James Earl Jones Passes At 93 | The Blerd Breakdown Clips | Actor | Icon

legendary icon James Earl Jones has passed away at the age of 93 uh the source for this one I'm using is uh from Mark Kennedy AT AP News James Earl Jones who overcame racial Prejudice and a severe stutter to become a celebrated icon on stage in screen eventually lending his deep commanding voice to not only CNN The Lion King but also to Star Wars as Darth Vader has died at the age of 93 his agent Barry mcferson confirmed Jones died Monday morning at home home in New York's Hudson Valley region cause was not immediately clear pioneering Jones who in 1965 became one of the first African-American actors in A continuing role in a daytime drama As the World Turns and worked deep into his 80s won two Emmys of Golden Globe two Tony Awards a Grammy the national medal of arts and Kennedy Center Honors he was also given an honorary Oscar and a special Tony for lifetime achievement in 2022 a Broadway Theater renamed itself in his honor he cut hit an elegant figure late in life with a Ry sense of humor and a ferocious work Habit in 2015 he arrived at rehearsals for a Broadway run of the Gin game having already memorized the play and with notebooks filled with comments from the creative team he said he was always in service of the work Jones created such memorable film roles as the reclusive writer coaxed back into the spotlight in filled of Dreams the boxer Jack Johnson in the stage and Screen hit the Great White Hope the writer Alex Haley and Roots the Next Generation a South African Minister and Cry the Beloved Country and the king of Zamunda and Eddie Murphy's comedy classic Coming to America he was also a sought-after voice actor expressing the villainy of Darth Vader no I am your father commonly is remembered as Luke I am your father as well as the uh benign Dignity of King Mufasa in both the 1994 and 2019 versions of Disney's Lion King and also announcing this is CNN during station breaks he won a 1977 Grammy first performance on The Great American documents audio book if you were an actor or aspired to be an actor if you pounded the pavement in these streets looking for jobs one of the standards we always had was to be a James Earl Jones simula Jackson once said some of his other films include Doctor Strange Love the greatest with Muhammad Ali con and the Barbarian Three Fugitives and playing an admiral and three Blockbuster Tom Clancy adaptations The Hunt for Red October Patriot Games and clear and present danger and a r romantic comedy Claudine Jones had an onscreen love affair with Diane Carroll Jones made his Broadway debut in 1958 uh Sun 1958 sunrise at Campa belloo and would win his 220 awards for the Great White Hope in 1969 and fences in 1987 he was also nominated for on Golden Pawn in 25 uh 2005 and Gore Vidal's the best man in 2012 he was celebrated for his command of Shakespeare and uh athal fugar guard alike most uh more recent Broadway appearances included cat on a hoton roof Driving Miss Daisy the Iceman Cometh and you can't take it with you it's a rising star and television actor he performed with the New York Shakespeare Festival theater in uh in aell MC Beth and King leer and in Off Broadway plays in 2022 the court theater on Broadway renamed itself after Jones with a ceremony that included Norm Lewis singing go to the distance Brian Stokes Mitchell singing make them hear you and words from mayor Eric Adams Samuel Jackson and latata Richardson Jackson okay so I know you guys have probably your own memories and your favorite roles of James Earl Jones please let me know in the comments what you feel I'm just going to tell like a quick story uh and then we'll go on to the next one man so for those that don't know um I have really been doing stuff in the industry since I was a kid man um I auditioned for the Barney movie um I was almost an episode of Wishbone back in the day I worked for Radio Disney from like fifth grade until I graduated high school um and one of the things that I actually did when I was a senior there was this big conference that was going on um it was for like young artists and businessmen and women and all this kind of stuff um and they actually ended up having uh James O Jones as a major speaker for this event like he was the keynote speaker um and so uh just through some you know some Grace and some luck um I ended up being able to give like a big speech at the the opening of this whole thing and introducing James Earl Jones as the keynote speaker it was my first like professional hosting gig I had already been doing the Radio Disney stuff but that's more kind of like vo acting stuff but this was like my first like hosting presenter type situation man only for me to find out a few years later that um James Earl Jones is actually uh first cousins with my play cousins with my play auntie and my play cousins for those that know what that means it means that I'm not related to these folks by Blood but they're close enough to be blood um that I refer to this woman as my auntie I refer to her kids as my cousins that's that's what a play cousin play Auntie is all that kind of stuff so I have had a connection to him both in my career and in my personal life forever and so to see someone that was so talented that did so much um that fought through for those that don't know about his stutter that he had to kind of learn how to talk through and to become an actor a super successful actor D that is crazy him as an activist all these things is huge and I just feel awful awful that he's gone man this is one that really really stings because of just what he means to me what he means to entertainment as a whole to actors as a whole to Black actors all of the the you know there's been a lot of tox toxicity in Star Wars over the last few years man and things kind of going sideways he's one of the basion and Staples that nobody has ever had any issue with whatsoever if anything just realized how iconic his voice was and what he means to the to the franchise this one hurts but at the same time I think the thing that was so cool is he lived to 93 this wasn't like a you know a tragic you know it is tragic but it wasn't like uh you know Matthew Perry Gone Too Soon especially hearing that someone was actually trying to get him killed by taking his money type crap you know Michael going too soon at 50 like he lived a full full life and accomplished so many things I'm sure if you had a chance to go back in time and ask him that he wouldn't trade anything that he lived through for anything in the world man and so I just genuinely just want to you know thank you know if you can hear me from the other side I want to thank you for allowing me to start my career uh through you uh I I'll never really forget that moment and I genuinely just wish that you rest in power thank you for being a Guiding Light to so many of us and to Bringing so much comfort and joy to so many of us so rest and Power [Music] oh