One of the most famous voices of all time has gone silent.
James Earl Jones, whose prodigious acting talent was often overshadowed by his distinctive baritone over a seven-decade career that spanned stage and screen, died Monday, his representative said. He was 93.
A contemporary of Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte, Jones didn’t land the same coveted leading roles at a time when there were few to go around for Black actors in Hollywood, but he earned unmatched longevity as a character actor, from his first movie credit in 1964′s “Dr. Strangelove” to his reprisal of his role as King Joffer in the 2021 sequel to “Coming to America.”