TThis is what happens when an actor who starred in a hugely popular franchise dies: Because nearly everyone on the planet knows who Darth Vader is, nearly every mainstream news story about James Earl Jones’ death has to associate him with that role first and foremost. But Jones, who was born in Mississippi in 1931 and died on September 9 at the age of 93, did so much more—as an actor, he was so much more. His career was so long and varied that there is no efficient way to hop through it. And he worked so often—in film, television, and theater—that we can only believe he truly loved his craft. The purity of that love shines through in every role, big and small. He left us with abundance.

Jones was nominated for only one Oscar, for his starring role as boxer Jack Jefferson in Martin Ritt’s 1971 drama The Great White Hope. In 1969, for playing the same role on Broadway, he won the first of his two Tony Awards; the other came in 1987, for his performance as laborer and former Negro League baseball star Troy Maxson in August Wilson’s Fences. In 1991, Jones won two Emmys, one for his portrayal of private detective Gabriel Bird in Gabriel’s fire, the other for his supporting role in the TV movie heat wave, a drama about the Watts race riots of 1965. In 1977 he won a Grammy for his spoken-word album The Christmas Miracle by Jonathan Toomey. And in 2012, he finally received an honorary Oscar, a recognition of his extensive film career.

But awards are not our only measure of greatness; in fact, they are rather meager. Although Jones was a contemporary of actors like Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte, his career did not reach the same heights; in America, we had room for only so many black stars at the time—our lack of imagination, not to mention tolerance, is a part of history that we must reckon with. But Jones brought audiences the deepest kind of pleasure, and that gift should never be underestimated. His sonorous, chilling baritone gave life to the dramatic complexity of Darth Vader, in the original Star Wars trilogy and several spin-offs. And as the voice of the royal Mufasa in both versions of The Lion King, He commanded respect mixed with love. He was a cartoon lion you could look up to.

Jones’s voice was so resonant, with its rich, rolling vowels, that it sounded as if he were calling from the depths of the sea. He had developed it as a young acting student, trying to control his stammer—an object lesson in turning straw into gold. Although Jones didn’t get many major leading roles, the cumulative effect of his hundreds of performances and accomplishments is a star quality all his own. We know him from his roles in three films based on Tom Clancy novels (The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, And Clear and present danger)by Field of dreams, of his appearances – as himself – on Sesame Street. It’s impossible to pick a favorite James Earl Jones performance, but here are two possibilities: his role as Roop, the charming, mischievous janitor who courts Diahann Carroll in the fantastical 1974 romance Dear darling, and his dual role as a scientist and a feverish version of an African shaman in John Boorman’s wackadoodle Exorcist II: The Heretic, from 1977. Although people cheered for The heretic After its release, its cracked genius has since been reassessed. And Jones is astonishing. He appears in a dream sequence—or is it reality?—glaring from beneath an elaborate grasshopper headdress, a gold helmet adorned with quivering antennae and enormous, jewel-like, all-seeing eyes. In this bizarre headdress, he not only holds your attention, he traps you in his dream. You want to laugh, but you can’t. That is what a great character actor can do, and sometimes it’s everything.