The honorary Oscar recipient and two-time Tony winner overcame a stutter to face out in such movies as ‘The Nice White Hope,’ ‘The Lion King,’ ‘Area of Goals’ and ‘The Sandlot.’
James Earl Jones, a commanding presence onscreen who nonetheless gained better fame off-camera because the sonorous voice of Star Wars villain Darth Vader and Mufasa, the benevolent chief in The Lion King, died Monday. He was 93.
Jones, who burst into nationwide prominence in 1970 together with his highly effective Oscar-nominated efficiency as America’s first Black heavyweight champion in The Nice White Hope, died at his dwelling in Dutchess County, New York, Unbiased Artist Group introduced.
The distinguished star made his big-screen debut in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Discovered to Cease Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) and was noteworthy in lots of different movies, together with Claudine (1974) reverse Diahann Carroll; Area of Goals (1989), because the reclusive creator Terence Mann; and The Sandlot (1993), because the intimidating neighborhood man Mr. Mertle.