Actor. In a career that included roles in both stage and cinema, he is most remembered for his role in the 1973 motion picture, "The Sting." Other films include "The Cotton Club" (1984) and "Witness" (1985). He had a deep and mellifluous voice like that of his son, actor James Earl Jones, with whom he appeared onstage in "Moon on a Rainbow Shawl," "Infidel Caesar" (both 1962), and "Of Mice and Men" (1967, portraying Crooks to James's Lennie). Honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Black Theatre Festival; also received an Oscar Micheaux Award and was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame. The son of Elnora Wallace Jones and Robert Washington Jones, he had two brothers, Robert Jr. and Charles. He dropped out of school in the third grade to work as a sharecropper. Also worked on the railroad until the Depression caused him to lose his job. He was at one time a boxer, and he was a sparring partner for world heavyweight champion Joe Louis in 1937. Ran in the New York City Marathon several times, including in 1996. He was married three times and had two sons, James Earl Jones and Matthew Earl Jones.
Actor. In a career that included roles in both stage and cinema, he is most remembered for his role in the 1973 motion picture, "The Sting." Other films include "The Cotton Club" (1984) and "Witness" (1985). He had a deep and mellifluous voice like that of his son, actor James Earl Jones, with whom he appeared onstage in "Moon on a Rainbow Shawl," "Infidel Caesar" (both 1962), and "Of Mice and Men" (1967, portraying Crooks to James's Lennie). Honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Black Theatre Festival; also received an Oscar Micheaux Award and was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame. The son of Elnora Wallace Jones and Robert Washington Jones, he had two brothers, Robert Jr. and Charles. He dropped out of school in the third grade to work as a sharecropper. Also worked on the railroad until the Depression caused him to lose his job. He was at one time a boxer, and he was a sparring partner for world heavyweight champion Joe Louis in 1937. Ran in the New York City Marathon several times, including in 1996. He was married three times and had two sons, James Earl Jones and Matthew Earl Jones.
Bio by: Jared Walker
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