Denzel Washington pays tribute to the late actor James Earl Jones, who died this week at the age of 93.
“He is my hero,” says Washington diversity“My theater career in college began with ‘The Emperor Jones’ and ‘Othello’ with James Earl Jones.”
Jones starred in the 1971 stage adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s play The Emperor Jones and played the titular Othello at Joseph Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival and later in an off-Broadway production in 1964.
A larger-than-life titan of film, television and theater, Jones was best known for his distinctive baritone voice, which he used to portray the villain Darth Vader in the “Star Wars” franchise and King Mufasa in the animated classic “The Lion King.”
Washington continues, “I didn’t want to be as big as him. I wanted to sound like him. He was everything to me as an aspiring actor. He was who I wanted to be.”
In a 1998 interview, Washington said, “There weren’t many serious black actors that we could emulate, follow, and admire. There was Sidney (Poitier); on the stage there was James Earl Jones. That’s what I remember.”
With Jones’ death, two of the artists who inspired the most decorated black actor in Oscar history are gone.
Although Jones and Washington never worked together in film or television, their artistic legacies were spiritually intertwined. One of the highlights of Jones’ career was his Tony Award-winning portrayal of Troy Maxson in the Broadway production of August Wilson’s “Fences” in 1987. In 2016, Washington directed, produced and starred in the film adaptation, which earned him Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Actor, making him the first Black person to be nominated in both categories in the same year.
Washington is currently promoting August Wilson’s new film, The Piano Lesson, which he produced with Todd Black, at the Toronto Film Festival. The film will be shown on Tuesday evening. The film, co-written and directed by Malcolm Washington, generated Oscar talk after its premiere in Telluride. The main roles are played by John David Washington, Danielle Deadwyler, Ray Fisher, Michael Potts and Samuel L. Jackson.
