The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
September 10, 2024

James Earl Jones, Prolific and Beloved Actor Who Voiced Darth Vader and Mufasa, Has Died at 93
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Legendary actor James Earl Jones has died at the age of 93. He took on
iconic blockbuster roles like Darth Vader in "Star Wars" and Mufasa in
"The Lion King" and is also remembered for films like "The Great White
Hope" and "Matewan," about the 1920 coal miners' strike in West
Virginia. Though he became well known for his commanding, booming voice,
James Earl Jones overcame a stutter that he said was so debilitating as
a child, he sometimes pretended to be nonverbal. In 2003, Jones read the
Frederick Douglass speech "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?"
during a performance of "Voices of a People's History of the United
States," which was co-edited by Howard Zinn.

James Earl Jones: "What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?
I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days of the
year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is a constant victim."

Click here to see more of this performance of a People's History of the
United States.


.