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Stars of the screen are mourning the death of James Earl Jones, the voice of "Star Wars" villain Darth Vader, on Monday at the age of 93.
Jones, who also voiced King Mufasa in Disney’s animated feature "The Lion King," had a prolific and varied career.
Over six decades he worked with some of the greatest figures in cinema and theatre, including Stanley Kubrick in his 1964 Cold War satire "Dr Strangelove."
He had roles in the Arnold Schwarzenegger film "Conan The Barbarian" and the 1989 Kevin Costner movie "Field of Dreams."
But it was for his role as one of cinema's most famous villains that he became most widely known.
While Darth Vader's immense physicality was the result of the towering British actor David Prowse, the sinister voice that appeared to emanate from inside the reconstructed man-in-a-mask was that of Jones.
And it was Jones who gave the "Star Wars" franchise some of its most memorable lines, including when he reveals to Luke Skywalker, played by a young Mark Hamill, "I am your father."
Hamill took to social media on Monday to share news of Jones' death, writing simply: "#RIP dad" with a broken heart emoji.
James Earl Jones, a versatile and award-winning American stage and screen actor from the works of Shakespeare and August Wilson, to his indelible voiceovers in the blockbuster space saga and as Mufasa in the Disney classic "The Lion King," Jones earned fans with his ability to play both the everyman and the otherworldly.
He won three Tony awards including a lifetime award, two Emmys and a Grammy, and an honorary Oscar for his lifetime achievement.
In 1971, he became only the second Black man nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, after Sidney Poitier.
All of these accolades were hard-won, as Jones, who was born in segregated Mississippi on January 17, 1931, had to overcome a childhood stutter that often led him to barely speak at all.
"Stuttering is painful. In Sunday school, I'd try to read my lessons and the children behind me were falling on the floor with laughter," Jones told the Daily Mail in 2010.
Reciting his own poetry, at the prodding of an English teacher, helped him to gain control of his voice, which would later be used to strike fear among millions in "Star Wars" as Darth Vader.
Jones did not physically portray the character -- David Prowse wore Vader's black cape and imposing face mask, while Jones offered the voice, oozing the evil power of the Dark Side.
"I am your father," Vader tells Luke Skywalker, portrayed by Mark Hamill, in a pivotal fight scene in "The Empire Strikes Back" -- a twist etched in cinema history.
"He created, with very little dialogue, one of the greatest villains that ever lived," "Star Wars" creator George Lucas said in 2015 at a ceremony honoring Jones in New York.
© Agence France-Presse
