Before he was the voices of Darth Vader and Mufasa… before he was King Jaffe Joffer… actor James Earl Jones grew up on a farm in Michigan and was a Michigan Wolverine.
Jones passed away on Monday, September 9 at the age of 93 at his home in New York’s Hudson Valley region, according to the Associated Press. The cause has not yet been revealed.
Jones was born in a shack in Arkabutla, Mississippi by the light of an oil lamp on January 17, 1931.
When he was 6, his mother took him to her parents’ farm in Dublin, Michigan, which is located just east of Manistee and west of Cadillac. His grandparents adopted him and raised him.
“A world ended for me, the safe world of childhood,” Jones wrote in his autobiography, “Voices and Silences.” “The move from Mississippi to Michigan was supposed to be a glorious event. For me it was a heartbreak, and not long after, I began to stutter.”
Jones, one of the greatest voice actors in history, was actually too embarrassed to speak at a young age and remained a virtual mute for years, communicating with teachers and fellow students with handwritten notes.
It wasn’t until one of his high school teachers at Dickson H.S. in Brethren, Michigan, Donald Crouch, learned that he wrote poetry, and demanded that Jones read one of his poems aloud in class. He excelled at it.
“I could not get enough of speaking, debating, orating — acting,” Jones recalled in his book.
Jones attended the University of Michigan where failing a pre-med exam led him to switch to drama. He also played on the basketball team for four seasons.
Jones graduated a Wolverine in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts with a major in drama. Also serving in the Army from 1953 to 1955, Jones began his acting career at the Ramsdell Theatre in Manistee.
He moved to New York, moving in with his father, and enrolled with the American Theater Wing program for young actors.
The rest was history as Jones won two Emmys, a Golden Globe, two Tony Awards, a Grammy, the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors and was given an honorary Oscar and a special Tony for lifetime achievement.
Jones was married twice. Both were actors. He married Julienne Marie Hendricks in 1967. After their divorce, he married Cecilia Hart, best known for her role as Stacey Erickson in the CBS police drama “Paris,” in 1982. She died in 2016.
Jones is survived by their son, Flynn Earl, who was born in 1983.
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Publish date : 2024-09-09 19:08:00
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