James Earl Jones

He was once married to actress Julienne Marie.

Currently he is married to Cecilia Hart whom he wed in 1982. They have one child.

He was born to Robert Earl Jones and his wife Ruth Conolly. His father, a small-time actor who also held several other jobs, abandoned the family when James was a baby. He was raised mainly by his maternal grandparents who were farmers. He is multiracial.

He had a difficult childhood on his grandparents’ farm and developed a severe stutter. Because of this he became withdrawn and refused to speak to anyone. During his high school, his English teacher encouraged the boy to recite poetry and with the guidance of his teacher he overcame his stuttering.

He initially attended the Browning School for boys and then graduated from the Brethren High School. He went to the University of Michigan to study medicine but soon realized that he was not meant to be a doctor and dropped out.

He joined the Reserve Officer Training corps and served in the military during the Korean War. Initially he was commissioned as a second lieutenant and was promoted to first lieutenant by the time of his discharge.

After being discharged from the army he went to New York and studied at the American Theatre Wing. During this time he worked as a janitor to earn his livelihood.

He began his acting career as a stage artist. He started working part time at the Ramsdell Theatre prior to his military stint. He was a stage carpenter in 1953 and began working as an actor in 1955 when he performed in Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’.

Over the next few years he acted in many of Shakespeare’s plays like ‘King Lear’, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, ‘Measure for Measure’ and ‘Hamlet’.

He landed his first film role in 1964 when he was cast as Lieutenant Lothar Zogg in Stanley Kubrick’s black comedy ‘Dr. Strangelove’.

He played the lead role in the 1967 play ‘The Great White Hope’ in which he portrayed the boxing champion Jack Jefferson. The play was highly successful and ran for 546 performances.

He reprised the role of Jack Jefferson in the 1970 movie of the same name which had been adapted from the play ‘The Great White Hope’. He received an Academy Award nomination for the best actor for this role.

He portrayed the boxer Jack Jefferson (a fictionalized version of the boxer Jack Johnson), in the play ‘The Great White Hope’ and also in a film of the same name. His role was critically acclaimed and he won several awards for both the play and the film.

He played the main character, Gabriel Bird in the television series ‘Gabriel’s Fire’. His portrayal of a Chicago cop wrongfully sentenced for murder is considered one of his finest performances.