The sad passing of the legendary James Earl Jones has resulted in tributes pouring in from all over the world of showbiz.
The 93-year-old’s agent confirmed that he died yesterday morning (9 September) at his home in New York.
The beloved actor passed away at age 93. (Sylvain Gaboury via Getty Images)
He was one of the few performers to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony throughout an illustrious career and is perhaps best known as being the voices of Mufasa in The Lion King and Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise.
It was James Earl Jones who delivered the iconic line, ‘I am your father’ to Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker, and Hamill posted the perfect two-word tribute on social media in the wake of the sad news of the 93-year-old’s death.
Hamill simply wrote ‘RIP dad’ followed by the broken heart emoji as he quoted the announcement of the death.
#RIP dad ๐
James Earl Jones, the prolific film, TV and theater actor whose resonant, unmistakable baritone was most widely known as the voice of โStar Warsโ villain Darth Vader, died Monday. He was 93. bit.ly/3TkCdw4
Throughout his time on social media Hamill has often referred to James Earl Jones as ‘dad’, including in a number of birthday wishes.
It’s an honour he gave to the various performers who have also played a part in portraying Darth Vader over the years, including his physical actor David Prowse, his unmasked performer Sebastian Shaw, stunt double Bob Anderson, and, of course, his younger iterations Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christensen.
For a lot of fans, this is the tribute that has been the most heart-wrenching of all, as one much beloved icon of our childhoods paid tribute to another.
It’s a sad reminder that none of us are getting any younger, and that as time passes the lights that illuminated our days gone by are starting to go out.
While he was known as the voice of Darth Vader, many will have seen James Earl Jones in front of the camera in the likes of Field of Dreams, Coming to America and Conan the Barbarian.
It’s by no means the first time Hamill has called James Earl Jones ‘dad’. (Twitter/@MarkHamill)
In later years, viewers of The Big Bang Theory got to see him make a guest appearance as himself, putting his sonorous voice to good use by declaring he liked Star Wars and playing a prank on co-star Carrie Fisher, who had played Princess Leia.
Hamill has also appeared in the show, where he appeared to officiate a wedding between two of the main characters.
As news of James Earl Jones’ was announced last night there will be many more waking up to the sad news of his passing, and one can expect many more tributes to come in to a man who put his talents to such good use.
