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James Earl Jones has died

variety.com

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Re: James Earl Jones has died

#131

Post by hinkley »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #107
hinkley wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, the 'working actor'. Gary Oldman (who also calls himself a working actor) kinda tanked his career for a while by getting typecast as a villain. Playing Sirius Black was basically autobiographical, and kind of got him unstuck.

Gary Oldman is one of the best actors I've had the privilege of seeing. Consider that Mr. Zorg, Winston Churchill, and George Smiley, are played by the same person, is amazing.

Rosencrantz and Stansfield made him my favorite actor for the first decade of my adulthood. Zorg is okay. That terrible Lost in Space movie lowered his trajectory for a while. He’s been hitting home runs a lot since.

But if you hear him in interviews he thinks of himself as a working actor. He’s doing the job. But the right people think he can do a good job so he’s getting better roles.

Re: James Earl Jones has died

#133

Post by slavik81 »

liquorist wrote: post #21

He’ll always be the GDI’s General Solomon from Tiberian Sun in my mind.

Tiberian Sun was the first computer game I owned, and his performance was practically the first thing I saw when I finished installing it. At the time, I didn't recognize him, despite being a huge Star Wars fan. https://youtu.be/LT6Y0EIMRiI

Re: James Earl Jones has died

#134

Post by GauntletWizard »

bitwize wrote: post #59
OhMeadhbh wrote: post #11

I know everyone is talking about how he voiced Vader, but when I think of him, I think of Strangelove and Hunt for Red October. I didn't spend a lot of time in the fleet, but what I did was rather boring and/or annoying; the idea that something exciting would happen in the CIC is probably why I often think of the line "Now, understand, Commander, that torpedo did not self-destruct. You heard it hit the hull. And I wa…

He was also Police Chief Thad Green in the Mathnet segments of Square One TV . He only appeared a few times, but was unmistakable when he did. He also participated in early test footage for what would become Sesame Street . Film footage of him reciting the alphabet, in trademark James Earl Jones diction, was one of the things they used to research young children's response to educational programming.

I completely forgot about Mathnet for many years - I'm not sure where I even saw it; My family didn't even have a TV (and I was too young anyway) for it's run. It was a delight when I discovered that my fever dream of a dragnet parody was in fact real. Great show, very funny, and good education.

Re: James Earl Jones has died

#135

Post by slavik81 »

samatman wrote: post #79
andrewstuart wrote: post #12

Star Wars was relentlessly changed by George Lucas - for the worse in my opinion. Star Wars should have been changed to give James Earl Jones starring billing, instead of no credit at all.

"Voice of Darth Vader" is listed directly under "Darth Vader" in the credits of Star Wars.

The credits were changed for the special editions. He is not in the 'starring' section, but they did list him properly in the cast. https://youtu.be/sIPNormrPwg?t=2m30s

Re: James Earl Jones has died

#136

Post by steve_adams_86 »

qup wrote: post #126
imiric wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me he will always be Mufasa. Brilliant performance and perfect casting. "Everything the light touches is our kingdom." Still get shivers from that movie to this day. Nostalgia, sure, but it's truly a masterpiece. R.I.P.

Saw it in theaters as a kid. It was one of the best movie experiences of my life.

Man, what I’d do to have a theatre experience like that again.

I feel like I’ve already seen just about every movie I see these days. I watch them to just tune out occasionally, like a safer version of alcohol. I don’t watch them because it’ll be moving, insightful, exciting, etc. It’s just coarse stimulation.

I really miss movies that left me feeling like I had a significant experience. It happens occasionally, but I feel like it used to be more common. The lion king was amazing. The remake was a kick in the pants.

Re: James Earl Jones has died

#137

Post by SoftTalker »

nnf wrote: post #26
OhMeadhbh wrote: post #11

I know everyone is talking about how he voiced Vader, but when I think of him, I think of Strangelove and Hunt for Red October. I didn't spend a lot of time in the fleet, but what I did was rather boring and/or annoying; the idea that something exciting would happen in the CIC is probably why I often think of the line "Now, understand, Commander, that torpedo did not self-destruct. You heard it hit the hull. And I wa…

For me, it's Sandlot . Relatively small part, but it was impactful for me as a kid.

He was in Field of Dreams too, another baseball flick.

Re: James Earl Jones has died

#138

Post by steve_adams_86 »

ethbr1 wrote: post #89
OhMeadhbh wrote: post #11

I know everyone is talking about how he voiced Vader, but when I think of him, I think of Strangelove and Hunt for Red October. I didn't spend a lot of time in the fleet, but what I did was rather boring and/or annoying; the idea that something exciting would happen in the CIC is probably why I often think of the line "Now, understand, Commander, that torpedo did not self-destruct. You heard it hit the hull. And I wa…

Because HN skews younger, I expect there are some out there who haven't seen "The Vader Sessions" from the early YouTube era, in which James Earl Jones dialog from his other films was spliced into Star Wars Vader scenes. I think it's a testament to his range: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6A0rwG39Jzk

That’s right Sally!

The editing choices still seem really, really good after all these years. The radio scene is hilarious.

Edit: thanks for linking this and bringing back so many good memories.

Re: James Earl Jones has died

#139

Post by lelandfe »

OhMeadhbh wrote: post #11

I know everyone is talking about how he voiced Vader, but when I think of him, I think of Strangelove and Hunt for Red October. I didn't spend a lot of time in the fleet, but what I did was rather boring and/or annoying; the idea that something exciting would happen in the CIC is probably why I often think of the line "Now, understand, Commander, that torpedo did not self-destruct. You heard it hit the hull. And I wa…

My memory of James Earl Jones is him in Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh5wIQHFwOg

Re: James Earl Jones has died

#140

Post by cdchn »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #25
OhMeadhbh wrote: post #11

I know everyone is talking about how he voiced Vader, but when I think of him, I think of Strangelove and Hunt for Red October. I didn't spend a lot of time in the fleet, but what I did was rather boring and/or annoying; the idea that something exciting would happen in the CIC is probably why I often think of the line "Now, understand, Commander, that torpedo did not self-destruct. You heard it hit the hull. And I wa…

I think of Conan , and Coming to America . I was told by an industry insider (taken at face value), that he almost never turned down a part, which drove his agent nuts. That's why he was in these kind of oddball movies. I suspect that Nicholas Cage is similar.

The "Riddle of Steel" scene is just phenomenal.
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