James Earl Jones: Remembering His Best Roles

Actor and icon James Earl Jones has died at the age of 93, and as one of the few performers to have achieved the milestone of EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards wins) it goes without saying that Jones had many memorable performances. It’ll be hard to find a moviegoer who doesn’t know James earl Jones from his roles as Mufasa (The Lion King) and Darth Vader (Star Wars), but those were just vocal performances. James Earl Jones also had plenty of onscreen performances as an actor – and below you’ll find just a small sampling of some of the most famous ones. 

James Earl Jones: Remember His Best Roles

The Hunt for Red October

Die Hard director John McTiernan wanted to prove he could make an espionage thriller that was as edge-of-your-seat exciting as a shoot-em-up actioner – but that took some top-tier performers to pull off. James Earl Jones joined the likes of Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn and Sam Neill, and held the screen whenever he was on it as Vice Admiral James Greer. So much so, that he became the “Nick Fury” of the original Jack Ryan film Trilogy, returning for both Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. 

Coming to America

James Earl Jones’ regal persona was officially certified by the 1988 John Landis and Eddie Murphy comedy classic, Coming to America. As the ruler of the African nation of Zamunda, Jones’ character King Jaffe Joffer had small but crucial screen time. Seeing Jones in king status became as iconic as any of his roles, and its now even more special that he returned one last royal parade in Coming 2 America (2021). 

The Great White Hope

James Earl Jones took his role in Howard Sackler’s Tony Award-winning play to the screen for Martin Ritt’s 1970 bio-drama about boxer Jack Jefferson (based on Jack Johnson). The complicated themes of sports, fame, and socio-political realities of America when it comes to race are still as relevant today as the were when Jones first started performing the work onstage. The play earned Jones his Tony; the film earned him an Oscar nomination. 

Conan the Barbarian

James Earl Jones wasn’t above taking on B-movie genre roles, and they often worked out to be some of his most memorable characters. Conan the Barbarian’s Thulsa Doom is a prime example, with Jones’ gravitas being a fitting foil for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s muscles. 

Field of Dreams

James Earl Jones’ became an All-American icon with his role as recluse author Terence Mann. He and Kevin Costner made the sport of baseball transcend barriers and complicated history to be something defining about American culture – it was also a showcase of how Jones could take his stage performance prowess and deliver in a big movie. 

The Lion King

James Earl Jones went from being a nightmare bad dad in Star Wars, to being the dad every young cub (human or lion) wishes they had, in The Lion King (1994). Like with Vader, his vocal performance as King Mufasa was so iconic that Disney brought him back to voice Mufasa again in the CGI-animated remake of The Lion King (2019). 

Star Wars

As stated in the opening, James Earl Jones was such a phenomenal performer that his voice alone created one of the most iconic villains in pop culture, Star Wars‘ Darth Vader. Recent years of Star Wars projects were elevated by featuring Jones’ voice as Vader again, and it’s one part of his legacy that’s guaranteed to live on forever.