American actor James Earl Jones had an extensive career in various film, television, and theater. He started out in film by appearing in the 1964 political satire film Dr. Strangelove as Lt. Lothar Zogg. He then went on to star in the 1970 film The Great White Hope as Jack Jefferson, a role he first played in the Broadway production of the same name. The film role earned him two Golden Globe nominations, one for Best Actor and winning one for New Star of the Year. He also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. [1] [2] His other work in the 1970s included playing the title character in Malcolm X (1972), Johnny Williams in The River Niger (1976), Nick Debrett in Swashbuckler (1976), Malcolm X again in The Greatest (1977), and The Bushido Blade with Richard Boone (1979).
Jones had notably voiced the antagonist Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise, first in the trilogy films— Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Return of the Jedi (1983) then again in the first installment of the Star Wars anthology series— Rogue One (2016), and the third installment of the sequel trilogy, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker . He was also notable for voicing the Disney character Mufasa, first in the 1994 animated film The Lion King , its sequel The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998), and the 2019 photorealistic computer-animated remake of the same name.
In the 1980s, Jones had co-starring roles in the films Conan the Barbarian with Arnold Schwarzenegger (1982), Soul Man with C. Thomas Howell (1986), Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold with Richard Chamberlain (1987), Matewan with Chris Cooper (1987), Coming to America with Eddie Murphy (1988) and Field of Dreams with Kevin Costner (1989). In 1990, Jones was first cast as the role of Admiral James Greer in the action thriller film The Hunt for Red October , a film based on Tom Clancy's novel of the same name. He reprised the role again in Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994), both films he co-starred with Harrison Ford, who was also in the first three Star Wars franchise films. He also played Mr. Mertle in The Sandlot (1993), a role he reprised again in The Sandlot 2 (2005). His later roles include Gimme Shelter with Rosario Dawson (2013), and The Angriest Man in Brooklyn with Robin Williams (2014), one of Williams' last films before his death. In 2008 and 2011, Jones won the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award and Academy Honorary Award respectively for his career in film. [3] [4]
Jones' television work included playing Woodrow Paris in the series Paris between 1979 and 1980. He voiced various characters on the animated series The Simpsons in three separate seasons (1990, 1994, 1998). He then was cast as Gabriel Bird, the lead role in the series Gabriel's Fire which aired from 1990 to 1991. For that role, he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and was nominated for his fourth Golden Globe Award, this time for Best Actor in a Television Series Drama. [1] [5] He played Bird again in the series Pros and Cons , which ran from 1991 to 1992; that earned him his fifth and final Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series Drama. [1] He then had small appearances in the series Law & Order (1993), Picket Fences (1994), Mad About You (1997), Touched by an Angel (1997), Frasier (1997). His role in Picket Fences earned him another Primetime Emmy Award nomination, one for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. [5] His later television work includes small roles in Everwood (2003–2004), Two and a Half Men (2008), House (2009), and The Big Bang Theory (2014).
Jones' theater work included numerous Broadway plays, including Sunrise at Campobello (1958–1959), Danton's Death (1965), The Iceman Cometh (1973–1974), Of Mice and Men (1974–1975), Othello (1982), On Golden Pond (2005), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2008) and You Can't Take It with You (2014–2015). He was also in various off Broadway productions and Shakespeare stage adaptations such as The Merchant of Venice (1962), The Winter's Tale (1963), Othello (1964–1965), Coriolanus (1965), Hamlet (1972), and King Lear (1973). His roles in The Great White Hope (1969) and Fences (1987) earned him two Tony Awards, both for Best Leading Actor in a Play. [6]
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1963 | East Side/West Side | Joe Goodwin | Episode: "Who Do You Kill?" | |
1966 | Dr. Kildare | Dr. Lou Rush | 4 episodes | |
1969 | N.Y.P.D. | Candy Lateen | 2 episodes | |
Sesame Street | Himself | |||
1974 | NBC Children's Theater | Episode: "Super Plastic Elastic Goggles" | ||
1977 | Roots | Alex Haley | Episode: "Part XII" | [87] |
Jesus of Nazareth | Balthazar | Episode: "Part 1" | [88] | |
1978 | Sesame Street | Movie Star | Episode: 1148 | |
1979 | Roots: The Next Generations | Alex Haley | Episode: "1.7" | |
1979–80 | Paris | Woodrow Paris | 13 episodes | |
1985 | The Atlanta Child Murders | Major Walker | 2 episodes | |
Me and Mom | Lou Garfield | 6 episodes | ||
1986 | Faerie Tale Theatre | Genie of the Lamp, Genie of the Ring | Episode: "Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp" | |
1987 | Highway to Heaven | Gabe Wilson | 1 episode: "A Song of Songs" | |
1987; 1990–92 | Square One TV | Announcer, Chief Thad Greene | 4 episodes | |
1987–91 | Mathnet | 5 episodes | ||
1988–89 | L.A. Law | Lee Atkins | 2 episodes | |
1989 | Saturday Night with Connie Chung | Vernon Johns | Episode: "God's Bad Boy" | |
1989–92 | Long Ago and Far Away | Himself/host | 35 episodes | |
1990, 1994, 1998 | The Simpsons | Moving Man, Serak the Preparer, Narrator, Maggie Simpson | Voice, 3 episodes | |
1990–91 | Gabriel's Fire | Gabriel Bird | 22 episodes | |
1991–92 | Pros and Cons | 12 episodes | ||
1992 | Garfield and Friends | Diablo | Voice, episode: "Ghost of a Chance" | |
1993 | ABC Weekend Special | — | Episode: "The Parsley Garden" | |
Law & Order | Horace McCoy | Episode: "Profile" | ||
American Playhouse | Old Man Taylor | Episode: "Hallelujah" | ||
1994 | Picket Fences | Bryant Thomas | Episode: "System Down" | |
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman | Franklin Stern | Episode: "The House of Luthor" | ||
1995 | Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child | King Dakkar | Voice, episode: "The Valiant Little Tailor" | [89] |
Signs and Wonders | Diamond | 4 episodes | ||
Under One Roof | Neb Langston | 6 episodes | ||
1997 | Mad About You | Himself | Episode: "Chicken Man" | |
Touched by an Angel | Angel of Angels | Episode: "Clipped Wings" | ||
Frasier | Norman Royster | Episode: "Roz's Krantz & Gouldenstein Are Dead" | ||
Stargate SG-1 | Unas | Episode: "Thor's Hammer" | ||
Homicide: Life on the Street | Felix Wilson | 3 episodes | ||
1998 | Merlin | Mountain King | Voice, 3 episodes | |
Recess | Santa Claus | Voice, episode: "Yes, Mikey, Santa Does Shave" | ||
2003 | Will & Grace | Himself | Episode: "Me and Mr. Jones" | |
2003–04 | Everwood | Will Cleveland | 3 episodes | |
2004 | According to Jim | Royal Flush XP Toilet | Voice, episode: "The Toilet" | |
Sesame Street | Himself | Episode: 4077 | ||
2008 | Two and a Half Men | Episode: "The Devil's Lube" | [90] | |
2009 | House | Dibala | Episode: "The Tyrant" | |
2014 | The Big Bang Theory | Himself | Episode: "The Convention Conundrum" | [91] |
2014–16 | Star Wars Rebels | Darth Vader | Voice, 5 episodes | |
2015 | Agent X | Chief Justice Caleb Thorne | 2 episodes | |
2022 | Obi-Wan Kenobi | Darth Vader | Voice (generated from archival recordings via Respeecher), 4 episodes Final role | [92] [93] |
Year | Title | Role | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|
1974 | The Cay | Timothy | [94] |
1975 | The UFO Incident | Barney Hill | [95] |
1977 | The Greatest Thing That Almost Happened | Morris Bird, Jr. | [96] |
1978 | Star Wars Holiday Special | Darth Vader | [97] |
1980 | Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones | Father Divine | [98] |
1984 | The Vegas Strip War | Jack Madrid | [99] |
1990 | By Dawn's Early Light | Alice | [100] |
Heat Wave | Junius Johnson | [90] | |
1993 | Percy & Thunder | Percy | [101] |
1994 | Confessions: Two Faces of Evil | Charles Lloyd | [102] |
The Road to Freedom: The Vernon Johns Story | Vernon Johns | [103] | |
Rod Serling's Lost Classics | Host | [104] | |
Bah, Humbug! | Narrator, Ebenezer Scrooge | [105] | |
1995 | People: A Musical Celebration | The Storyteller | [106] |
1996 | Rebound: The Legend of Earl "The Goat" Manigault | Dr. McDuffie | [107] |
Timepiece | Lawrence | [108] | |
1997 | Alone | Grey | [109] |
What the Deaf Man Heard | Archibald Thacker | [110] | |
The Second Civil War | Jim Kalla | [111] | |
1999 | Santa and Pete | Grandpa Nicholas | [112] |
Summer's End | Dr. William Blakely | [113] | |
2001 | The Feast of All Saints | Older Marcel | [114] |
2005 | The Reading Room | William | [115] |
2009 | The Magic 7 | 5-Toe (voice) | [116] |
2015 | The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar | Mufasa (voice) | [117] |
Year | Title | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|
1970 | King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis | Documentary | [118] |
1972 | Malcolm X | [119] | |
1980 | There Was Always Sun Shining Someplace: Life in the Negro Baseball Leagues | [120] | |
1984 | Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears | Audio book | |
1990 | The Atlanta Campaign | Short film | [121] |
1992 | Freddie as F.R.O.7 | American dub | [122] |
Lincoln | Television documentary | [123] | |
Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama | American dub | [124] | |
Second Coming | Short film | ||
Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories | Segment "Millions of Cats" | ||
1993 | The Complete Multimedia Bible | Video game | [125] |
1994 | Africa: The Serengeti | Documentary | [126] |
1995 | Judge Dredd | Uncredited | [127] |
Who's in Rabbit's House? | Audio book | [128] | |
1996 | 3rd Rock from the Sun | 19 episodes; uncredited | |
2000 | Antietam: A Documentary Drama | Documentary | [129] |
2001 | Black Indians: An American Story | [130] | |
2002 | Disney's American Legends | Video | [131] |
2004 | Nine Dog Christmas | Video | [132] |
2006 | The Trail of Tears: Cherokee Legacy | Documentary | [133] |
2007 | Earth | [134] | |
2009 | La Premiere | Short |
Year | Title | Role | Venue | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1958–59 | Sunrise at Campobello | Edward | Cort Theatre | [135] |
1960 | The Cool World | Harrison Thurston | Eugene O'Neill Theatre | [136] |
1961 | Clandestine on the Morning Line | — | Actors' Playhouse | [137] |
The Apple | — | Living Theatre | [138] | |
1961–64 | The Blacks | Deodatus Village | St. Mark's Playhouse | [139] |
1962 | The Merchant of Venice | Prince of Morocco | Delacorte Theater | [140] |
P.S. 193 | Mario Saccone | Writers Stage Theatre | [141] | |
1963 | The Love Nest | George Gulp | [142] | |
The Winter's Tale | Camillo | Delacorte Theater | [143] | |
Next Time I'll Sing to You | Rudge | Phoenix Theatre | [144] | |
1964 | The Blood Knot | Zachariah Pieterson | Cricket Theatre | [145] |
1964–65 | Othello | Othello | Martinique Theatre / Delacorte Theater | [146] [147] |
1965 | Baal | Ekart | Martinique Theatre | [148] |
Coriolanus | Junius Brutus | Delacorte Theater | [149] | |
Troilus and Cressida | Ajax | [150] | ||
Danton's Death | — | Vivian Beaumont Theatre | [151] | |
1966 | A Hand Is on the Gate | — | Longacre Theatre | [152] |
1968–70 | The Great White Hope | Jack Jefferson | Alvin Theatre | [153] |
1970 | Les Blancs | Tshembe Matoseh | Longacre Theatre | [154] |
1972 | Hamlet | Claudius | Delacorte Theater | [155] |
1972–73 | The Cherry Orchard | Lopahin | Joseph Papp Public Theater/Anspacher Theater | [156] |
1973 | King Lear | Lear | Delacorte Theater | [157] |
1973–74 | The Iceman Cometh | Theodore Hickman | Circle in the Square Theatre | [158] |
1974–75 | Of Mice and Men | Lennie | Brooks Atkinson Theatre | [159] |
1978 | Paul Robeson | Paul Robeson | Lunt-Fontanne Theatre / Booth Theatre | [160] |
1980–81 | A Lesson From Aloes | Steve Daniels | Playhouse Theatre | [161] |
1982 | Othello | Othello | Winter Garden Theatre | [162] |
1982–83 | "Master Harold"...and the Boys | — | Lyceum Theatre | [163] |
1987–88 | Fences | Troy Maxson | 46th Street Theatre | [164] |
2005 | On Golden Pond | Norman Thayer, Jr. | Cort Theatre | [165] |
2008–09 | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof | Big Daddy | Broadhurst Theatre (2008) Novello Theatre (2009) | [166] |
2010–11, 2013 | Driving Miss Daisy | Hoke Colburn | John Golden Theatre (2010–2011) Wyndham’s Theatre (2011) Australian Tour (2013) | [167] [168] |
2012 | The Best Man | Former President Arthur "Artie" Hockstader | Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre | [169] |
2013 | Much Ado about Nothing | Benedick | The Old Vic | [170] |
2014–15 | You Can't Take It with You | Martin Vanderhof | Longacre Theatre | [171] |
2015–16 | The Gin Game | Weller Martin | John Golden Theatre | [172] |
2017 | The Night of the Iguana | Nonno | American Repertory Theater | [173] |
Year | Title | Voice role | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1994 | Tex Murphy: Under a Killing Moon | Great P.I. of the Universe | [174] | |
1999 | Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun | General James Solomon | Live action cutscenes | [175] |
2000 | The Lion King: Simba's Mighty Adventure | Mufasa | [176] | |
2005 | Kingdom Hearts II | Archived recordings from the original film | [177] | |
2007 | Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga | Darth Vader | [178] |
Donald Margulies is an American playwright and academic. In 2000, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Dinner with Friends.
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang. Although the name "Rotten Tomatoes" connects to the practice of audiences throwing rotten tomatoes in disapproval of a poor stage performance, the direct inspiration for the name from Duong, Lee, and Wang came from an equivalent scene in the 1992 Canadian film Léolo.
Alfred Fox Uhry is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has received an Academy Award, two Tony Awards and the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for dramatic writing for Driving Miss Daisy. He is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers.
Lucille Lortel was an American actress, artistic director, and theatrical producer. In the course of her career Lortel produced or co-produced nearly 500 plays, five of which were nominated for Tony Awards: As Is by William M. Hoffman, Angels Fall by Lanford Wilson, Blood Knot by Athol Fugard, Mbongeni Ngema's Sarafina!, and A Walk in the Woods by Lee Blessing. She also produced Marc Blitzstein's adaptation of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera, a production which ran for seven years and according to The New York Times "caused such a sensation that it...put Off-Broadway on the map."
A Life in the Theatre is a 1977 play by David Mamet.
Jay Olcutt Sanders is an American film, theatre and television actor and playwright. He frequently appears in plays off-Broadway at The Public Theatre. He has received a Drama Desk Award and a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award.
Laila Robins is an American stage, film and television actress. She has appeared in films including Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), An Innocent Man (1989), Live Nude Girls (1995), True Crime (1999), She's Lost Control (2014), Eye in the Sky (2015), and A Call to Spy (2019). Her television credits include regular roles on Gabriel's Fire, Homeland, and Murder in the First, playing Pamela Milton in the final season of The Walking Dead (2022), and Colonel Grace Mallory in The Boys (2019–2024) and Gen V (2023).
Stephen Adly Guirgis is an American playwright, screenwriter, director, and actor. He is a member and a former co-artistic director of New York City's LAByrinth Theater Company. His plays have been produced both Off-Broadway and on Broadway, as well as in the UK. His play Between Riverside and Crazy won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Marcy Heisler is a musical theater lyricist and performer. As a performer, she has performed at Carnegie Hall, Birdland, and numerous other venues throughout the United States and Canada. Heisler was nominated for the 2009 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics for Dear Edwina.
The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers by special arrangement with the Lucille Lortel Foundation, with additional support from the Theatre Development Fund.
Kathleen Ann Chalfant is an American actress. She has appeared in many stage plays, both on Broadway and Off-Broadway, as well as making guest appearances on television series, including the Law & Order franchise.
Alex Timbers is an American writer and director best known for his work on stage and television. He has received numerous accolades including two Tony Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a Drama Desk Award, as well as nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Grammy Award. Timbers received the Drama League Founder's Award for Excellence in Directing and the Jerome Robbins Award for Directing.
Lisa Emery is an American stage, film, and television actress. Emery is best known for playing Darlene Snell on Netflix series Ozark.
Jason Thomas Butler Harner is an American actor known for his role as FBI Special Agent Roy Petty in Ozark.
James Earl Jones was an American actor. A pioneer for black actors in the entertainment industry, he is known for his extensive and acclaimed roles on stage and screen. He is one of the few performers to achieve the EGOT. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1985, and was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 1992, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2002, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2009, and the Academy Honorary Award in 2011.
David Cromer is an American theatre director, and stage, film, and TV actor. He has received recognition for his work on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in his native Chicago. Cromer has won or been nominated for numerous awards, including winning the Lucille Lortel Award and Obie Award for his direction of Our Town. He was nominated for the Drama Desk Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award for his direction of The Adding Machine. In 2018, Cromer won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for The Band's Visit.
Meryl Streep is an American actress who has had an extensive career in film, television, and stage. She made her stage debut in 1975 with The Public Theater production of Trelawny of the 'Wells'. She went on to perform several roles on stage in the 1970s, gaining a Tony Award nomination for her role in 27 Wagons Full of Cotton (1976). In 1977, Streep made her film debut with a brief role alongside Jane Fonda in Julia. A supporting role in the war drama The Deer Hunter (1978) proved to be a breakthrough for Streep; she received her first Academy Award nomination for it. She won the award the following year for playing a troubled wife in the top-grossing drama Kramer vs. Kramer (1979). In 1978, Streep played a German, "Aryan" woman married to a Jewish man in Nazi Germany in the television miniseries Holocaust, which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award.
American actor and producer Morgan Freeman has had a prolific career on film, television and on the stage. His film debut was as an uncredited character in the Sidney Lumet–directed drama The Pawnbroker in 1964. Freeman also made his stage debut in the same year by appearing in the musical Hello, Dolly! He followed this with further stage appearances in The Niggerlovers (1967), The Dozens (1969), Exhibition (1969), and the musical Purlie (1970–1971). He played various characters on the children's television series The Electric Company (1971–1977). Freeman subsequently appeared in the films Teachers in 1984, and Marie in 1985 before making his breakthrough with 1987's Street Smart. His role earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Two years later he appeared in war film Glory (1989), and starred as Hoke Coleburn in the comedy-drama Driving Miss Daisy (1989). Freeman won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance in the latter and also earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
The Exonerated is a 2000 play by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen that debuted Off-Broadway in October 2000 at 45 Bleecker Theater and ran for over 600 performances. It won numerous awards including the Lucille Lortel Award for Unique Theatrical Experience, the Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience, and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play. It was adapted into a 2005 film by the same name.
Cicely Tyson was an African American actress noted for her groundbreaking work in film, television and theatre.