James Earl Jones

James Earl Jones (January 17, 1931 – September 9, 2024) was an American actor. He was described as "one of America's most distinguished and versatile" actors for his performances on stage and screen, and "one of the greatest actors in American history". Over his career, he received three Tony Awards, two Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1985. He was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 1992, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2002, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2009 and the Honorary Academy Award in 2011. His deep voice has been praised as a "stirring basso profondo that has lent gravel and gravitas" to his projects.

Known For: Acting

Born: Arkabutla, Mississippi, USA, 1931-01-17

Died: 2024-09-09

Film

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1964	Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb	Lt. Lothar Zogg	81
2	1967	The Comedians	Dr. Magiot	61
3	1970	End of the Road	Doctor D	52
4	1970	King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis	Self (archive footage)	73
5	1970	The Great White Hope	Jack Jefferson	61
6	1971	Martin Luther King, Jr.: Legacy of a Dream	Narrator	0
7	1972	Malcolm X	Biographical Narration (voice)	64
8	1972	The Man	Douglass Dilman	63
9	1974	King Lear	King Lear	0
10	1974	Claudine	Rupert D. "Roop" Marshall	70
11	1974	The Cay	Timothy	66
12	1975	The UFO Incident	Barney Hill	69
13	1975	Deadly Hero	Rabbit Shazam	57
14	1976	The River Niger	Johnny Williams	73
15	1976	The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings	Leon	61
16	1976	Swashbuckler	Nick Debrett	62
17	1977	Jesus of Nazareth	Balthazar	90
18	1977	The Greatest	Malcolm X	56
19	1977	Star Wars	Darth Vader (voice) (uncredited)	82
20	1977	The Last Remake of Beau Geste	Sheikh	56
21	1977	Exorcist II: The Heretic	Older Kokumo	45
22	1977	The Making of Star Wars	Darth Vader (voice) (uncredited)	70
23	1977	A Piece of the Action	Joshua Burke	56
24	1977	The Greatest Thing That Almost Happened	Morris Bird, Jr.	0
25	1978	The Star Wars Holiday Special	Darth Vader (voice)	34
26	1978	Black Theatre: The Making of a Movement	Self	0
27	1979	Paul Robeson	Paul Robeson	0
28	1979	A Walking Tour of Sesame Street	Self - Host	0
29	1980	The Me Nobody Knows	Self	0
30	1980	The Empire Strikes Back	Darth Vader (voice) (uncredited)	84
31	1980	The Golden Moment: An Olympic Love Story	Dane Oliver	0
32	1981	God's Trombones	Himself - Narrator (segment "The Creation")	0
33	1981	Beauty and the Beast	Narrator (voice)	0
34	1981	There Was Always Sun Shining Someplace: Life in the Negro Baseball Leagues	himself, voice	0
35	1981	The Bushido Blade	The Prisoner	54
36	1981	The Creation	Narrator (voice)	69
37	1982	Night of 100 Stars	Self	65
38	1982	Conan the Barbarian	Thulsa Doom	68
39	1982	The Flight of Dragons	Ommadon (voice)	67
40	1982	Amy and the Angel	Gabriel	60
41	1982	Blood Tide	Frye	49
42	1983	Return of the Jedi	Darth Vader (voice)	79
43	1984	Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears	Narrator	0
44	1984	The Vegas Strip War	Jack Madrid	35
45	1985	Visual Pathfinders: Robert Abel & Associates		0
46	1985	Night of 100 Stars II	Self	80
47	1985	City Limits	Albert	27
48	1986	The Lone Star Kid	Holmes	55
49	1986	Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp	Genie / Narrator	60
50	1986	My Little Girl	Ike Bailey	48
51	1986	Soul Man	Professor Banks	53
52	1986	Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold	Umslopogaas	47
53	1987	A House Divided		0
54	1987	Gardens of Stone	Sgt. Maj.'Goody' Nelson	63
55	1987	Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night	Emperor of the Night (voice)	56
56	1987	Matewan	'Few Clothes' Johnson	73
57	1988	Michael Jackson: The Legend Continues	Narrator (voice)	68
58	1988	Coming to America	King Jaffe Joffer	69
59	1989	The Hunting of the Snark	Narrator (voice)	0
60	1989	Stories to Remember: Noah's Ark	Narrator	55
61	1989	Three Fugitives	Dugan	67
62	1989	Field of Dreams	Terrence Mann	71
63	1989	Golden Book Video - Beauty and the Beast	Narrator (voice)	0
64	1989	Best of the Best	Frank Couzo	65
65	1989	11-22-63: The Day the Nation Cried	Narrator	0
66	1990	Teach 109	Dr. Winston	70
67	1990	Terrorgram	Retribution (voice)	43
68	1990	The Hunt for Red October	Vice ADM James Greer	74
69	1990	The Ambulance	Lt. Spencer	59
70	1990	By Dawn's Early Light	Alice	65
71	1990	Last Flight Out	Al Topping	0
72	1990	Heat Wave	Junius Johnson	62
73	1990	Ivory Hunters	Inspector Nkuru	42
74	1990	Grim Prairie Tales	Morrison	58
75	1991	Convicts	Ben Johnson	54
76	1991	Visitors from the Unknown	Narrator (voice)	60
77	1991	Portrait of Castro's Cuba	Host/Narrator	0
78	1991	Scorchers	Bear	49
79	1991	True Identity	James Earl Jones	55
80	1992	Patriot Games	Adm. James Greer	67
81	1992	Sneakers	Mr. Bernard Abbott	69
82	1992	Lincoln	Narrator (voice)	72
83	1993	Sommersby	Judge Barry Conrad Issacs	64
84	1993	The Sandlot	Mr. Mertle	75
85	1993	Excessive Force	Jake	48
86	1993	Dreamrider	Bill Perry	70
87	1993	The Meteor Man	Earnest Moses	58
88	1993	Percy & Thunder	Percy Banks	0
89	1993	Dangerous: The Short Films	Self [Superbowl Heal The World] (voice)	82
90	1993	Hallelujah	Old Man Taylor	0
91	1994	The Vernon Johns Story	Vernon Johns	85
92	1994	Confessions: Two Faces of Evil	Charles Lloyd	40
93	1994	Gangs: Turning the Corner	Self	0
94	1994	Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult	James Earl Jones (uncredited)	65
95	1994	Africa: The Serengeti	Narrator	67
96	1994	Clean Slate	John Dolby	58
97	1994	The Twilight Zone: Rod Serling's Lost Classics	Host	65
98	1994	The Lion King	Mufasa (voice)	83
99	1994	The Making of the Lion King	Self	100
100	1994	Clear and Present Danger	Admiral James Greer	66
101	1994	Bah, Humbug!: The Story of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol'	Narrator	0
102	1995	People: A Musical Celebration	The Storyteller (voice)	63
103	1995	Circle of Life: An Environmental Fable	Mufasa (voice)	62
104	1995	Jefferson in Paris	Madison Hemings	52
105	1995	The Making of 'Jurassic Park'	Host	71
106	1995	The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies	Self	85
107	1995	Judge Dredd	Narrator (uncredited)	58
108	1995	Who's in Rabbit's House?	Narrator (voice)	0
109	1995	Cry, the Beloved Country	Rev. Stephen Kumalo	67
110	1996	A Family Thing	Ray Murdock	65
111	1996	Looking for Richard	Self - Interviewee	68
112	1996	Rebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault	Dr. McDuffie	73
113	1996	Timepiece	Lawrence	74
114	1997	Afro Promo	Self (archive footage)	0
115	1997	Star Wars: The Magic & the Mystery	Self	0
116	1997	Sports on the Silver Screen	Self (archive footage)	100
117	1997	Casper: A Spirited Beginning	Kibosh (voice)	54
118	1997	Hitler's Forgotten Victims	Narrator (voice) (DVD version)	100
119	1997	Gang Related	Arthur Baylor	63
120	1997	What the Deaf Man Heard	Archibald Thacker	66
121	1997	The Second Civil War	Jim Kalla	62
122	1997	Alone	Grey	65
123	1998	Primary Colors	CNN Voiceover (voice)	63
124	1998	The Lion King II: Simba's Pride	Mufasa (voice)	69
125	1999	Our Friend, Martin	Daddy King (voice)	74
126	1999	On the Q.T.	Leo	69
127	1999	Undercover Angel	The Judge	70
128	1999	The Annihilation of Fish	Fish	65
129	1999	Santa and Pete	James Earl Jones	53
130	2000	Fantasia 2000	Self - Host	70
131	2000	Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light		60
132	2000	The Art of Stanley Kubrick: From Short Films to Strangelove	Self	51
133	2000	Summer's End	Dr. William 'Bill' Blakely	72
134	2000	Inside: 'Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'	Self - 'Lieutenant Lothar Zogg'	56
135	2000	Conan Unchained: The Making of 'Conan'	Self	67
136	2000	Antietam: A Documentary Film	Narrator	0
137	2001	Disney's American Legends	Narrator	75
138	2001	Finder's Fee	Avery Phillips	61
139	2001	Recess Christmas: Miracle On Third Street	Mister (voice)	63
140	2001	Feast of All Saints	Older Marcel	46
141	2001	Muhammad Ali - Through The Eyes Of The World	Self	73
142	2002	Fredericksburg: A Documentary Film	Narrator	0
143	2002	The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror		0
144	2003	Beneath the Surface: The Making of 'The Hunt for Red October'	Self	54
145	2003	The Great Year	Narrator	90
146	2003	The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror	Maggie Simpson (voice)	0
147	2004	Black Indians: An American Story	Narrator	63
148	2004	The Story of Star Wars	Darth Vader (archive footage)	70
149	2004	Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy	Self	77
150	2004	Nine Dog Christmas	Storyteller (voice)	52
151	2004	No Fighting in the War Room Or: 'Dr Strangelove' and the Nuclear Threat	Self	50
152	2005	By Any Means Necessary: The Making of 'Malcolm X'	Narrator	50
153	2005	Robots	Voice Box at Hardware Store (voice)	65
154	2005	Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith	Darth Vader (voice - uncredited)	74
155	2005	The Reading Room	William	70
156	2005	The Sandlot 2	Mr. Mertle	58
157	2005	Hollywood's Greatest Villains	Self	100
158	2006	The Benchwarmers	Darth Vader (voice)	58
159	2006	Scary Movie 4	Narrator (uncredited)	55
160	2006	The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays	Jack Jefferson (segment "The Great White Hope") / Troy Maxson (segment "Fences")	0
161	2006	Click	Narrator of Michael's Past (voice) (uncredited)	63
162	2006	Searching for Orson	Self	55
163	2007	John, Paul, George and Ben	Narrator	0
164	2007	Our Paul: Remembering Paul Robeson	Self	0
165	2007	Earth	Narrator (voice)	76
166	2008	Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins	Papa Jenkins	60
167	2009	Waking Sleeping Beauty	Self (archive footage)	73
168	2009	Jack and the Beanstalk	The Giant (voice)	53
169	2010	Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey	Admiral (voice)	68
170	2012	Joe Papp in Five Acts	Self	45
171	2012	An Amazing Time: A Conversation About End of the Road	Self	60
172	2013	Milius	Self	71
173	2013	Blackfish	Self (archive footage)	78
174	2013	Muse of Fire	Self	65
175	2013	Gimme Shelter	Frank McCarthy	66
176	2014	The Angriest Man in Brooklyn	Ruben	57
177	2014	Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion	Darth Vader (voice)	73
178	2015	August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand		0
179	2015	Star Wars Rebels: The Siege of Lothal	Darth Vader (voice)	78
180	2015	Driving Miss Daisy	Hoke Colburn	81
181	2016	The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar	Mufasa (voice)	67
182	2016	God Bless You, Mr Rosewater	Kilgore Trout	90
183	2016	Rogue One: A Star Wars Story	Darth Vader (voice)	75
184	2017	The Lion Guard: Life In The Pride Lands	Mufasa (voice)	20
185	2017	Broadway: The Next Generation	Self	100
186	2018	Warning Shot	Pendleton	49
187	2019	Words from a Bear	Self	0
188	2019	The Space: Theatre of Survival	Narrator	0
189	2019	The Lion King	Mufasa (voice)	71
190	2019	Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage	Self	0
191	2019	On Broadway	Self (archive footage)	87
192	2019	Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker	Darth Vader (voice)	63
193	2021	Coming 2 America	King Jaffe Joffer	64
194	2021	Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street	Self (archive footage)	74
195	2024	Butterfly in the Sky	Guest Narrator (archive footage)	82
196	2024	BET News & ET Present James Earl Jones: Life and Legacy	Self (archive footage)	0
197	2024	Mufasa: The Lion King	Mufasa (Archive Voice)	74

Television

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1944	Golden Globe Awards	Self - Nominee/Presenter	68
2	1948	Lamp Unto My Feet		0
3	1951	Hallmark Hall of Fame	Archibald Thacker	87
4	1956	Tony Awards	Self - Presenter	46
5	1956	Tony Awards	Self - Winner/ Performer	46
6	1956	Tony Awards	Self - Winner	46
7	1956	Tony Awards	Self - Nominee	46
8	1956	Tony Awards	Self - Nominee/Presenter	46
9	1956	Tony Awards	Self (archive footage)	46
10	1956	Tony Awards	Self - Winner/Performer	46
11	1961	The Defenders	Lieutenant Andrews	62
12	1961	The Defenders	Reverend Harris Bonham	62
13	1961	Dr. Kildare	Dr. Lou Rush	54
14	1961	The Mike Douglas Show	Self	51
15	1961	The Mike Douglas Show	Self - Co-Host	51
16	1962	The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson	Self	74
17	1963	East Side/West Side		78
18	1966	Tarzan		67
19	1968	The Dick Cavett Show	Self - Guest	67
20	1968	Film Night		0
21	1969	Sesame Street		71
22	1971	Great Performances	King Lear	52
23	1973	Black Omnibus	Self - Host	0
24	1973	The American Film Institute Salute to ...	Self	63
25	1974	Dinah!	Self	65
26	1975	Vegetable Soup	Long John Spoilsport	0
27	1977	Jesus of Nazareth	Balthazar	78
28	1978	The Magic of David Copperfield		67
29	1978	The Kennedy Center Honors	Self	73
30	1979	Roots: The Next Generations	Alex Haley	74
31	1979	Paris	Woody Paris	50
32	1980	Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones	Father Divine	72
33	1982	Faerie Tale Theatre	Genie / Narrator (voice)	82
34	1983	Reading Rainbow	Himself - Narrator (voice)	84
35	1984	CBS Schoolbreak Special	Detective Robb	55
36	1984	Highway to Heaven	Gabe Wilson	74
37	1985	The Atlanta Child Murders	Major Walker	59
38	1985	Me & Mom		50
39	1986	L.A. Law	Lee Atkins	71
40	1987	Mathnet	Chief Thad Green (voice)	70
41	1987	Mathnet	Chief Thad Green	70
42	1987	Mathnet	Chief Thad Greene	70
43	1989	Long Ago and Far Away	Host	90
44	1989	The Simpsons	Narrator (voice)	80
45	1989	The Simpsons	Moving Man / Serak the Preparer / Narrator (voice)	80
46	1989	The Simpsons	Maggie Simpson (voice)	80
47	1990	Gabriel's Fire	Gabriel Bird	62
48	1990	Law & Order	Defense Attorney Horace McCoy	74
49	1991	Pros and Cons	Gabriel Bird	60
50	1992	Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories	Narrator (Voice)	100
51	1993	Homicide: Life on the Street		80
52	1993	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman	Franklin Stern	70
53	1993	Frasier	Norman Royster	77
54	1994	Touched by an Angel	The Angel of Angels	72
55	1995	Signs and Wonders	Diamond	0
56	1995	Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child	King Dakkar (voice)	60
57	1995	Under One Roof	Neb Langston	0
58	1996	3rd Rock from the Sun	Narrator (voice) (uncredited)	75
59	1997	The Second Civil War	Jim Kalla	60
60	1997	Stargate SG-1	Unas (Voice)	83
61	1998	Merlin	Rock of Ages	69
62	1998	AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies	Self	81
63	1998	Will & Grace	Self	68
64	2001	According to Jim	Royal Flush Voice (voice)	65
65	2002	Everwood	Will Cleveland	76
66	2003	Two and a Half Men	Himself	75
67	2004	House	Dibala	86
68	2006	The One Show	Self - Guest	46
69	2007	The Big Bang Theory	Self	79
70	2014	Star Wars Rebels	Darth Vader (voice)	77
71	2014	Star Wars Rebels	Anakin Skywalker (voice)	77
72	2019	The Movies That Made Us	Self (archive footage)	72
73	2022	Obi-Wan Kenobi	Darth Vader (voice)	71