James Earl Jones, the instantly recognisable voice of characters like Darth Vader and The Lion King’s Mufasa, has died at the age of 93.
Yesterday, the actor’s agent Barry McPherson shared that Jones had died early in the morning surrounded by his family. Most people will know the actor as the incredibly foreboding voice of Star Wars most iconic villain Darth Vader, as well as the voice of Mufasa in both the original Lion King as well as its 2019 remake, but he had an incredibly broad career outside of these roles – he was also much beloved for his roles in films like Field of Dreams, Conan the Barbarian, and Coming to America.
His performances weren’t just highly regarded by fans, as Jones was also an incredibly rare EGOT winner, meaning over his career he won at least one Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. In fact, the actor had one three Emmy awards, and three Tony Awards, with his Grammy being for spoken-word, and his Oscar being an honorary lifetime achievement award given to him in 2011. He was also only the second Black man nominated for an Academy Award in 1971 for his role in The Great White Hope. In total Jones achieved almost 200 screen credits over the course of his 60 year-long career, his first film credit being Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 classic Dr. Stangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
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