{"id":80763,"date":"2024-09-12T14:21:34","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T19:21:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=80763"},"modified":"2024-09-12T14:21:36","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T19:21:36","slug":"in-remembrance-james-earl-jones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=80763","title":{"rendered":"In Remembrance: James Earl Jones"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>By JOHN BILLINGER<\/strong> <strong>Video by N<\/strong>I<strong>CK McCOY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Tiger Media Network<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On September 9, the world lost many great characters. Among them were Darth Vader, Mufasa, Mr. Mertle, Terence Martin, King Jaffe Joffer, and many more. But among the biggest, and probably most familiar, was James Earl Jones.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"365\" height=\"512\" data-attachment-id=\"80764\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?attachment_id=80764\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Jones.jpg?fit=365%2C512&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"365,512\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Jones\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Jones.jpg?fit=185%2C260&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Jones.jpg?fit=365%2C512&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Jones.jpg?resize=365%2C512&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-80764\" style=\"width:189px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Jones.jpg?w=365&amp;ssl=1 365w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Jones.jpg?resize=185%2C260&amp;ssl=1 185w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Jones.jpg?resize=107%2C150&amp;ssl=1 107w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 365px) 100vw, 365px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Jones<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Many of us are familiar with at least a few of his films. Whether you watched \u201cThe Sandlot\u201d or \u201cThe Lion King as children, or \u201cStar Wars\u201d or \u201cField of Dreams\u201d with your Dad, or \u201cComing to America\u201d or \u201cThe Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars &amp; Motor Kings\u201d with your Grandfather, or perhaps you were lucky enough to see him on the stage, you\u2019ve in some way have seen his large body of work.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I myself did all of the above with the exception of seeing him on the stage. And although I\u2019ve never met the man, he certainly has had a presence in my life. Certainly his wonderful voice has. For example, the ringtone on my phone for my own dad is the iconic \u201cI Am Your Father\u201d line from \u201cThe Empire Strikes Back.\u201d I\u2019m sure that I am not the only one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Born in 1931 in the state of Mississippi, Jones had a tremendous presence in many others in his long and vast career. His parents were Robert Earl Jones and Ruth Connolly. His father Robert, was also an actor, and his first film was 1939\u2019s \u201cLying Lips.\u201d This film was directed by Oscar Micheaux, one of the first major African American filmmakers, who is buried in Great Bend, Kansas not far from where I grew up.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It would seem obvious to someone now that it seems to be destined that Robert\u2019s son James would grow up to be an actor as well, but not at first. James from the age of five was primarily raised by his Grandparents in Michigan. He found the move from Mississippi to Michigan so upsetting, that he refused to talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"James Earl Jones - Remembering a Legend\" width=\"790\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1JmzsE-2Lbw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You might find it hard to believe that someone with the voice that we know now would refuse to talk but it\u2019s true. He would later say &#8220;I was a stutterer. I couldn&#8217;t talk. So my first year of school was my first mute year, and then those mute years continued until I got to high school.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It might be hard for someone to imagine not talking for that long, but it\u2019s not hard for me. I myself was a late talker. Partly for medical reasons, but also because I was shy as a kid. Although, I had support in those years. Poor James back in the 30s and 40s didn\u2019t. At least until (as he said) he got into high school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When James was a sophomore in high school, his English teacher found out that he was great at writing poetry. It was something he was passionate about, and he encouraged him to read in front of the class. This made James Earl Jones get out of his shell, and by the end of his high school days, he was vice president of the class. After a stint of being a pre-med major and serving in the Korean War, he started acting at the Ramsdell Theatre in Manistee, Michigan in 1953. And the rest as they say is history.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As for me, I also got out of my shell, through making movies and making people laugh. It\u2019s something I\u2019m passionate about. And kind of like how people say James Earl Jones had a great voice, people say I have a great voice, though I tend to disagree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, I am definitely not James Earl Jones. I don\u2019t hold a candle to him. I am on my own journey. But I will thank him, not just for the great roles that he had carried throughout his career, but for showing people that being passionate about something can led to great success in life.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank You and Rest In Peace, James Earl Jones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By JOHN BILLINGER Video by NICK McCOY Tiger Media Network On September 9, the world lost many great characters. Among them were Darth Vader, Mufasa,&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":80765,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":false,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[56,3505],"tags":[15804,14981,14765],"class_list":["post-80763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-local-movies","tag-james-earl-jones","tag-john-billinger","tag-nick-mccoy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/James-Earl-Jones.jpg?fit=1233%2C689&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80763"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80767,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80763\/revisions\/80767"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/80765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}