James Earl Jones, the beloved stage and screen actor who lent his iconic, deep voice to Darth Vader in Star Wars and Mufasa in The Lion King, has died at 93.
Regarded as one of the best actors of his generation, Jones’ career spanned Shakespeare to Hollywood hits. He is one of the few actors to have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony Award.
The actor’s death was reported by Deadline, via his representatives at Independent Artist Group.
James Earl Jones was born January 17, 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi and raised by his grandparents in Dublin, Michigan. While he would later become one of the most famous voices in the world, he says he suffered from a stutter in his youth.
“I was a stutterer. I couldn’t talk,” Jones recalled in a 1996 interview. “So my first year of school was my first mute year, and then those mute years continued until I got to high school.” A teacher encouraged him to overcome his stutter by reading poetry aloud.
Jones served in the US Army during the Korean War, and after decided to pursue a career in acting. He studied at the American Theatre Wing, working as a janitor to support himself. By the 1960s, Jones was establishing himself as one of his generation’s great Shakespearean actors, playing roles like Othello and King Lear. He also made his film debut in Stanley Kubrick’s classic 1964 comedy Dr. Strangelove, as bombadier Lt. Lothar Zogg.
In 1967, he played a boxer in The Great White Hope, winning the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. He reprised the role in the 1970 film version, receiving his first Academy Award nomination.
Amidst all his acclaimed acting work, Jones soon landed his most well-known and iconic role — one where he didn’t even have to appear on set: voicing the villainous Darth Vader in Star Wars. While Vader was played in costume by David Prowse, Jones dubbed over the lines with his own deep bass voice, helping to create one of the most famous characters in movie history.
While Jones originally opted to go uncredited for the role, it has become perhaps his most famous performance. He continued to voice Vader for decades, in the two sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, the prequel Revenge of the Sith and the spin-off Rogue One. In 2022, Jones retired from the role, but signed an agreement for his voice to be used in future projects using artificial intelligence and archive recordings.
Jones also provided the voice of another beloved movie character, Mufasa in the 1994 Disney film The Lion King. Jones later reprised the role in the 2019 remake.
Throughout the ’80s and ’90s, Jones appeared in many Hollywood films, including Conan the Barbarian, Coming to America, Field of Dreams, and The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games and The Sandlot. He also won his second Tony Award, starring in the original production of August Wilson’s Fences.
He received eight Emmy Award nominations for his television work, winning twice in 1991: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for Heat Wave and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Gabriel’s Fire.
Jones also continued to perform on Broadway: over the past 20 years he starred in revivals of On Golden Pond, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Driving Miss Daisy, The Best Man and You Can’t Take it With You.
Jones was the recipient of many awards and honors throughout his acclaimed career. He received an Honorary Academy Award in 2011, making him one of the only people to have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award, known as “EGOT.” Broadway’s Cort Theatre was renamed the James Earl Jones Theatre in his honor in 2022.
Rest in peace to the iconic James Earl Jones, one of the greatest actors of our time — please share this
7 Kids’ Homework Questions That Leave Adults Scratching Their Heads
Several parents shared their children’s homework, that made them tilt their heads and call for help. Fortunately, some Reddit and Twitter users came to the rescue and shared their two cents.
The older one gets, the more complex educational work assigned to students gets. However, there are some instances where kids receive complicated homework.
When such instances arise, some parents seek the help of the online community to derive an answer for their little ones. Some of them are shared on the Reddit and Twitter platforms.
Grade 1 English
A mom was puzzled by her first-grade son’s English homework, where he had to encircle the photos that had the same ending sound as a fish’s fin. However, the options available were far from the picture. The available choices included a hamburger bun, a frog, a jar lid, and a spoon.
Some Reddit users offered their thoughts to the clueless mom, stating that the ending sound did not necessarily have to rhyme with fin. Some answers included bun and spoon, which both ended with an “n.”
Kindergarten School Work
Kindergarten homework questions are usually easy to answer with an adult’s help. However, one parent couldn’t think of the three-letter word required to name the picture printed on the activity sheet. The picture included a rabbit with her bunnies playing.
Fortunately, a kind Reddit user thought of the best possible answer: pet. “These kinds of worksheets try to make the last one more difficult by switching the sound of the letter to the end of the word to try and throw the kid off,” the person said.
Grade 3 Math Problem
Math problems for elementary students are often easily computed with all the numbers given in the problem. However, a Grade 3 student had to solve the question, “Janell had 15 marbles. She lost some of them. How many does Janell have now?”
One Reddit user suggested that the answer was less than 15 but did not think it was a fair question for someone in the third grade. Other users believed that the student should answer in a similar manner as the question, such as “Janell lost her marbles.” Another user said, “She has some left.”
A Six-Year-Old’s Homework
While some educational problems for six-year-olds are visual, one student’s assignment was beyond the comprehension of her parents. On her activity sheet appeared a print of a paint splatter and several apples.
The question read, “How many apples could be covered by the paint. There cannot be more than 20.” Several Reddit users were also confused by the question, while one believed it was a riddle.
Grade 1 Math
One Twitter user shared a Singaporean math problem for grade one students, and it seemed almost impossible to solve. However, one person solved the problem but tweaked the question a bit.
Another Math Problem
Another math question was posted on Twitter, leaving people confused. The question made students calculate the perimeter of a shape best on the calculations of another rectilinear shape.
One person replied to the post with a complicated answer and sarcastically said, “It’s very much justified to ask these to a [ten-year-old].”
Solving for X
Math can sometimes be complicated but often has one solution. However, this one math problem was too complex for the Twitter world.
“An orchestra of 120 players takes 40 minutes to play Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. How long would it take for 60 players to play the symphony? Let P be the number of players and T the time playing,” the question read. While it may be too complex, one Twitter person replied:
“The math is irrelevant in the case of this Beethoven 9 problem. As a performer who has performed it many times, the speed of the symphony is NOT a function of the number of musicians performing it.”
Reddit is one of the online forums people go to for questions. Previously, Reddit users shared 10 Intriguing Items That Perplex Observers with Their Form and Function.
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