James Earl Jones

Before the voice, there was the stage. Jones built his reputation in the theatre, won three Tony Awards, and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1985. On screen his earliest widely seen part is Lieutenant Lothar Zogg in Dr. Strangelove in 1964. He was a pioneer for black actors in American film and theatre, and he became one of the very few performers to complete the EGOT.

The voice is the obvious thing about him and the least useful way to describe him. What made it work is that he never leaned on it. Darth Vader is menacing because the delivery is calm and unhurried, with the threat living in the pauses rather than the volume. Thulsa Doom in Conan the Barbarian is the same instrument used for seduction, a cult leader speaking softly to people who want to be told what to do. Mufasa in The Lion King is warmth with authority underneath, which is a far harder note than it sounds.

The later career was largely a matter of being asked to lend gravity, and he did it without ever appearing bored: Admiral Greer in the Jack Ryan films, King Jaffe Joffer in Coming to America and its sequel, a reclusive author in Field of Dreams, Vader again for Rogue One and Obi-Wan Kenobi. He received the National Medal of Arts in 1992, a Kennedy Center Honor in 2002, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2009 and an honorary Academy Award in 2011. He worked until close to the end of his life in 2024.