James Earl Jonesthe American actor who gave voice to iconic cinema characters such as Darth Vaderfrom “Star Wars” or Moufasa in “The Lion King,” died Monday at the age of 93 at his home in Dutchess County, New York, according to Deadline.
Jones was one of the few privileged members of the club of SELF (i.e. winner of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) and has participated in nearly 200 film productions during his 60-year career.
The actor, born in 1931 in Arkabutla (Mississippi)was best known for playing the character of Darth Vader in the original “Star Wars” trilogy, as well as in more recent installments (“Revenge of the Sith,” “Rogue One,” “The Rise of Skywalker”) and in the television series “Obi-Wan Kenobi” and “Star War Rebels.”
Jones made his big screen debut in Stanley Kubrick’s feature film ‘Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb“, although he became famous in 1970 with his role in the film “The Great White Hope» (The Great White Hope), where he played the first African-American heavyweight champion in the United States. His role in the latter earned him a nomination for an Oscar for Best Leading Actor in 1971, although he did not win a statuette. until 2012, when he received an honorary Oscar.
In cinema, he has also participated in other films such as ‘Claudie‘, ‘Field of dreams‘(Field of Dreams) or ‘Our gang‘(Our Gang). For his part, he made his Broadway debut in 1958 with ‘Sunrise in Campobello‘ (Dawn at Campobello), for which he won the Tony for best play, and throughout his career he won two of these awards, including one for his role in the play ‘The Great White Hope» (before its adaptation to the big screen) and another for “Fences”.
Additionally, he has been nominated for eight Emmy Awards, winning two of those awards in 1991: one for his role as the title character in the drama series ‘Gabriel’s Fire » (The Passion of Gabriel) and another in the supporting actor category in a miniseries or a special for “Heat Wave” (The Rebellion).
