This year, we lost a legend. James Earl Jones passed away in September leaving us amazing works. Like his acting in movies like hunt for red October, The Sandlot, Soul man, Field of dreams and much more. But he was more remembered for his voice talents.
Born on January 17th in 1931, James Earl Jones was considered a stutterer when he was young. He didn't speak much until later in life. When he got older, he decided to try acting to help his stuttering and it seemed to work. He never even knew his father till later in life and was mostly raised by his grandparents since he was five.
Like I said, he was mostly known for voice acting; especially his voice work in the 1970's when a certain movie by George Lucas came around. Even though he was never odically Darth Vader in suit, but his voice was known more than the actor in the suit. James Earl Jones voice cemented Darth Vader's persona in every way. Now with him gone, Darth Vadar is truly dead.
James Earl Jones starred in two baseball movies, but one of them was more memorable than the other. Field of dreams, starring Kevin Costner, is about a man in Iowa changing his corn field into a baseball field. With the words, "If you build it, he will come." I forgot what the name of James character was, but he helped Kevin with everything as he noticed the ghost of his father appearing in the baseball field.
What I would remember James Earl Jones the most is The Lion King. This movie is like Hamlet where one brother is killed by another. James voiced Mufasa who ends up killed by his younger brother Scar, voiced by Jermey Irons. His voice is beyond recognizable in this 1994 version, that 30 years later, his voice is more remembered in the animated one than the live action.
Disney decided to make a live action movie of The Lion King. What did I think of it? Not as great as the original. They decided to have an 89-year-old James Earl Jones voice Mufasa and well...it wasn't as great as the original and that's why his voice sounds a lot better in the 1994 version than this one.
James Earl Jones has one son named Flynn with his late wife as she lived till 2016, passing away from Ovarian Cancer. His son Flynn has started to become an actor like his late father was. Haven't seen him in much, but he would often say how much of a role model James Earl Jones was to him, and I find that inspiring seeing that my father is the same way...at times.
One more thing I wanted to say about him...He was the voice of the CNN news. Saying the words, "This is CNN" After his death, the CNN logo dimmed as well as the Hollywood Walk of Fame having his star being covered with flowers.
It'll be hard hearing his voice as a lion or a villain ever again. I even found out they're going to use his voice in future Star Wars projects. Mostly his recordings because no one, and I mean no one, can ever replace him.
"May the force be with him."
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