Hollywood Legend, Actor James Earl Jones is dead.
NewsOnline Nigeria reports that American actor James Earl Jones, best known for being the voice of the Star Wars villain Darth Vader, has died aged 93.
Jones, a longtime sufferer of diabetes, died on Monday morning at his home surrounded by family members, his agent Barry McPherson said. No cause of death was provided.
Jones starred in dozens of films including Field of Dreams, Coming To America, Conan the Barbarian and The Lion King. But it was his iconic voice as Star Wars villainous Darth Vader for which he was best known.
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During his career, Jones won three Tony awards including two Emmys and a Grammy, as well as an honorary Oscar in 2011 for lifetime achievement.
Mark Hamill, who played Vader’s son Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, posted “RIP Dad” with a broken heart emoji as he shared a news report of the death.
Star Trek actor LeVar Burton was among the first to pay tribute to Jones, saying “there will never be another of his particular combinations of graces”.
Also paying tribute, US actor Colman Domingo wrote: “Thank you dear James Earl Jones for everything. A master of our craft. We stand on your shoulders. Rest now. You gave us your best.”
Oscar-winning actress Octavia Spencer wrote Jones’ “voice and talent will be remembered always” and that “legendary doesn’t even begin to describe his iconic roles and impact on cinema forever.”
Born in Mississippi in January 1931, Jones said he was unable to speak for most of his childhood because of a stammer.
He explained he had developed his famous voice while working on how to deal with the stammer.
Jones was best known for voicing Darth Vader in the original Star Wars film, which came out in 1977, and sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
He reprised the role in later film releases such as the first instalment of the Star Wars anthology series, Rogue One, and the third instalment of the sequel trilogy, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – both released in the later 2010s.
Although he never won a competitive Academy award, he was nominated for best actor for the film version of The Great White Hope and was given an honorary Oscar in 2011.
Jones was “capable of moving in seconds from boyish ingenuousness to near-biblical rage and somehow suggesting all the gradations in between,” the Washington Post wrote in a 1987 review of Fences.
