Legendary stage, screen, and voice actor James Earl Jones died on September 9th at the age of 93. His passing prompted tributes from all over the world lauding his incredible body of work, which includes iconic roles such as the voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars and Mufasa in The Lion King. Jones is remembered for his deep, booming voice and powerful screen performances in movies like Field of Dreams and Coming to America, but he was also a prolific stage actor with nearly twenty Broadway credits to his name and countless more theater productions on his resume.
James Earl Jones was also a Shakespearean who embodied the drama and depth of Shakespeare’s characters so effectively that it seemed he was born for the job. In Al Pacino’s 1996 documentary Looking for Richard, Jones is interviewed about his first encounter with Shakespeare. He recalls, “In the fields in Michigan where I was raised on a farm, an uncle, who was a Black northern guy, came out in the field one day and started narrating Antony’s speech, the funeral oration [from Julius Caesar]. It was my first time as a kid I was hearing great words having great meaning.” After
this initial brush with the Bard, Jones went on to seek roles in Shakespeare plays early in his career, acting in Shakespeare in the Park productions of Henry V in 1960 and Othello in 1964. The following decade, Jones played Claudius in a 1972 production of Hamlet as well as the titular role in King Lear in 1973, with both performances earning him critical praise. A 1973 New York Times review remarks on his exceptional emotional intelligence as King Lear, saying, “Carefully Jones charts Lear's descent into madness. We know when his mind cracks and when his heart breaks.” After building an impressive stage and film resume, Jones returned to the role of Othello in 1981 alongside Christopher Plummer who played Iago.
While landing a role in a prominent Shakespeare production is an accomplishment for any actor, for Black actors of Jones’ generation, the feat was once nearly impossible. Shakespeare casting has a notorious history of racism, with even very recent casting decisions prompting racist backlash.1 Even the role of Othello, a character exoticized and othered by the people around him due to his dark skin, was historically played by white actors in blackface, most famously Laurence Olivier in a 1965 film production. In a 1981 interview following his return to the role, James Earl Jones was asked if he thought Othello’s race was important to the story, a question that now seems quite dated and speaks to how far we have come in our understanding of the significance of racial identity in Shakespeare’s plays. Jones responded resolutely: “He has to be black…black in comparison to the other characters.” With this short and direct answer, Jones pointed both to the idea of race as a social construct shaped by place, time, and context, and to the obvious racial tension in the story that plays a significant role in its tragic outcome.
In an article for The Conversation following the news of Jones’ death, writer by Dominic Taylor describes the actor as one of three Black American “giants” in the theater and film industry of the 1960s, rising to stardom alongside Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier, all of whom saw incredible success despite the volatile racial reckoning happening in America. Taylor describes Jones as “grappling with a question that has roiled many artists, then and now: In troubling times, what is an artist to do?” He explains that while Belafonte contributed to the Civil Rights Movement with inspiring speeches and Poitier used his position to help fund activism, James Earl Jones chose to hone his craft during this era of change, using his art to contribute important narratives to the story of the fight for racial justice. It was during this turbulent time that Jones took a role as a boxer in a The Great White Hope, a play inspired by Jack Johnson, the first Black heavyweight champion who rose to victory in 1908, only 45 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Jones went on to star in the film adaptation as well, prompting an entire genre of filmmaking at the intersection of sports and race.
While James Earl Jones was an artist at his core who dedicated his life to delivering impeccable performances, Taylor argues that it was his art that made him truly revolutionary. “Jones probably knew that a performance on a stage seen by a few thousand people would do little to end the Vietnam War, racial inequality or police brutality,” he writes. “But I think Jones was looking to change the culture. He was trying to change the country’s understanding of what it means to fight – and what a freedom fighter is.”
In tribute to the late James Earl Jones, his dedication to his craft, and his mastery of Shakespeare, we invite you to enjoy the following performances:
James Earl Jones Performs Shakespeare at the White House
Shakespeare’s King Lear. James Earl Jones, NYC Shakespeare Festival, 1974 (full play)
Sonnet 55 by William Shakespeare, read by James Earl Jones
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