LOS ANGELES, Sept. 9 — Actor James Earl Jones was sometimes in danger of being overshadowed by voiceover James Earl Jones.
Jones died on Monday at the age of 93, here are five facts about him:
* “Star Wars” creator George Lucas wanted an imposing voice for Darth Vader and first considered casting Orson Welles. He eventually decided Welles was too recognizable and chose Jones.
* One of the most famous lines of dialogue in the film world comes in “Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back,” when Luke Skywalker learns the truth about his family. The key line of dialogue in the 1980 film is usually told by the evil Darth Vader to the Jedi, “Luke, I am your father.”
The exchange actually happens like this:
Darth Vader: Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.
Luke Skywalker: He told me so much! He told me you killed him!
Darth Vader: No. I am your father.
* Jones’ own father, Robert Earl Jones, was also an actor, debuting in the 1939 film “Lying Lips.” He later appeared in “The Cotton Club” and “Witness” in the 1970s and 1980s. His best-known role was in “The Sting,” a 1973 film starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman, in which he played Redford’s cheating partner Luther Coleman. When Luther is killed by a gangster, Redford and Newman team up to seek revenge in the grand swindle that is the film’s highlight.
* James Earl Jones is believed to be the first black man to play a U.S. president in a film, other than 7-year-old Sammy Davis Jr. in the 1933 musical short “Rufus Jones for President.” In the 1972 film “The Man,” based on the novel by Irving Wallace, Jones played Douglas Dilman, the president pro tempore of the Senate who takes over after the president and House speaker are assassinated and declines the vice presidency.
* In 1971 Jones began using his legendary voice to practice primal therapy, which involves reliving repressed childhood traumas, often by screaming them out loud. Jones built a soundproof chamber in his home to work through his problems. “I have been quoted as saying that primal therapy cured me of my cigarette habit, sinus troubles and compulsive sexual desires and, most importantly, my hemorrhoids,” Jones wrote in his 1993 autobiography, “Voices and Silences.” “Now that sounds like hyperbole.”
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