The remarkable way James Earl Jones recovered from a mute childhood
Thanks to his incredibly deep voice, James Earl Jones brought the character of Darth Vader to life in the Star Wars franchise. With his breathy tone, he imbued the character with enough menace to land him on countless lists of the greatest movie villains of all time. While Jones actually wasn’t inside the costume – that job was reserved for David Prowse – the actor is unmistakenly associated with the character.
Jones also lent his voice to Mufasa in Disney’s The Lion King, cementing himself as one of the most recognisable voices in Hollywood. The actor once compared voice acting to age-old acting traditions involving masks, stating, “It’s a bit like the ancient Greek form where the actors would wear masks, […] the masks are the animators’ drawings, and we just simply supply all the behaviours, emotions and feelings behind that mask.” He has also starred in many roles which required him to appear in front of the camera, finding his start in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove as Lt. Lothar Zogg.
Impressing critics with his performance, Jones landed himself more roles, earning his first Academy Award nomination in 1970 with The Great White Hope. While the actor has never won an Oscar in a competitive category, he was celebrated in 2011 with an ‘Honorary Award’ by the institution. Despite his acclaimed career, Jones was mute for several years as a child due to a severe stutter that emerged through trauma. After his father, Robert Earl Jones, left to become an actor and his mother moved elsewhere, Jones was forced to live with his grandparents, and he found these new living arrangements incredibly hard.
Talking to CNN, Jones recalled the separation from his mother, stating, “She came to visit, bathed me, hugged me a lot, tried to bond. I heard my mother and grandmother discussing the issue – I was in the next room. It got pretty loud after a while. I just listened. My grandmother won. After that, there was an annual visit, which was worse than not seeing her at all.”
He added, “I remember having a ‘wailing wall’ – an old wooden wall behind the horse stable on our farm. The day she’d arrive, I’d go back there and start crying because all I could think about was the day she was going to leave. I cried myself out, and then I could function.”
His muteness meant he was taught in a separate classroom, only able to communicate with those around him through writing. “One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can’t utter,” Jones explained. Yet, through a love of poetry, Jones was slowly able to find his voice. He credits his high school teacher, Donald Crouch, with helping him learn to speak again.
“He said to me, ‘If you like words, you should be able to say them out loud.’ So he tricked me into talking. I credit him with being the father of my voice. He said, ‘You have a man’s voice now, an impressive bass, but don’t let that impress you. If you start listening to your voice, no one else will.’ It was a good lesson in general. I [try] to be devoid of self-consciousness.”
