James Earl Jones, the legendary voice of Darth Vader, has died at 93

Earlier today, James Earl Jones died at his home at the age of 93.

Jones had a long and successful career as an actor, both on the screen and on the stage, a star on Broadway and in Hollywood. He won three Tony Awards, two Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award, which combined with an honorary Academy Award given in 2011 made him one of the select group to have won all four (an accomplishment known as an EGOT). He is best-known for providing the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise, but he also starred in films like Field of Dreams and The Lion King.

When George Lucas was making the original Star Wars film (released in May 1977), English actor David Prowse and stunt man Bob Anderson portrayed the formidable villain Darth Vader, with Prowse doing Vader’s lines during filming. But Lucas felt that Prowse’s voice didn’t suit the character, so during post-production he brought in Jones to dub the dialogue in a voiceover role. His voice work instantly transformed the character and, without the deep, booming voice befitting the mysterious and menacing masked villain, it’s certain that Darth Vader wouldn’t have become as iconic as he has – being consistently ranked among the greatest movie villains in history.

Because his work on Star Wars took him only one day, Jones refused to be officially credited for the film, but by the time of Return of the Jedi he was listed in the credits, and he now is for the other films with the Special Editions. Though Jones was never actually seen on-screen in Star Wars, his impact is unmistakable. He voiced Darth Vader in Star Wars (1977),The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Return of the Jedi (1983), as well as in The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978). More recently, he voiced the character briefly in an uncredited role in Revenge of the Sith (2005), in Rogue One (2016), in five episodes of Star Wars Rebels (2014-2018), and again briefly in The Rise of Skywalker (2019). Jones is also credited as the voice of Vader in four episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022), with his voice being digitally recreated by Lucasfilm using archived recordings (Jones consented to this and assisted in the development of Vader’s voice and character in the series).

It’s very hard to overstate just how significant of an impact James Earl Jones made on the Star Wars franchise. He’s a legendary actor, and he will be missed.