[HN Gopher] James Earl Jones has died
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James Earl Jones has died
Author : birriel
Score : 171 points
Date : 2024-09-09 20:50 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (variety.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (variety.com)
| zeristor wrote:
| A lovely chap.
| orionblastar wrote:
| At a young age, he had a stutter and learned to speak poems to
| get better at talking. He had the voice of God. RIP.
| david-gpu wrote:
| For me he will always be Thulsa Doom from Conan the Barbarian.
| You need to watch that movie if you haven't already.
| dxbydt wrote:
| Saw that movie in the theater in my early teens. When he turns
| into a snake - watching that on a 30 feet high screen from the
| front row - scarred me for life.
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF0Z5g0Wjuk
| mrec wrote:
| Oh, that brings back memories. Somebody didn't get as far as
| #34 on the Evil Overlord List.
|
| https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvilOverlordList
| _the_inflator wrote:
| I totally agree. He played a sadist, and the irony of this
| movie is that he rarely makes use of what people admire the
| most: his infamous voice. True uber-alpha in this movie,
| fantastic performance.
|
| RIP!
| konfusinomicon wrote:
| its my favorite movie of all time. the soundtrack alone is
| worth the price of admission. its got comedy, drama, love,
| hate, lust, fear, revenge, and all the other feelings a movie
| can envoke. hey...black lotus, stygian, the best...this better
| not be haga...I would sell Haga to a slayer such as you?
| woodruffw wrote:
| A slightly less cliche fact about James Earl Jones: his film
| debut was Kubrick's _Dr. Strangelove_ , where he plays the
| bombardier on the B-52[1].
|
| [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSbPqin3L6E
| excalibur wrote:
| Just watched that for the first time like a week ago. Totally
| surreal seeing him as a young unknown actor in a smaller role.
| serf wrote:
| "Hey, what about Major Kong?"
|
| a great movie with absolutely wholly innocent characters
| unknowingly contributing their own parts to the apocalypse -- I
| think about that a lot conceptually.
|
| Even the motivations of Gen. Ripper are 'innocent' -- he just
| happens to have become a delusional psychotic.
| wisty wrote:
| The famous B52 cockpit - From wikipedia:
|
| > Lacking cooperation from the Pentagon in the making of the
| film, the set designers reconstructed the aircraft cockpit to
| the best of their ability by comparing the cockpit of a B-29
| Superfortress and a single photograph of the cockpit of a B-52
| and relating this to the geometry of the B-52's fuselage. The
| B-52 was state-of-the-art in the 1960s, and its cockpit was
| off-limits to the film crew. When some United States Air Force
| personnel were invited to view the reconstructed B-52 cockpit,
| they said that "it was absolutely correct, even to the little
| black box which was the CRM."[17] It was so accurate that
| Kubrick was concerned about whether Adam's team had carried out
| all its research legally.[17]
|
| Also IIRC it was the inspiration for the Situation Room. The
| President asked why Kubric could get a big room with all the
| screens to deal with a crisis, and he didn't have one.
| bitwize wrote:
| He will be looking down at us from the stars, along with the
| other great kings of the past.
| ColinWright wrote:
| The comments are here:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41493976
| dang wrote:
| Thanks! The current article seems more substantive so maybe
| we'll merge those comments hither.
| OhMeadhbh wrote:
| I know everyone is talking about how he voiced Vader, but when I
| think of him, I think of Strangelove and Hunt for Red October. I
| didn't spend a lot of time in the fleet, but what I did was
| rather boring and/or annoying; the idea that something exciting
| would happen in the CIC is probably why I often think of the line
| "Now, understand, Commander, that torpedo did not self-destruct.
| You heard it hit the hull. And I was never here."
| jcastro wrote:
| When Jack hands him the photos of Red October: "Jesus that's a
| big sucker."
| OhMeadhbh wrote:
| Just read on his Wikipedia page that he made it through Ranger
| school in the Korean War era. That's an accomplishment. Several
| readers here will know that's not really an easy thing to do.
| Overcame stuttering as a kid. Went to Ranger school (as an
| African American in the 50s.) Performed Shakespeare and
| contemporary plays and worked in film. A true dude. Lifting one
| in his honor this evening (though I'm old enough that it has to
| be a non-alcoholic one.)
| Zancarius wrote:
| Hunt for Red October for me also!
| aidenn0 wrote:
| For me it's _Sneakers_ "We are the US Government, we don't do
| that sort of thing"
| geocrasher wrote:
| I forgot he was in Sneakers! Fantastic movie.
| beastman82 wrote:
| Free on YT right now
| iancmceachern wrote:
| Love this movie, it really holds up too.
|
| I live right near that plaza in SF where Sydney Poitier yells
| at Martin "its your Mother" with the Car phone in his hand.
|
| Great movie
| ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
| I think of _Conan_ , and _Coming to America_.
|
| I was told by an industry insider (taken at face value), that
| he almost _never_ turned down a part, which drove his agent
| nuts. That 's why he was in these kind of oddball movies. I
| suspect that Nicholas Cage is similar.
| mathgeek wrote:
| > I suspect that Nicholas Cage is similar.
|
| Probably, although it's also well documented that Cage took a
| lot of roles to pay off his extensive debts after blowing
| through nine digits of his wealth.
| nnf wrote:
| For me, it's _Sandlot_. Relatively small part, but it was
| impactful for me as a kid.
| francisofascii wrote:
| [delayed]
| geocrasher wrote:
| "I told you to speak your mind Jack, but Jesus!"
|
| I also am one who thinks of The Hunt For Red October. You
| already listed the best quote in the movie from him, but the
| above also makes me giggle every time.
| iancmceachern wrote:
| I think of "Field of Dreams" and Patriot Games, and of course
| vader
| ekianjo wrote:
| he was excellent in Conan too.
| andrewstuart wrote:
| Star Wars was relentlessly changed by George Lucas - for the
| worse in my opinion.
|
| Star Wars should have been changed to give James Earl Jones
| starring billing, instead of no credit at all.
| mgiampapa wrote:
| That was his choice out of respect for Prowse.
| howard941 wrote:
| To me he'll always be the "This is CNN" voice
| buttocks wrote:
| Or "Bell Atlantic"
| runevault wrote:
| Such an iconic voice. And the fact he got to put voice to so many
| iconic lines that are hard to imagine coming from anyone else.
| His speech in Field of Dreams, obviously Vader's "I am your
| father". Basically all of his lines as Mufasa in Lion King.
|
| I just can't think of any voice from the newer generations of
| actors/VAs that stands up to what he brought. And while his voice
| was incredible, he clearly mastered it and gave his lines the
| maximum impact they could have beyond the simple utterance.
| tanseydavid wrote:
| I agree completely. JEJ is an impossible act to follow.
|
| My opinion is that Dennis Haybert has surely 'risen to the
| occasion' quite well at the very least.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Haysbert
| runevault wrote:
| I'm not just talking still alive, I mean the younger
| generation. Like Morgan Freeman is also an iconic all-time
| voice. Is there even any actor in their 40s let alone 30s or
| 20s who have such an iconic voice dropping such powerful
| monologues?
| liquorist wrote:
| He'll always be the GDI's General Solomon from Tiberian Sun in my
| mind.
| sys_64738 wrote:
| "By your command."
| crtified wrote:
| James narrating Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven in the very first
| Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episode (2x03), to the backdrop of
| the quirky and artistic early-Simpsons animation, was such a
| wonderful union of beautiful cross-generational zeitgeist.
| cheschire wrote:
| _Nooooooooo!_
| clarkmoody wrote:
| Rest in peace to a true legend.
| CapricornNoble wrote:
| For a while I had "Infidel defilers...they shall all drown in
| lakes of blood." as my ringtone.
|
| "What is steel compared to the hand that wields it?"
|
| Such an accomplished and memorable individual. RIP.
| geenkeuse wrote:
| As a South African, Cry The Beloved Country resonates deeply with
| me. Thank you, sir, for all that you gave.
|
| Read the book by Alan Paton, and you may go down a rabbithole.
|
| They did the story justice with that movie.
| geenkeuse wrote:
| Cry The Beloved Country, based on the book by beloved South
| African writer Alan Paton.
|
| They did justice to the book. He was spectacular in his
| portrayal.
|
| As a South African it resonates deeply with me and is more
| relevant now, than ever before.
| christophilus wrote:
| I have a vague memory of him reading books on some PBS show in
| the 80s. Am I misremembering this? I can't find it in his
| filmography, though it may have been Fairytale Theater.
| hammock wrote:
| The fourth episode in the premiere season of PBS's Reading
| Rainbow featured a story narrated by James Earl Jones.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QN9npF9A3M
| xavdid wrote:
| He's done a lot of great work. Selfishly, one of my favorites is
| narrating the University of Michigan (his alma mater) football
| hype videos and stadium announcements. Always felt unique and
| fun.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1PFH3w_b8g
| schappim wrote:
| Remember past kings live in the stars...
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(page generated 2024-09-09 23:00 UTC)