1. James Earl Jones was born in Mississippi in 1937;  he was raised by his grandparents.
2. His father, Robert Earl Jones, was also an actor. The  move from Mississippi to Michigan with his grandparents was so traumatic it caused an incapacitating stutter.
3. He pretended he was a mute in through school until high school.
4. A high school saw through James Earl Jones stutter.  The teacher an assignment to write poetry.  James Earl Jones wrote “Ode to Grapefruit”. The teacher asked him to read it in front of the class; he found he could recite the poem from memory with no stuttering.
5. James Earl Jones was going to study medicine.
6. James Earl Jones won a Tony for his of Jack Jackson, the first African American heavyweight champion, in The Great White Hope.
7. James Earl Jones has worked in over 50 movies.
8. James Earl Jones has the most recognizable voice as Darth Vader
9. James Earl Jones has been married to Cecilia Hart for over 25 years.
10. Of his stuttering he said,  ”One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can’t utter.”

What is your favorite James Earl Jones movie?

Image via Wikipedia