James Earl Jones

Time for the next voice actor on my list! I'm sure you'll love this one.

This time, it's one of the most well-known of voice actors: James Earl Jones.

Much like Cummings, Jones has voiced characters both heroic and villainous. He was the voice of Simba's father, Mufasa in The Lion King and the voice of Darth Vader from the original Star Wars Trilogy.

Darth Vader










Mufasa









James Earl Jones as Darth Vader from Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi:


Besides those, Jones has been heard as a re-imagining of Santa Claus from the TV series Recess.

When I was in first grade, I heard him as the narrator and all the characters of a book on tape called Abiyoyo.

When Jones did Darth Vader's voice, he requested that he not be credited for it, citing the controversy about Mercedes McCambridge's voice work in The Exorcist. Jones felt that his voice work was only special effects for the character.

He finally received credit for his work on Star Wars in 1997, with the re-releases of the first two movies.

In the conclusion of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Vader's voice is very briefly heard, and the voice was uncredited. Even Jones himself doesn't know if his voice was used for Vader in that sequence.

Archived recordings of Jones' voice were used in the video game Kingdom Hearts II for the voice of Mufasa. Archived recordings of his voice are also used for the voice of Darth Vader at the Jedi Training Academy attractions in Disneyland.

Though not all of them have been as memorable as Mufasa or Vader, Jones' roles have all been incredible. His naturally deep voice makes him able to play both really good and really evil characters. I don't see him getting many opportunities to reprise Mufasa in the future, but personally, I think it's a shame that Jones hasn't done the voice of Darth Vader for any Star Wars video games, or even the game Soulcalibur IV, in which Vader appeared as a guest character. Not to disregard the amazing work of Matt Sloan, but I think fans of the series would be ecstatic to hear the real Vader in a video game, at least every once in a while.

Talk to you again next week!