James Earl Jones, ‘Darth Vader’ actor, struggled with severe stutter before becoming iconic actor
James Earl Jones, who died Monday, will be remembered as a prolific actor, who held more than 100 roles, including Darth Vader in "Star Wars" and Mufasa in "The Lion King." But before becoming the actor that millions of Americans know and respect, Jones quietly struggled with a severe stuttering problem.
When Jones was six years old, his mother took him to her parents' farm near Manistee, Michigan, where his grandparents adopted and raised him.
"A world ended for me, the safe world of childhood," Jones wrote in his autobiography, "Voices and Silences." "The move from Mississippi to Michigan was supposed to be a glorious event. For me, it was a heartbreak, and not long after, I began to stutter."
Too embarrassed to speak, Jones remained virtually mute for years, communicating with teachers and fellow students with handwritten notes. A sympathetic high school teacher, Donald Crouch, learned that the boy wrote poetry, and demanded that Jones read one of his poems aloud in class. He did so faultlessly.
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Jones said the teacher worked with him to restore his normal speech.
"I could not get enough of speaking, debating, orating — acting," he recalled in his book.
Jones went on to study acting and received his first role on Broadway in 1958 in the play "Sunrise at Campobello."
"I had a scene in which I had to say, ‘Mrs. Roosevelt, supper is served.’ Well I got as far as ‘Mrs,’ he told PBS. "We're often hung on the M word, us stutterers. I think the audience knew what was happening. It was a play, they had bought tickets, and I was up there acting, and I couldn't talk."
Despite his speech impediment, Jones went on to have a long-standing career, winning three Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, a Grammy and an honorary Academy Award.
His most famous vocal performances have included Darth Vader in "Star Wars" and Mufasa in "The Lion King."
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'I'm still a stutterer," he told the American Academy of Achievement. "Sometimes I guess our vocabulary might be a little larger than it would ordinarily have been, because we have to find the word we won't trip on, or that begins with the right consonant."
What is stuttering?
According to the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), stuttering is a speech disorder characterized by a repetition of sounds, syllables, or words; prolongation of sounds; and interruptions in speech known as blocks.
An individual who stutters knows what he or she would like to say but has trouble producing a normal flow of speech. These speech disruptions may be accompanied by struggle behaviors, such as rapid eye blinks or tremors of the lips.
The organization said stuttering can make it difficult to communicate with other people, which often affects a person’s quality of life and interpersonal relationships. Stuttering can also negatively influence job performance and opportunities, and treatment can come at a high financial cost.
Actor James Earl Jones attends the "The Gin Game" Broadway opening night after party at Sardi's on October 14, 2015 in New York City. (Credit: Jemal Countess/Getty Images)
Symptoms of stuttering can vary significantly throughout a person’s day. In general, speaking before a group or talking on the telephone may make a person’s stuttering more severe, while singing, reading, or speaking in unison may temporarily reduce stuttering.
The NIDCD said roughly three million Americans stutter. It affects people of all ages but occurs most often in children between the ages of 2 and 6 as they are developing their language skills. Approximately 5-10% of all children will stutter for some period in their life, lasting from a few weeks to several years.
Approximately 75% of children recover from stuttering. For the remaining 25% who continue to stutter, stuttering can persist as a lifelong communication disorder.
James Earl Jones death
Jones passed away on Sept. 9 at his home in Dutchess County, New York. He was 93 years old.
His agent, Barry McPherson, confirmed Jones died Monday morning at home. The cause was not immediately clear.
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The pioneering Jones, became one of the first African American actors in a continuing role on a daytime drama ("As the World Turns") and worked deep into his 80s.
Jones created such memorable film roles as the reclusive writer coaxed back into the spotlight in "Field of Dreams," the boxer Jack Johnson in the stage and screen hit "The Great White Hope," the write Alex Haley in "Roots: The Next Generation" and a South African minister in "Cry, the Beloved Country."
He was also a sought-after voice actor, expressing the villainy of Darth Vader as well as King Mufasa in both the 1994 and 2019 versions of Disney's "The Lion King."
The actor has voiced the Star Wars character Darth Vader since its inception in 1977 and most recently starred as Darth Vader in the new Disney+ Obi-Wan Kenobi series.