I spent my first ten years in New York in typeMore than once, I found myself sharing an elevator with James Earl Jones on his way to and from a Verizon commercial shoot. The giant actor who died today at age 93 would always say a warm “good morning” or “good afternoon,” even if I didn’t recognize his face or his majestic 6-foot-2 frame. There’s no doubt about that loud sound.
His voice is an earth-shattering bass rumble from behind Darth Vader’s formidable mask. Star Wars The saga begins in the original 1977 film, with the roar of Mufasa, King of the Pride Lands and Simba’s father. lion king.
It is also the voice of a respected stage actor who achieved fame in the 1960s and 1970s playing great classical roles in Shakespeare in the Park. winter story, Othello, Troilus and Cressida, Coriolanus, village and king lear. His versatility made him Hickey Iceman is cominglenny is of mice and menLopakin cherry orchard and Troy Maxson fence.
I watched a stunning performance of the tragic hero in August Wilson’s 1985 masterpiece at Lincoln Center’s treasured Performing Arts Library, only on film. Even without the power of live theater, Jones’ inner grief and pride and strength of will belie a broken spirit as he paints a portrait of a Pittsburgh sanitation worker who reacted to having his career in Major League Baseball robbed of him. It hurts but still rings loud and clear. This earned him his second of three Tony Awards.
Because Jones remained true to his theatrical roots, I was lucky enough to see him on stage many times. The first was his return to Broadway after an absence of nearly two decades, starring opposite Leslie Uggams in the 2005 revival of Ernest Thompson. By the golden pond. Even in that squeaky car, Jones delivers a commanding performance, transcending his inherent character of lovable curmudgeon to imbue him with a fiery intellect when a life-threatening health scare exposes his fear of death. , mischievous humor and searing vulnerability.
In 2008, he played the domineering Southern patriarch Daddy in the all-black mash-up drama “Bigg Boss.” cat on a hot tin roofReturning two years later, with Vanessa Redgrave, their union elevated the shaky status driving miss daisy.
Jones continued to work on the stage into his 80s, displaying a discipline and stamina for eight shows a week that many actors much younger than him would have struggled to maintain.
In Gore Vidal’s electoral satire, best manJones is one of two octogenarians who steal the show (the other is Angela Lansbury), playing a former president who stares into the abyss of death but is undone by a controversial presidential election. re-energized by the election and wary of which candidate will gain his support.
He had great fun playing the benevolent grandpa of an eccentric family in a rollicking 2014 revival of Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman’s screwball comedy. you can’t take it with youHe plays this role with a twinkle in his eye, but also with a gravitas and wisdom that make him an effective peacemaker in times of crisis. “Life is wonderful if you just let it be,” he said in one of the most memorable lines from the 1936 play.
In 2015, Jones’ last Broadway role was in another pairing of two stage stars, opposite Cicely Tyson, as the bickering and joking residents of a Los Angeles nursing home. gin game. The pleasure of watching two wily old pros clash gave substance and energy to a rather minor contest. The following year, Jones received the Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement.
His film debut came when he had a small role in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove I first saw Jones on screen in 1964 on late-night television, watching Martin Ritt’s 1970 film great white hopeBased on the play that won Jones his first Tony Award last year.
He reprized the role of Jack Jefferson, a character based on real-life boxer Jack Johnson, whose winning streak outraged racist sports fans who began looking for white challenges to defeat the heavyweight champion. Eventually, Jack’s failure ensues when he is targeted by the authorities for courting a white woman.
The film earned Jones his first and only Oscar nomination (the Academy awarded him an Honorary Award in 2012), kicking off a 60-year film career, although he rarely got the leading male opportunities that white men did .
His booming voice makes him a natural for authoritative roles, but even in silence he exudes power. Jones was also able to modulate the powerful instrumentation that became his trademark, bringing out warm, velvety textures in the more avuncular parts, always showing depth of feeling whether he was playing with arrogance or humility.
Besides Darth Vader, movie audiences may know Jones best for his role as Admiral James Greer in three Tom Clancy adaptations, The Hunt for Red October, patriot games and clear and present danger; as king of a fictional African country come to america and its sequel, which was his last feature film appearance.
Other notable screen roles include a South African church minister whose son was arrested for murder Cry for the beloved motherland;Representation of Black Coal Miners in West Virginia in John Sayles’s Union Play matawan; In this fantasy drama, the frustrated writer and activist helps an Iowa farmer, played by Kevin Costner, realize his dream of a baseball diamond in his cornfield, where the ghosts of legendary players be welcomed dream land.
I prefer to remember Jones in the 1974 romantic comedy, one of his early and perhaps most atypical screen roles. claudinein which he co-starred as a garbage collector who falls in love with Diane Carroll’s protagonist, a single mother raising six children in Harlem.
It’s a lovely movie, bittersweet and funny, with great performances from the two leads. claudine Bucking the blaxploitation trends of the time, consider the hopes and dreams of ordinary black Americans battling poverty, the indignities of welfare, and systemic inequality. It also features a killer Curtis Mayfield soundtrack sung by Gladys Knight & the Pips.
Or maybe I’ll choose to remember Jones fondly as the elegant gentleman in the elevator.
