By: Katie Border

National/World Editor

At 93 years old, renowned actor James Earl Jones passed away peacefully on Monday, Sept. 9 at his home in Dutchess County, New York. Numerous co-stars who worked with him at some point in their careers came out to commend and pay tribute to the late public figure, expressing their sorrow, love, and respect for Jones’s recent passing.

Born Jan. 17, 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi, Jones spent most of his adolescent years working on finding his voice, overcoming a debilitating speech impediment through his love of poetry. Jones went on to become his high school valedictorian and later majored in pre-med at the University of Michigan before serving in the United States Army during the Korean War (1950-1953). Jones afterwards began pursuing his career in theater, working his way from his Broadway debut to acting in the film business, becoming one of the few entertainers who has earned an EGOT —  an acronym for the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards. 

Jones won his first Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his boxer role in The Great White Hope (1968), going on to receive a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement (2017). Jones’ debut film was Dr. Strangelove (1964), and his last film was Coming to America (2021). Jones is also widely revered for his voice-over of Mufasa in both the original and live-action Lion King films (1994 and 2019, respectively).

Among Jones’s vast accomplishments throughout his distinguished and versatile career, he reached international fame for his iconic Darth Vader voice role in the blockbuster Star Wars franchise, beginning with A New Hope (1977). The Star Wars franchise has pulled in an astounding 10.3 billion dollars through worldwide box offices, ranking Star Wars as one of the highest grossing franchises in film history. Many fans agree that Jones’s remarkable Darth Vader voice made the character arguably one of the most memorable and fan-favorite villains that originated through the film industry. He reprised his role as the Darth Vader voice over the past five decades, ending with the 2022 Disney + mini series, Obi-Won Kenobi, which takes place a decade after Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.

Among the many who have come forward to pay tribute in honor of Jones are his fellow co-actors Mark Hamil, who worked alongside Jones during his role as Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars films as well as  Kevin Cosner, who co-starred with Jones in the memorable movie, Field of Dreams (1989), which received numerous Academy award nominations and won Japan Academy Prize for Outstanding Foreign Language film in 1991. Commending Jones’s career and unforgettable personality, Cosner wrote on his Instagram platform, “That booming voice. That quiet strength. The kindness that he radiated. So much can be said about his legacy.”