When James Earl Jones paid the ultimate compliment to Sean Connery: “A voice for the ages”
Even if you don’t know what James Earl Jones looks like, you have almost certainly heard his voice. The actor had one of the most memorable baritones in cinematic history and lent it to some of the most memorable characters to ever grace the screen. Chief among them was Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise. His booming delivery of “I am your father” has reverberated around the world ever since it was spoken and remains one of cinema’s iconic lines.
At first, Jones dismissed his contribution to the role, calling himself mere special effects rather than an intrinsic part of the performance. He even convinced George Lucas not to put his name in the credits for the first two films. After the voice of Darth Vader became one of the series’ most mimicked and famous attributes, he agreed to have his name appear alongside the other actors. Decades later, his contribution is still one of the most iconic things about the franchise.
As if his involvement in Star Wars wasn’t enough, Jones also voiced Mufasa in The Lion King, providing yet another indelible characterisation to a film that continues to resonate with audiences across generations. He wasn’t just a voice actor, either. He appeared in nearly 200 films throughout his career and even earned an Oscar nomination for his performance in 1970’s The Great White Hope. As a voice actor, however, he was incomparable.
With his unassailable status as the greatest voice in cinema history, Jones was in a unique position to pay one of the most enviable compliments an actor could get. In 2009, he stood on stage at the American Film Institute to honour Sean Connery, who was receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award. “It’s his voice,” Jones began, drawing raucous laughter from the audience. “Much has been said about it. Jokes have been made about it. But make no mistake: it’s his voice.”
Such a statement would be nice coming from any actor, but from Jones, it might as well have been an Oscar. The two men worked together on The Hunt for Red October, a film in which, if we’re being honest, Connery’s stab at a Russian accent was hit-or-miss, to say the least. But he did have a hypnotic purr of a voice, especially when he let his unadulterated Scottish burr shine through.
In his tribute, Jones identified the James Bond star as “a man with tremendous craft, a man with a tremendous voice, a voice that inhabits time, from medieval to modern, and even into the future. Sean Connery,” he concluded, “Is the voice of a man of the ages.” It is indicative of Jones’ prowess as an actor and custodian of the greatest voice in cinema history, and he managed to make this compliment sound irrefutable rather than comedic.
Sitting in the audience, Connery himself looked suitably moved and delighted by the tribute. Even though his voice didn’t come close to the velvety drama of Jones’, it was an intrinsic part of his singular screen presence.
