WHY DID JAMES EARL JONES, THE VOICE BEHIND DARTH VADER AND MUFASA, REFUSE TO SPEAK AS A CHILD?
Legendary Actor, James Earl Jones, voice of Darth Vader, Mufasa, winner of several awards including a Grammy, refused to speak as a child due to a sever stutter.
From the age of five, Jones was raised by his grandparents, but he found this quite tough, and as a result developed a stutter. And since it was so severe, he flat out refused to talk. According to Jones, “I was a stutterer. I couldn’t talk. So my first year of school was my first mute year, and then those mute years continued until I got to high school.”
James Earl Jones has spoken about his stutter on more than one occasion in an attempt to give those who have speech impediments more confidence. One such example can be found here. He’s even founded a Stuttering Foundation – a nonprofit that simply aims to help those with stutters.
Like many people on this planet, Jones had his English teacher to thank for helping him discover poetry, and thus, helping him break out of his stutter.
And then in 1977, Jones made his debut on Star Wars, and the rest, as they say, is history. According to IMDB, he’s won 29 awards, and has has 30 nominations which also includes one Oscar nomination. According to a few sources, James Earl Jones has starred in 79 movies.
James Earl Jones simply said no to the stutter.
Sources:
1) wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Earl_Jones
2) youtube.com/watch?v=xbSlH6UIxOk (Jones talks about mastering his stammer!)
3) stutteringhelp.org/famous-people/james-earl-jones