James Earl Jones

James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931) is a well-known African American-actor who was born in Arkabutla, Tate County, Mississippi, the son of Robert Earl Jones, and raised in Dublin, Michigan, by his maternal grandparents. His childhood nickname was Todd (as per ). He moved to Michigan around the age of 5, when he developed a stutter so severe he refused to speak aloud. He remained functionally mute for 8 years until he reached high school. He credits a high school teacher who discovered he had a gift for writing poetry with helping him out of his silence. The teacher believed forced public speaking would help him gain confidence and insisted he recite a poem in class each day. "I was a stutterer. I couldn't talk. So my first year of school was my first mute year, and then those mute years continued until I got to high school."

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January 17 - 1931 - African American - Actor - Robert Earl Jones - Stutter - Mute

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Ironically, he is most famous for his deep authoritative voice. Jones went on to graduate from the University of Michigan. His first wife was actress/singer Julienne Marie (aka Julienne Scanlon), who was born in Toledo, Ohio in 1933, though she would later shave off ten (10) years; their union was childless. He is currently married to Cecilia Hart (since 1982) and they have one child.

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Voice - University of Michigan - Toledo, Ohio - 1933

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His first film role was in Dr. Strangelove or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb in 1964. He has appeared in many roles since, but is probably best known as the sinister voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars films (he is uncredited in some of the films; Darth Vader was portrayed in costume by David Prowse, and Jones was dubbed over as Vader's voice because of Prowse's British west country accent), Mufasa in the Disney animated feature The Lion King, Terrence Mann in the popular baseball film Field of Dreams, Admiral James Greer in The Hunt for Red October and Patriot Games, and author Alex Haley in the television mini-series Roots. Jones is an accomplished stage actor as well; he has won Tony awards in 1969 for The Great White Hope and in 1987 for Fences. He received Kennedy Center Honors in 2002.

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Dr. Strangelove or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb - 1964 - Darth Vader - Star Wars - David Prowse - Disney - The Lion King - Field of Dreams - The Hunt for Red October - Patriot Games - Alex Haley - Roots - Tony award - 1969 - The Great White Hope - 1987 - Fences - Kennedy Center Honors - 2002

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James has also performed considerable amounts of voice-over work, including guest voices on television's The Simpsons, the CNN tagline ("This is CNN."), and the opening teaser for NBC's coverage of the 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Athens. His other work includes his portrayal of General Solomon in the computer game , a starring role in the television program Under One Roof as widowed police officer Neb Langston (for which he received an Emmy nomination), and television and radio advertising for Verizon Business DSL and Verizon Online DSL from Verizon Communications.

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The Simpsons - CNN - NBC - 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony - Athens - Computer game - Television program - Under One Roof - Emmy - Nomination - DSL - Verizon Communications

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