As many continue to react to veteran actor James Earl Jones’ death on September 9, 2024, we are learning more about his life and his impact on some of Black Hollywood’s biggest stars.
The legendary actor, 93, was perhaps best known for the powerful voice that voiced iconic characters like Darth Vader and Mufasa. However, he once lived with a stutter and overcame multiple periods of self-imposed muteness in his early life.
When Jones was inducted into the American Academy of Achievement in 1996, he shared in an interview what it was like growing up in Mississippi and Michigan.
“It wasn’t that I stopped talking; it was that I resolved that talking was too difficult,” Jones recalled, adding that moving away from Mississippi to Michigan with his grandparents, who raised him, caused significant trauma for him. As a result, he spent his entire first year of school mute which continued well into high school.
It wasn’t until he encountered a high school teacher named Donald Crouch that Jones started pushing through his silence, discovering a love of poetry in the process.
“[Crouch] said, ‘Do you like these words? Do you like the way they sound in your head?’ ” Jones explained. “He said, ‘Well, they sound 10 times better when you give them out in the air. It’s too bad you can’t say these words.’ He began to challenge and nudge me toward speaking again, and by using my own poetry and then other poets … he nudged me toward that, toward acknowledging and appreciating the beauty of words.”
It’s hard to say what would have been if not for Crouch’s crucial intervention. However, it is easy to say what Jones would go on to do for many future Black Hollywood stars.
“He’s my hero,” Denzel Washington told Variety, who noted that his college theater career was inspired by Jones’ performances in both “The Emperor Jones” and “Othello.”
“I wasn’t going to be as big as him. I wanted to sound like him. He was everything to me as a budding actor. He was who I wanted to be,” Washington continued. “There weren’t a lot of serious Black actors for us to emulate; to follow, to admire. There was Sidney [Poitier]; it was James Earl Jones on stage. That’s what I remember.”
Ava DuVernay paid tribute to Jones through multiple posts in her Instagram Stories and ended with the caption: “A job well done. A gift well shared. Bless you as you journey on,” per Entertainment Weekly.
In a post on X, Kerry Washington shared, “Your voice left an everlasting mark on film and theatre. Your roles shaped our imaginations. Your legacy will live on forever. Rest in peace, Mr. Jones.”
Wendell Pierce wrote in his own tribute post on X, “Genius Personified. Humanity Exemplified. Artistry of the highest order. A personal hero of monumental talent. Once in a generation. My soul is broken with the news of his transition.”
Colman Domingo shared an image of a young Jones on X, writing, “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.”
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Meanwhile, Courtney B. Vance, who spent time with Jones and his family six months ago, told Variety he regrets not reminiscing more about the times he shared the stage with the late actor, including a performance of August Wilson’s “Fences,” and when the two performed a scene from the play for the 1987 Tony Awards.
“At that very first table read, I didn’t know what to call James — I called him “Sir.” I was the only one that didn’t know anybody. On top of that, I was green because I had just gotten into theater. I didn’t know upstage from downstage. They all brought me along. They schooled me,” Vance recalled.
He added that “James would like to be remembered as a gentleman, as someone who loved his family. Everybody from his generation, there were no models for them, so they had to make their way out of no way. They were all pioneers. Moses Gunn, Cicely Tyson, and James in “The Blacks” was a play that changed Broadway as much as “Fences” did, allowing African American performers to have careers.”
Vance also recalled the last time he saw Jones, who is survived by his son Flynn, at his home in upstate New York earlier this year.
“The whole family was there, and we were all just laughing, talking about old times,” he said. “He said to me, “Courtney, they’ve got me so ensconced in this bubble, I think I’m gonna live to be 100.” I said, “Jimmy, I know you will.””
