So much has happened this week. My father is in the hospital, we performed on the VMA’s with Benson Boone, my two companies and Straight To the Creative and Houseofreedom All Stars are growing and flourishing, the anniversary of 9/11 was this week, and one of artistic inspirations, the great James Earl Jones has passed away.
I had the honor of seeing this performance live on Broadway as a student, and then shortly after Mr.Jones left the production, I saw it again with his replacement Billy Dee Wiliams performing an equally amazing interpretation of this work with his own personal approach of to the role.
James Earl Jones was and will always be a titan in the theater. He was one of my real life heroes. I followed him and everything he did. I cannot be too sad. To live 93 years is a wonderful thing. I’m just proud and honored to have lived in his time, to have seen him in as Alex Haley in Roots, perhaps the most impactful mini series of all time. I’m grateful to have been in theater watching Star Wars and upon hearing Darth Bader’s voice, instantly knowing it was James Earl Jones, despite the fact that he received no credit as the voice, in the original credits.
There was a short lived TV series called under one roof, with Joe Morton, that was an amazing drama about a modern family, that was waaaay ahead of its time. You cannot talk about Jone' career without “The Great White Hope”. It was first a play produced in D.C by the Arena Stage and then a film starring Jones. It is based on the life of the real boxer Jack Johnson, but dramatized with a character named “Jack Jefferson”. (Fro Wikipedia) “In a comment, reflecting on both the racist theme dealt with in the play and Sackler's ( playwright) notion that the play is about a man fighting society, Muhammad Ali, greatly impressed with James Earl Jones' performance in the play, reportedly commented to the actor, "Hey! This play is about me! Take out the interracial love stuff and Jack Johnson is the original me!"[5]When Conan the Barbarian brought Arnold Schwarzenegger to the big screen, James was there too. In peace.
The 1987 John Sayles Film Matewan one of the great American films about the union movement of the 1920’s. James played opposite the great actor, Chris Cooper. Of course you can’t leave out Coming to America and the amazing voicing of Mufasa in the Lion King. So may other great films in his career.
It cannot be understated what James Earl Jones’s roles and persona on screen, did for the global perception of Black Americans and the self-esteem of black people, particularly this little black boy, Bill Bremner, growing up in the 70’s in Washington DC. He reminded me of the strong, charismatic .and intelligent men in my family. Men like my Uncle Bob who also had a deep resonant voice. Men like my dad. Men who were not seen on the big or small screen at the time. James Earl Jones himself had some very strong ideas about Hollywood and America writ large, and its obsession with what he called “racializing’" things. He tried very much to be “above it.” There is no doubt however, that he was an absolute pioneer and trailblazer, as a black man, and as a black actor.
By the early 1990’s James Earl Jones was a fixture in spy thrillers, my favorite genre, in fims like “The Hunt For Red October”, opposite Alec Baldwin “Clear and Present Danger” and “Patriot Games” with Harrison Ford, as the patriotic, steadfast, loyal, and decisive Admiral Greer. This casting, these roles Jones played so well, ushered in an new era where similar roles were presented to actors like John Amos in the West Wing series and Morgan Freeman as the US president in Independence Day. We as a nation, were primed by Hollywood, for what was to come. Seeing intelligent, morally grounded black men in positions of power and authority in American government. I am a believer that art is a predictor of the future. I believe that James Earl Jones’ work as an artist, and similarly Morgan Freeman ’s and even yes,…even Will Smith, primed white America and the world for our first black president Barack Obama, and has brough us to this day where VIce President Kamala Harris, is poised to be the first woman of color to hold the office of the president of the United States.. I am forever a fan and forever grateful to have lived in his time and experienced his work with the context that surrounded it. And remember these words to live by, written by Phil Anderson Robinson, delivered superbly and immortalized on screen by James Earl Jones, in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams, "Build it, and they will come!"
Rest in peace rest in power James Earl Jones.