Mr. Movie: James Earl Jones

It took Hollywood a while, but once they caught on to his distinctive booming bass voice, James Earl Jones he was the go-to narrator guy. 

This famous voice first appeared in the first Star Wars movie, which is actually number IV in the Star Wars cycle. You never forgot the villainous Darth Vader and his rumbling, terrifying voice. Jones voiced Darth Vader in all the Star Wars films. He did so once again in number V. However, if you scroll through the credits in those two films, you will not see Jones' name. It was him, OK, but he refused the credit, not wanting to over-shine his friend David Prowse, the actor who played Vader. After that film, Jones was always credited. 

Strangely, the correct sequence of Star Wars movies in the order of their release is 4,5,6,1,2,3,7. That seems to bother absolutely no one. The Star Wars galaxy of films is not based on a book, but on a series of screen outlines developed by George Lucas. So the very first release is titled Star Wars IV: A New Hope. The next two films follow in sequence. Then they return to number 1, which is actually a prequel. 

I will never forget watching the first Star Wars film in 1977. I was completely blown away, and so was most everyone else. The complete Star Wars movie package has made more than $10 billion. Yoda, Princess Leah, Wookie, Luke, Hans Solo, R2D2 and CP3O are all legends now.

Returning now to Jones and his unmistakable voice. Who will ever forget “Luke, I am your father”? Jones probably made more money from his voice-overs and narrations than from his acting. And there’s another movie franchise that utilized Jones’ unique voice. The Lion King first appeared as an animated musical in 1994. Hugely popular, it went on to sire many film offspring, and a hit Broadway Musical.

That first version contained a host of famous voices: Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Jeremy Irons, Whoopi Goldberg, et al. But the one everyone remembers is Jones, voicing Mufasa, the King of the title and the leader of the pride of lions. He is killed by the treacherous Scar, who replaces Mufasa and does an expectedly terrible job as leader. Mufasa with the Jones voice is heard once again in the real life version in 2019. And there were lots of other Lion King opportunities for Jones.

He was born with a debilitating stutter. He hardly spoke at all until he was 8 years old and spoke very little until high school. A high school voice teacher taught him how to deal with his problem. Jones had written poetry and the teacher convinced him to read it aloud in front of the class. He did so and didn’t stutter at all. The rest, as they say, is history. 

His overcoming this condition all the way to narrating films is an inspiring story. He can also be heard in The Sandlot, Our Friend Martin, Merlin and several other films. He has recorded the entire New Testament.

Next time: James Earl Jones the actor.