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Born Todd Jones on January 17, 1931, in Arkabutla, Mississippi, Jones
was the son of prize-fighter-turned-actor Robert Earl Jones, whom he
would not know for many years.
At a young age, he moved to Dublin, Michigan, where he
was raised on the farm of his mother's parents. Ironically enough,
given that his voice would one day make him famous, Jones suffered from
a severe stutter as a child, and he seldom spoke as a result.
It was with the help of a high school teacher that he
began to use his
voice to its full potential. After entering the University of Michigan,
where he went to study medicine, Jones continued to develop his voice
with acting lessons. The lessons gave Jones an appetite for further
theatrical experience, and he quit medicine to devote his attentions to
drama study.
He made his stage debut in a community theatre
production in Manistee,
Michigan, his last appearance for a while, as he subsequently served
time in the military. After his discharge, Jones moved to New York,
where he attended the American Theatre Wing to further his training and
worked as a janitor to earn a living. In 1957, he made his Broadway
debut, and during the subsequent decade, he became one of the stage's
most in-demand African-American actors.
His
best-known stage role was as a boxing champion in The Great White Hope,
which in 1969 won him the first of two Tony Awards (the second was for
August Wilson's Fences in 1987). During this time, Jones began working
on television, appearing as a doctor on the daytime dramas Guiding
Light and As the World Turns. In doing so, he became one of the first
black actors to perform regularly on soaps. Jones also crossed over to
the big screen, making his film debut as one of Slim Pickens' flight
crew in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop
Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). In 1970, he reprised his role in The
Great White Hope for the screen, earning Best Actor Oscar and Golden
Globe nominations for his portrayal of the proud yet conflicted boxer.
Jones
continued to work on the stage, screen, and television throughout the
'70s, appearing in everything from documentaries about Martin Luther
King, Jr. to the 1974 comedy Claudine to King Lear (1977). In 1977, a
few days of uncredited voiceover work for the character of Darth Vader
led to a measure of screen immortality, as part of the enormous success
of Star Wars was the iconic menace of the screen villain's voice. Jones
also gave life to Vader's vocal chords for the next two films in the
Star Wars trilogy.
During the '80s
and '90s, Jones continued to work steadily on the stage, screen, and
television. For the latter, he found particular acclaim in 1991,
winning both a Best Actor Emmy for his work in Gabriel's Fire and a
Best Supporting Actor Emmy for his role in Heat Wave. The acclaim he
earned on TV was ably complemented by that he found in film, as he
appeared in an impressive scope of work by diverse directors in
disparate genres. In the late '80s, he could be seen doing some of the
best work in his film career, first as an oppressed coal miner in John
Sayles' Matewan (1987), then as an embittered, Salinger-like author in
Field of Dreams (1989). Jones spent the next decade branching out into
the blockbuster action genre with his work in The Hunt for Red October
(1990) and its two sequels, Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present
Danger (1994). He also did strong dramatic work in such films as Cry,
the Beloved Country (1995) and A Family Thing (1996), the latter of
which cast him as Robert Duvall's estranged half-brother. Somewhat
ironically, it was the actor's voice that endeared him to a new
generation when he voiced the character of lion patriarch Mufasa in
Disney's The Lion King (1994).
In addition to the entertainment industry awards he has
received over
the course of his career, Jones has been the recipient of a number of
other honors, including The National Medal of Arts (awarded to him by
President George Bush in 1992) and honorary doctorates from Yale,
Princeton, and Columbia Universities.
Jones' next image makeover came in 1988, when he sang
Prince's
"Kiss" with the electronic dance outfit, the Art of Noise. The single
became a Top Ten hit in the U.K. and reached the American Top 40, which
led to a successful concert tour and a part in a recording of Dylan
Thomas' voice play, Under Milk Wood. The singer then returned to the
club circuit, where he stayed for several years.In 1993, Jones
performed at the Glastonbury Festival in England, where he won an
enthusiastic response from the young crowd. Soon, he was on the
comeback trail again, releasing the alternative-dance-pop album The
Lead and How to Swing It in the fall of 1994; the record was a moderate
hit, gaining some play in dance clubs.
Tom was born as on June 7, 1940 in South Wales and
currently lives with his wife, Melinda since 1957 and has one son, Mark.
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