Award-winning actor James Earl Jones, known for voicing the villain Darth Vader in the Star Wars movies and King Mufasa in The Lion King, among many other roles, has died at age 93 at his home in Pawling, New York. He was also known for voicing the phrase "this is CNN" on that network. The cause of death has not yet been reported.
James Earl Jones was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi to Robert Earl Jones and the former Ruth Connolly. According to Jones, both parents had African, Irish and Native American ancestry. Not long after his birth, his father left the family and became an actor in both New York and Hollywood. Starting at age 5, he as raised by his maternal grandparents in Michigan, the transition being so traumatic that he developed a stutter. He later credited his high school English teacher with helping him overcome it.
In 1949, Jones graduated from Dickson Rural Agricultural School (a high school) in Brethren, Michigan and then attended the University of Michigan as a pre-med major. He joined its ROTC program and graduated in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts after changing his major to drama. In 1953, just after the Korean War ended, Jones was commissioned as an Army officer. Later during the 1950s, he moved to New York City, where he worked as a janitor, a stage carpenter, a stage manager, and an actor.
During the 1960s, after acting in works by William Shakespeare such as Othello and King Lear, where he played the title roles, Jones made his film debut in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Stangelove. He would go on to appear in movies such as The Great White Hope, The Man, Claudine, Conan the Barbarian, Coming to America, Matewan, the Hunt for Red October, and Field of Dreams. Jones was also a guest star on many television programs, including the first season of the children's show Sesame Street.
In 1968, Jones married singer/actress Julienne Marie. They divorced in 1972. He married Cecilia Hart in 1982, with whom he had a son named Flynn, who survives him. Hart died from ovarian cancer in 2016.
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