James Earl Jones (1931–2024) significantly impacted film, television, and theater, using his deep, resonant voice to great effect. He won Tony Awards for his performances in The Great White Hope and Fences. Jones is also known for voicing Darth Vader in the Star Wars series and Mufasa in Disney’s The Lion King.
Jones’s television work includes Gabriel’s Fire (1990–91), for which he won an Emmy Award. In 1977, he won a Grammy Award for best spoken word recording for Great American Documents. In 2011, Jones received an honorary Academy Award, achieving a noncompetitive EGOT.