose well.
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GEORGE LUCAS: He created, with very little dialogue, one of the greatest villains that ever lived.
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JONES: The "Star Wars" sort of put my name on the A list, as they say out there, for authoritative voices.
DEL BARCO: James Earl Jones became the voice of CNN, the announcer for TV commercials for Verizon, Goodyear Tires, car companies and the Yellow Pages. He even read the Bible for audio books and CDs.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JONES: (Reading) To him be glory and dominion forever and ever, amen.
DEL BARCO: Jones also had a playful side. He guest starred on "Sesame Street" in 1969 and "The Simpsons" in the mid-1990s, where he referenced some of his famous roles.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE SIMPSONS")
JONES: (As himself) You must avenge my death, Kimba - I mean, Simba. Luke, I am your father. This is CNN.
RON TAYLOR: (As "Bleeding Gums" Murphy) Will you guys pipe down? I'm saying goodbye to Lisa.
JONES: (As himself) We're sorry.
DEL BARCO: Jones said that throughout his life, he still stuttered, but he learned to control it, so much that you can't hear a trace in "The Lion King," when, as the great King Mufasa, he gives advice to his son Simba.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE LION KING")
JONES: (As Mufasa) Look at the stars. The great kings of the past look down on us from those stars.
MATTHEW BRODERICK: (As Simba) Really?
JONES: (As Mufasa) Yes. So whenever you feel alone, just remember that those kings will always be up there to guide you, and so will I.
DEL BARCO: James Earl Jones, as Darth Vader might say, the Force was strong with this one. Mandalit del Barco, NPR News, Los Angeles. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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