Hollywood legend James Earl Jones, renowned for voicing iconic characters such as Darth Vader in Star Wars and Mufasa in The Lion King, has died at 93. Jones, who had long battled diabetes, passed away at home surrounded by his family. The cause of death has not been disclosed.
In addition to his legendary roles, Jones appeared in Conan the Barbarian, played Eddie Murphy’s father in Coming to America, and starred in The Hunt for Red October and Patriot Games. Despite never winning a competitive Academy Award, he achieved EGOT status, having won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony.
Tributes have poured in, with Colman Domingo expressing gratitude on X, stating, “Thank you dear James Earl Jones for everything. A master of our craft. We stand on your shoulders. Rest now. You gave us your best.”
The Empire State Building honored Jones with a special light display of Darth Vader earlier this year. Jones also reprised his role as Mufasa in The Lion King remake in 2019, remaining the sole original voice cast member to return.
Fellow Star Wars actor Samuel L. Jackson once praised James Earl Jones, saying, “If you were an actor or aspired to be an actor, if you pounded the pavement in these streets looking for jobs, one of the standards we always had was to be a James Earl Jones.”
One of Jones’ earliest roles was a small part in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove. Over his illustrious career, he earned Tony Awards for The Great White Hope in 1969 and Fences in 1987, as well as Emmys in 1991 for Gabriel’s Fire and Heat Wave. He also won a Grammy for Best-Spoken Word Album for Great American Documents in 1977.
Though he never won a competitive Academy Award, Jones was nominated for Best Actor for The Great White Hope and received an honorary Oscar in 2011.
The Washington Post once described him as “capable of moving in seconds from boyish ingenuousness to near-biblical rage and somehow suggesting all the gradations in between,” highlighting his remarkable versatility.
