Trigger warning: This article mentions death.
The death of James Earl Jones has shocked the entire Hollywood. The famous voice actor died on September 9, 2024 at the age of 93.
Following this, his co-star from the Star Wars franchise shared a heartbroken post on social media. Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker, took to X (formerly Twitter) and wrote “#RIP Dad” with a broken heart emoji.
Hamill then uploaded a photo of himself holding the late actor on Instagram and wrote a caption praising Jones’ skills. “He will be greatly missed,” Hamill concluded his message.
James Earl Jones was best known for voicing the character of Darth Vader in the Star Wars films, and he also voiced the globally loved lion Mufasa in Disney’s The Lion King.
Hamill calling Jones “dad” is taken from the space opera, The Empire Strikes Back, where Vader revealed that he was Anakin Skywalker’s father, and said the very famous line, “I am your father.”
Star Wars director George Lucas also shared his thoughts, as reported by People. Lucas mentioned through a statement that Jones’ voice is different from everyone else’s and that he is a great actor as well. Lucas said that James Jones held the title of Darth Vader for almost half a century, while also calling him “a beautiful human being.”
Meanwhile, The Lion King co-director Rob Minkoff said he was lucky to work on the project with Jones, whose voice was a perfect fit for Mufasa.
Similarly, Disney CEO Bob Iger said James Earl Jones was one of the greatest actors in cinema history. Recalling his days on stage and over 200 projects, Iger also said Jones brought his roles to life and endeared himself to a generation of audiences.
James Earl Jones first adopted the voice of the famous Star Wars villain Darth Vader in the original 1977 film.
In more recent times, his voice was heard in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, as well as the miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi.
It will be the year 2022 when Jones retires from voicing Darth Vader, while reportedly allowing Disney to use a digital reconstruction of his voice for future presentations of the famous sci-fi villain.
According to his agent, who confirmed to People, Jones died at his home in Dutchess County, New York.
Also read: Matthew Broderick aka Simba remembers Lion King co-star James Earl Jones aka Mufasa on his passing: ‘I’m so lucky…’
