We were rocked by the news of the passing of James Earl Jones, an EGOT achiever and a pioneer for Black actors in the entertainment industry. Known for his extensive and acclaimed roles on stage as King Lear, Othello, and Jack Jefferson; on screen in Field of Dreams, Coming to America, and Meteor Man; and through his voice as Darth Vader and Mufasa—his presence on Earth will be missed, but his impact will not be forgotten.

Today, we honor James Earl Jones's memory. May he rest in peace.

*Please excuse our usage of the wrong last name for James Earl Jones' character in The Great White Hope. While Jack Johnson was the real boxer who the story was about, James Earl Jones played the character Jack Jefferson in both the stage and film adaptation. Once again, we apologize for the error*

Welcome to this week's installment of Cape or

A Black Nerd Superhero Podcast. My name is Chamar

Griffith, codename ComicChams

and I am Andrew Tejada. Codename Arete.

Andrew and I have known each other since 1996

that was the year James Earl Jones appeared in the movie

titled The goat, about great basketball player. He didn't

play the goat. That was actually Don Cheadle, who played the goat

in that movie, but putting goat and James Earl Jones in the same

sentence just makes so much sense. Anyway,

yes, yes, I love it. I I don't know what streaming

services on, but I'm definitely going to be checking

it out. Um, don't pirate it, and you can use Toby,

but don't pirate it, all right. Jesus, have some respect.

Yes, respect the late great James Earl Jones,

because today, we always want to make sure to highlight many of

the people who do such amazing work, not only within our

community, but also within our community, if you get, if you

get that, you get that. In this particular is a tribute episode

that we have today for the late great James Earl Jones, who we

recently found out earlier this week, on Monday, September 9,

have passed away at the age of 93 James Earl Jones was

described as one of America's most distinguished and versatile

actors. And, I mean, I don't even know why they even had to

say describe that he is that and more, just like said the goats,

yeah. And you know, definitely we did, did a little

homework before, you know, coming on here and talking about

what we know and what is commonly known. But one of the

most incredible facts about James Earl Jones is that he he

had a stutter. When he was a child, he had a stutter, and he

said that, and that was because of some things that had

happened, some dramatic moves in his life, but he said, What

helped him get control of his stutter so that he could do all

these, the things that he was known for, was By reading

poetry, by engaging with art that was his way of getting a

cadence to his voice, to getting a rhythm. And his whole life

changed because he gave he engaged with art in a meaningful

way, and it gave it him something back. It gave him a

voice that would be known for generations in generations and

for generations to come. So, you know, it's an incredible,

incredible start to what became a legacy that I just don't even

know if anyone could recreate. It could even capture. I think

it's one of a kind, what James Earl Jones accomplished in his

lifetime, and it is definitely worth taking some time to

acknowledge that.

Yeah, and speaking of just like taking the time to

just go through his history a little bit him, reading that

poetry and then and getting involved in art the way that he

did. I mean, that's just such a great way to hear that, you

know, there is a bit of healing through these performative

spaces a lot of times, where, during that age, it was very

hard, especially for a black man, to make his way into spaces

like that. So to hear that he not only found healing in so

many ways, but again, like you said, to bring forward a voice

that would inspire generations to come. He's been having this

career since he started back in 1953 during that time, he worked

as a stage manager as well as an actor in certain productions,

and eventually he would end up getting his Broadway debut in

1957 becoming the legend in the theater that everybody knows for

his presence, his voice, his gravitas, and night after night,

day after day, performance after performance, he would just bring

To Life countless characters like boxer Jack Johnson and the

Great White hope to being for me personally, if it's not Laura

spitchburn playing these characters, I see James Earl

Jones playing Shakespearean characters like King Lear and

Othello. And during this time. He ended up starring in over 40

or almost 40 different stage productions throughout his

entire career, even recently doing a stage production of

drive him as Daisy with Angela Lansbury. And during that entire

time, while he was on stage, he was just cooking in every other

space when it came to television, to movies, to just

even voice acting like you know, when you think of someone who's

on the stage, you never think of the fact that they had the

opportunity to jump into all these other places and get their

names known there. And it's perfectly reasonable for him to

do so with a voice like that. Why he is an EGOT winner, and

during his time on film, you will see him in basically a part

of 190 productions, like It's wild. That's

those are Sam Jackson numbers. Those aren't rookie

numbers, yeah,

and for us in particular, you know, we didn't

get a chance to see a lot of his early work when it was first

coming out. We heard of it. We we saw clips of it, maybe in

passing, in school, none of that. But the thing that I

definitely remember growing up with were two roles, in

particular Star Wars, showing the villainous dark side that he

could put forth his dark fader, and then showing us the lights

against the shadowland as Mufasa, The voice that basically

guided young Simba and many other lion kings that would

inspire a generation of people to look at Disney and love the

way that they put together these animated productions. And

really, if you really, really look at it, it's such, basically

a telling, a retelling of the story of Hamlet in animated

form. And it makes so much sense by a Shakespearean actor, one of

great work like James Earl Jones, was able to get that

role.

I mean, the the humanity and and gravitas he was

able to bring to an animated lion. It's still absolutely just

crazy to wrap your head around. You know, this animated lion

that he really brought such dignity and power to, um before

his before the lion dies. I mean, I was gonna say spoiler,

but if you haven't seen Lion King, I really don't know what

you're doing here.

There are moments where there's a spoiler, and

then other moments when it's a historical fact about our

society.

Yeah, I mean that that regal nature is, is really what

I think drew people in, and what made it so tragic when he went,

I mean, Mufasa is not on screen a ton of time before he, like,

he you go back and watch that movie, and it's like he's in it

less than you think, and but he made such A powerful impression.

And I think that really is the kind of overarching thing about

James L Jones career that he has done so much, but everyone, I

think, could reach to a role that that he's had, and say that

had a major impact on my life, on on my entertainment and

enjoyment, because I don't think every every actor can't claim

that. Every actor can claim they've had good roles, and

they've had roles that people might recognize, but the ones

that make an impact. I don't think everyone can claim that.

And certainly as Mufasa and you know, certainly goes. It almost

goes without saying, but Star Wars, yeah, he Darth Vader. You

know, originally he wasn't even supposed to be Darth Vader, the

original actor, David Prowse, sorry if I'm butchering that.

They recorded the whole movie with that David's voice, and at

the end of it, the director was like, Oh, I don't know. I don't

know about this voice that you did for the entire movie. Since

Darth Vader was in a mask, very convenient, they were able to

dub it over and for $7,500 James L Jones put on the performance

for the first Star Wars and from and for the first two movies. He

didn't even take credit. He wanted to give all the credit to

the actor that was physically there in the room. But once

people started to recognize him, he's like, Ah, I guess I better

put my name down in here too. My

imagine he was like, "You got me! Let me just write

my name now"

my hand behind my back, and it is a role that he

continued to do as long as he was able, until Obi Wan, which

is when he made a decision that I understand is controversial,

and my and people definitely are entitled to have feelings about

it, one way or the other. But at the time Obi Wan was being put

into production, James Earl Jones signed away the rights to

use his voice specifically for Darth Vader, so Disney and

perpetuity is allowed to use his voice as Darth Vader using AI

software and archive footage of what they've already collected.

So he made sure to establish this sense of continuity for a

character who is one of the most iconic characters in pop culture

history. And that's not to take away anything, and that's

certainly not to say that a voice actor, given the chance,

couldn't give us a Darth Vader that was approximate or just a

new take on Darth Vader we haven't heard, you know, like a

joker kind of thing, where they're, you know, you have a

baseline, but there are different ones. But I do think

it says something that even though I personally don't think

I would do the same, I don't I think I would like my voice to

rest after I've gone, um, I do really have to admire his

decision to ensure the fans had that, to ensure his voice would

never leave the fans in this character that meant so much.

The measures he took were really bold, and I really think that

that's something to commend, that he chose to make that even

when he's no longer benefiting from it. I really think that

that is something to to really think about and meditate on

after he's gone.

Yeah, I Yeah, yeah, I I'm even thinking about it

right now. I don't think I'd be brave enough to do that, because

now that hearing the story in this particular way, I had some

insight, but then had the specifics, like we have like I

have now about what he did. And I mean, I gotta say, I do

appreciate, as a Star Wars fan, the fact that he wanted to offer

that to us, because he knows that there are people out there

who love the world, who love the stories, and if he can, he wants

to continue contributing to it. I do hope, though, this does

mean that Disney will be very respectful of not just this

character in general, because now you're not just creating

stories for a character. It's not like that anymore. It's not

like a Joe Schmo number 13, who you're ranking the story for.

This is some a character who was became an icon since it since

his appearance in the 70s. And now, given the fact that the

original voice the person who was just like, if you're ever

going to put this character out there is, I really want to make

sure that it's me while still recognizing the people who are

doing the bodywork of this character. I really hope that

Disney, as well as whoever is the the main person who is

working as Darth Vader, takes into consideration that whatever

they say, however story they want to put forward, they really

have to also recognize this man in particular for, again,

creating a character that will stand the test of time and be

ranked as one of the top villains of All time and have

such an amazing backstory too, like this is a character that

really became connected to James Earl Jones. It's a character

that many people, especially nerds like ourselves, who we, if

we had the opportunity to, we would love to hear him say, use

any of the lines, or say any of the lines in front of us. So

between Star Wars and Mufasa, I gotta say that that was

definitely for me, some of the earliest memories I have of

James Earl Jones. There is one last one that will always stick

with me, because I watched this movie every single time that.

Came on Channel 11 when I was growing up. It wasn't until

recently that I got the chance to see the full unedited version

of it. He's,

of course, talking about Meteor man.

Well, I gotta add another one, then your man, but

also coming to America,

the king of Zamunda, yes,

just having the energy that he brought forth

into that, you could tell that he was having fun, you know,

especially when you look back and you see it, realizing he's

playing all these very kingly roles with these Shakespearean

roles, and he's just like, I'm gonna give you the same energy,

but I'm gonna have so much fun with this. I'm going to put in

scenarios that are outside of what you will see as Regal, but

treat them truly regal as possible, like loved and coming

to a coming to America, the sequel, where he decides to have

a funeral, and he is alive for his funeral, and it's just like

this is exactly what you would expect from the way he handled

it, exactly what you would expect from a very regal person

who wants to be recognized. And it gave me a lot of joy to see

that at the age that he was at, or definitely within his late

80s, definitely going to early 90s. He was just like, in a way,

it was kind of preparing us for his own homecoming, in the way.

So I'm glad to see that James Earl Jones had an opportunity to

give us that moment to, in a way, say goodbye to him on film.

Yeah, and if you haven't seen it, a little more

believable that you haven't seen this than Lion King, but see it

because I think you know James Earl Jones, he's done much more

than, of course, Lion King and Star Wars. His theater work is

just incredible. If you look at his resume, it's absolutely

outstanding. You know, he won the Tony Award for great white

hope before it became a movie, and he was nominated for an

Oscar, one of the few at the time, black actors to ever have

that honor of being nominated for Best Actor. You know, he he

really paved so much the way for so many other people, so and

coming to America also, we get to see a different side. You

know, if you're used to seeing the serious or, you know,

threatening side through Mufasa, go watch coming to America and

just let make let him make you laugh, because even I've seen

the movie countless times. And I still, I still crack up every

time he comes on screen and has a misunderstanding about

American culture coming from zamudah. And he, he is just so

funny. And definitely in that in Meteor man, even though it's a

joke, whatever he's doing with his hair and Meteor man also

makes me laugh. It's such a random movie of act in terms of

actors assembled, but definitely also worth checking out. And you

know some and he was everywhere. He played Santa Claus on recess.

He played he was in an episode of adventures of Lois and Clark.

If you were gonna bring it around to DC, things he has, he

had done so much, done so much. So if you really are wanting

more of him. There's a good chance there's so much of his

work you haven't even seen or touched yet. So you know, jump

on Wikipedia, start looking some stuff up, because there's so

much more he had to offer. Not to even mention his audiobook

and his narration work. Those are whole other categories of of

art for him, from him that you can see,

yeah, and just even some of the funnier stuff, like,

you know, he's done a lot of stuff on Sesame Street, so it's

already there. He was just like, I'm gonna work with the future

generations. And even for us older people, fun, fact, he's

the voice of Maggie Simpson. Yeah, it is definitely an

episode where he is the voice of Maggie Simpson. So definitely it

does highlight for me that he has so many roles that tend to

be forgotten about, because you never would expect to see

someone like him in these roles. But once he had hit a certain

age, you could tell that he was just like, I'm I've done a lot.

I've done so much to change the landscape of theater. Done so

much to change the landscape of sci fi. Like storytelling and

all that, so why not just have fun with the spaces that I've

been able to enter in? And it does give me a lot of joy seeing

that all these lesser known works of his are still just as

has just as much gravitas as his King Lear or his Darth, Vader.

It is amazing that someone who was in this space for so long

was able to finally reach a point where he could just have

some fun. So because we are definitely a superhero show,

podcast we we've shared so much about capes and caps and every

single outfit in between, but the most important part too

about us is that we are also black nerds. So while we love

those stories of superheroes and super villas, battling out for

good and evil, we also recognize how much of an impact we as a

people have made within community, throughout to our

communities and to everywhere throughout time. And James Earl

Jones is just one of the many, a big one of the many who's been

able to do that and so Andrea, I wanted to ask you, how do you

think that James Earl Jones has influenced the landscape of

actors and even specifically black actors?

I think he showed them, it's possible. I think, you

know, it's we, of course, we've had so many great black actors,

you know, Sydney, Poitier of Denzel Washington, that have

really broken these barriers down, but I think James R Jones

just stood as a just a reminder of where you could come from,

where you could go, and that there was no ceiling if you just

pursued it hard enough with emphasis and passion he was

supposed to, you know, he thought he'd be in the army. You

know, for a while he served in the Army, and he thought, Okay,

I'll do acting for a while, and then I'll be in the army, and

that'll be in my life. But he was able to after he got

discharged, came back, worked as a janitor during the day, and

did theater at night. And one of his first performances, he had

one line to walk in, and he forgot it. He forgot the line

because he got nervous, but he said for a year he stood in one

place, set the line again and again, and in that theater they

in the last years of his life, they renamed it the James Earl

Jones theater, and it is in Manhattan to this day. So now

there's a whole theater where people can't walk in without

acknowledging his presence and what he meant to everyone. And I

mean, you can just look at the tributes to tell about his

impact, Kamala Harris, Bill Clinton, of course, Denzel, and

that's just the tip of the iceberg. Spike Lee, Viola Davis,

Mark Hamill, Barry Jenkins, Courtney van Jamie Fox, so many

different people from so many different backgrounds have come

out pouring pouring out their hearts to honor his work and

what he's done, and he did get an Honorary Oscar. But I think

this is also on the cases as great as this is just a reminder

that give, give pioneers like James Earl Jones their flowers

while they're here, name that theater after them while they're

here, tell them about how much of an impact they've had while

they're here. Because when, when you are a person does that that

does not fit the classic image of Hollywood, which is, let us

be completely real here. Let's put it in the context, as some

would say, the traditional notion of Hollywood was the lead

actors were white, the stories were about white people, and

everybody else was supporting. And James Earl Jones was no

supporting character. Even if you put try to put him in a

supporting role, you're not getting away. With dropping

James Earl Jones and walking away, he took the presence in

the room, he showed that it was possible. So I think he is one

of the biggest stepping stones. And the reason why we also

talked about Lion King and Star Wars so much is because I'll say

it again. I've said it before. I'll say it again. One of the

most important things for breaking down barriers across

the world is starts with people seeing people that they don't

live with, they don't interact with on a daily basis. They have

to see them just living life, and then they'll understand

ideally. They would meet them ideally. But we don't live in an

ideal world. So the next best thing we have is to create works

where people are just living their lives and looking and then

when those are presented, people can say, Why am I scared? I see

things that we have in common. I see things that we share. So

when you have an actor like James Earl Jones who crosses all

the barriers where people listen or so entranced by the

performance, they don't care where he came from, that I don't

care what race, creed, country he identifies with, and then

they find out and still embrace him. That's how you open up the

world. Because they say, if I can do that for for Darth Vader,

if I can do that for Mufasa a lion, if I can do that for a

lion, if I can give that that grace and dignity to a lion, I

can give that grace and dignity to human beings. It it starts.

It's also often starts with art. So you know, it's, it's hard to

simplify or condense what he brought to the world and how

that impact has radiated out. But it's there. It's it's

everywhere around us, and it'll continue to be so I think he

will stand as, as I said earlier, he'll stand as one of

the goats of black actors and culture, because of all the

barriers that he knocked down, I think there are so many others

that can walk freely in and move freely in Hollywood, because he

was there first with that booming voice, a voice so

booming, no wall, no standards, no boundaries were ever gonna

hold him back.

Well, said, man, well, well said I like there is

nothing else I can add. Um, I will just say one thing to

close. James Earl Jones, thank you. Your 93 years of life. You

spent seven decades of it entertaining, generation after

generation, community after community, person to person,

heart to heart. Thank you.

Yeah. And I'd also like, you know, normally we we

do the joke at the end, but I think it is most appropriate to

leave with words that He Himself said, you weren't going to the

theater to change the world, but you had a chance to affect the

world, the thinking and the feelings of the world. He took

that chance and every time he succeeded, so thank thank you so

much. James Earl Jones, rest easy and know that in your 93

years, you changed our thinking, our feelings and perspective of

what a black actor could be. I.