Legendary actor James Earl Jones, best known for his numerous film roles and the beautiful voice of the character Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise, has died, his spokesman confirmed to ABC News.

He was 93 years old.

Jones died Monday morning at his home in Dutchess County, New York, surrounded by family, according to Barry McPherson, an agent for him.

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The actor, whose powerful, deep voice brought the iconic villain Darth Vader to life, acted for more than six decades and has won three Tony Awards, including a lifetime achievement honor in 2017, two Emmys and a Grammy. He was recognized for lifetime achievement by the Academy Awards in 2011.

Jones was born in Mississippi in 1931 and struggled with a severe stutter as a child.

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“People would come to the house and people would be introduced and I couldn’t introduce myself,” he told PBS in 2014 about how bad the condition was at the time. Jones said he learned to stay quiet for long periods of time.

“I found it oh so good sometimes, because silence is not a bad thing. It’s good to listen. And I’ve learned to listen,” Jones told PBS.

The stutter led Jones to pursue acting after a high school teacher used poetry to help him speak more clearly. After college and then the Army, where he served in the Korean War, Jones had his eye on Broadway for his start in theater and the arts.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Jones was a fixture on Broadway. From “On Golden Pond” to “The Best Man,” his work earned him four Tony nominations, including “The Great White Hope” in 1969 and “Fences” in 1987.

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At almost the same time, he was also receiving praise on TV. The eventual two-time Emmy Award winner earned his first nomination in the 1960s for his work on “East Side/West Side.”

In 1991, he won both Primetime Emmys, for Outstanding Supporting Actor in the miniseries “Heat Wave” and Outstanding Actor for the series “Gabriel’s Fire.” He also won a Daytime Emmy for the children’s special “Summer’s End” in 2000.

Jones later received his first Oscar nomination when he brought “The Great White Hope” to the big screen in 1970, playing boxer Jack Jefferson. Jones was only the second black actor after Sidney Poitier — who was nominated in 1958 and 1963 — to be recognized by the academy with a nomination.

Throughout most of the 1970s, Jones continued to combine work on stage, television, and film. In 1977, he was cast as the voice of a new villain, Darth Vader, in the space series “Star Wars: A New Hope.”

While bodybuilder David Prowse would be the figure behind the Sith lord’s black mask, Jones was the voice who delivered so many iconic lines in the film and its sequels, including, “I find your lack of faith disturbing” and then, of course, Luke Skywalker’s big reveal in 1980’s “The Empire Strikes Back,” “No, I am your father.”

Jones was always modest about being the voice of such an iconic enemy.

“I’m just special effects,” he told the American Film Institute in 2009 about voicing a character physically played by someone else. “George (Lucas) wanted, pardon the expression, a darker voice, so he hired a guy who was born in Mississippi, grew up in Michigan, and stutters. That’s the voice, that’s me. I got lucky. Out of all these so-called disabilities, I got lucky to get a job that paid me $7,000, and I thought that was good money.”

In a 2004 documentary titled “Star Wars: Empire of Dreams,” Jones recounted the moment he first discovered that Vader, the film trilogy’s main villain, would reveal himself to be the long-lost father of Skywalker, the main hero.

“I said to myself, ‘He’s lying,'” Jones admitted. “I wonder how they’re going to play that lie.”

But it wasn’t a lie. From 1977 to 1983, the original three “Star Wars” films would become some of the most revered and original films of their time, not just for their special effects, but for their shocking plots and themes.

After “Star Wars,” Jones made memorable appearances in Eddie Murphy’s 1988 film “Coming to America” ​​and starred opposite Kevin Costner in 1989’s “Field of Dreams.” A few years later, he lent his voice to another famous character, starring in the Disney animated film “The Lion King” as Mufasa.

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According to IMDB, Jones has nearly 200 credits to his name, as he remained active for more than 60 years, including films like “The Sandlot,” shows like “House” and “The Simpsons,” and a return to a galaxy far, far away in 2004’s “Revenge of the Sith.” He has returned to voice Vader several more times in recent years, including the animated series “Rebels,” 2016’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker” and the 2022 Disney+ series “Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

He also reprised his role in the 2021 sequel to “Coming to America”, “Coming 2 America”.

In 2011, Jones received an honorary Oscar for the breadth of his acclaimed work.

It was while Jones was starring in the 2011 London play “Driving Miss Daisy” that he was surprised by co-star Vanessa Redgrave, who waited until the end of the show to let the audience know that year he was honoring him. The cast and the academy held a special onstage ceremony for Jones, with Sir Ben Kingsley coming out to present Jones with his Oscar.

“If an actor’s nightmare is to be naked on stage and not know his lines, what do you call this?” he said of the surprise honor. “How do I feel? Well, beyond stunned. … That’s the only word I can think of for this unlikely moment in my life.”

In March 2022, it was announced that the Cort Theatre on Broadway would be renamed the James Earl Jones Theatre.

Jones was married twice. His second wife, Cecilia Hart, died in 2016 after 34 years of marriage. The couple is survived by their son, Flynn Earl Jones.

Legendary actor James Earl Jones dies at 93 originally appeared on abcnews.go.com