RIP James Earl Jones
- Thread starter Mr. Laser Beam
- Start date
Rest in peace, sir.
A great actor who gave his characters such gravitas and elevated any project he participated in.
One of my favorite roles of his was NSA Agent Bernard Abbott in Sneakers.
Before Morgan Freeman, there was James Earl Jones. One of the most iconic voices to grace the screen.
RIP.
RIP.
I will find his lack of Darth Vader voicing disturbing.
On the other hand, The Force was strong with him!
His Will will state that people at his funeral who are eulogizing him, should not ... choke on their words.
And the only thing that could take away his voice........was death itself.
He also recited the alphabet for concept footage to sell the Sesame Street to investors. The footage eventually did make its way on the show, but only after a Carol Burnett appearance was aired. But since Jones filmed his segment earlier, he is widely considered to be the first celebrity guest on Sesame Street:
Like many actors, he appeared in the good, the bad and the weird. Two of his weirdest are almost certainly THE END OF THE ROAD with Stacy Keach and CONAN THE BARBARIAN (snake-men played by Oscar nominees are automatically weird). You may manage to add those two to the good batch, though your mileage may vary.
EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC, while no less weird, is less dynamic than the above two movies. I'll have to lump it with five other misfires: SOUL MAN, THE METEOR MAN, EXCESSIVE FORCE, SWASHBUCKLER and SNEAKERS. Jones was perhaps one of the few SNEAKERS standouts. But not even Genevieve Bujold, Robert Shaw OR Jones could save SWASHBUCKLER.
There are definitely 14 other productions to savor, anyhow. Some are from TV and HBO. My best-of-Jones includes some comparatively minimal roles and relatively rare leads. They'd be-------
THE MAN (Jones plays a '70s Obama, while Jack Benny plays himself)
STAR WARS and EMPIRE
ROOTS: THE NEXT GENERATION (Jones plays Alex Haley, while Brando plays bigoted)
THE UFO INCIDENT (with spectacular emoting from Jones under hypnosis)
FIELD OF DREAMS
DR. STRANGELOVE (his first classic)
MATEWAN (Chris Cooper leads the ensemble)
PARIS (Jones played the title role for half a year), an early effort from Stephen Bochco)
Two L.A. LAW episodes with Jones vs. Susan Dey. (His lawyer character beats hers the first time. She tells him she'll beat him if he comes back. He does. She doesn't.)
THE GREAT WHITE HOPE (Jones was Oscar-nominated)
BY DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT (Jones smashes into Darren McGavin's plane and saves the world)
COMING TO AMERICA (Stone-faced, but never funnier)
CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER (ending the Admiral Greer trilogy)
How many knew Jones turned down the original SHAFT film? Perhaps it was just as well, The superior BIG SCORE sequel ended with far too much running. Even when he wasn't Vader, Jones was far too cool to run.
EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC, while no less weird, is less dynamic than the above two movies. I'll have to lump it with five other misfires: SOUL MAN, THE METEOR MAN, EXCESSIVE FORCE, SWASHBUCKLER and SNEAKERS. Jones was perhaps one of the few SNEAKERS standouts. But not even Genevieve Bujold, Robert Shaw OR Jones could save SWASHBUCKLER.
There are definitely 14 other productions to savor, anyhow. Some are from TV and HBO. My best-of-Jones includes some comparatively minimal roles and relatively rare leads. They'd be-------
THE MAN (Jones plays a '70s Obama, while Jack Benny plays himself)
STAR WARS and EMPIRE
ROOTS: THE NEXT GENERATION (Jones plays Alex Haley, while Brando plays bigoted)
THE UFO INCIDENT (with spectacular emoting from Jones under hypnosis)
FIELD OF DREAMS
DR. STRANGELOVE (his first classic)
MATEWAN (Chris Cooper leads the ensemble)
PARIS (Jones played the title role for half a year), an early effort from Stephen Bochco)
Two L.A. LAW episodes with Jones vs. Susan Dey. (His lawyer character beats hers the first time. She tells him she'll beat him if he comes back. He does. She doesn't.)
THE GREAT WHITE HOPE (Jones was Oscar-nominated)
BY DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT (Jones smashes into Darren McGavin's plane and saves the world)
COMING TO AMERICA (Stone-faced, but never funnier)
CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER (ending the Admiral Greer trilogy)
How many knew Jones turned down the original SHAFT film? Perhaps it was just as well, The superior BIG SCORE sequel ended with far too much running. Even when he wasn't Vader, Jones was far too cool to run.
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