James Earl Jones’s Best Roles and Five Hidden Gems | Ringer Movies

Intro James Earl Jones died on Monday September 9th and I wanted to pay homage to the Beloved actor egot winner and the man with the voice of God it almost wasn't he told me you killed him no I am your father look inside yourself simma you are more than what you have become self-destruct you heard it hit the hoe and I was never here James old Jones was James Earl Jones’s Best Roles born in a small rural Mississippi town at the height of the depression abandoned by his parents and raised by his grandmother he was mostly mute during the early days of his life due to his struggles with a stutter it's one of those impossible seeming origin stories for a man with the most thunderous and meaningful of voices in American acting overcoming his stutter led to an extraordinary acting style marked by unusual but not uncomfortable pauses and remarkable elocution when you heard that deep tamber you had to pay attention if you were born in the 70s ' 80s or 90s Jones was venerated and widely remembered for his roles in five beloved and Uber successful Hollywood Productions of course he was Darth Vader in the original Star Wars Trilogy he was thulsa Doom the malevolent wizard antagonist in Conan the Barbarian he was King jaffy jofer the Jolly but forceful Monarch from Coming to America starring Eddie Murphy he was Terren man the tortured and reclusive novelist from Field of Dreams and he was Mufasa the slain patri RAR of The Lion King and of course the sixth film for us Elder Millennials he was one of the stars of the sand lot dear God who doesn't like The Sandlot and the goofy gravitas he brought to it I take it back you're not in trouble you're dead where you stand but he was more than that he was a lot more he was only nominated for one Oscar just one time in 1970 for his role in Martin Ritz the Great White Hope it's a fascinating movie A ferociously funny role as Jack Jefferson a thinly veiled standin for the legendary boxer Jack Johnson Jones is spelt and bouncy in this role he's smiling taunting defying expectations it's unlike anything we've ever seen in movies before he was nominated for and W A Tony for that same role one year before the movie in 2011 like so many amazing performers before him Jones was eventually awarded an honorary Oscar and as usual it was a little too late though he debuted on the big screen in 1964 in a little movie called Dr Strange Love and did hundreds of hours of TV in the 60s and 70s his Legend as an actor grew on stage he was a master of Shakespeare portraying leer aell and Oberon he was Big Daddy in Tennessee Williams Kat aen roof and lenan of M Men He elevated great works by Howard Sackler and August Wilson he received four Tony nominations over the years winning twice the second win was for his originating work as Troy Maxon in August Wilson's fences in 1987 he spent three years off and on playing that part on the stage and until the Denzel Washington film more than 30 years later it was definitive Troy Maxon is a beaten man protecting himself from the past and the future he was an ex ball player who missed making it the big time just barely his regret and frustration defines the part just as baseball has defined Jones on screen he played it in the Bingo Long traveling All-Star and motor Kings pontificated on it in Field of Dreams mourned its potential in fences and hammed it up in the sand lot in the same way that baseball is ineffably undeniably American so is James Jones He conferred Authority with perhaps the most recognizable voice in the history of movies and he had an flinching gaze some actors are great at bellowing and some are great at glaring into a camera Jones easily did both he also routinely played proud intelligent powerful men during a period of dramatic change in America he could project dignity Menace intelligence belligerence profundity rage solemnity all in the same part he worked all the time more than a 100 movies in 60 years more than 50 stage performances dozens and dozens of TV series and TV movies and soap operas in the second half of the 20th century James Earl Jones was like the cosmic wallpaper of movies he surrounded everything everyone has a different favorite James Earl Jones performance even if it wasn't a star part maybe it's the Exorcist 2 or The Hunt for Red October or Patriot Games or Summers be or best of the best or Charles Bernett the annihilation of fish I have five Five "Hidden Gem" Performances more that I really love some under the radar roles that I think you should seek out if you love movies and you love James Earl Jones the first is from 1970 it's called the end of the road it's a strange and fascinating black comedy about the absurdity of American Life Jones isn't the star he plays a particularly out there proprietor of a mental Asylum who attempts to reform Stacy ke's catatonic character Herer if you liked inherent Vice or network you might dig this movie it was recently revived by Steven Soderberg who is one of its biggest fans there's also 1972's the man which was a TV movie written by the great Rod zerling one of my heroes and in that movie he plays the first black president of the United States of America in a fascinating turn of events in which the president prot tempore of the Senate steps into the role after the president is killed and the vice president has a terminal illness Jones is so ferociously Smart in this movie it's really worth checking out the third movie is called Claudine it's from 1974 just turned 50 years old it's a romantic comedy it's about a middle-aged woman who meets a garbage collector and they just try to figure out their life together it's a very small movie Jones plays opposite Diane Carol at the height of the black exploitation ERA this movie redefined how black families were portrayed on the big screen really worth checking out out two more from 1987 the first is Gardens of Stone have you heard of this movie it's directed by Francis Ford Copa arguably his most forgotten or overlooked movie again Jones is not the star he's a supporting character he plays goody Nelson the longtime friend and Superior officer to James con's platoon Sergeant hazard in this mournful story about men in the military at the end of the middle age of their life it's really worth checking out and then the last one is mwan this is a John sales movie in which James ear jones appears as a coal miner it's a gripping period piece James Jones plays few clothes Johnson a miner brought in by the corrupt Mining Company amidst the labor strike and he creates a raging moral Quagmire in West Virginia Jones is electrifying in this if you like his work if you love Darth Vader If You Love Field of Dreams check out Mayan rip James R Jones and I can't help that the way white folks is but I ain't never been called No scab and I ain't fixing the startup now I go ton Forton loing Co with in here when I do I expect the same dollar for the same work