As children the world over know, he was tapped to voice Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy. The man behind the mask, Dave Prowse, had a strong West Country accent. It was good enough for the Green Cross Code man, but lacked the menace of an evil Jedi bent on intergalactic power.

At his own insistence, Jones was not credited for his performance. He felt it was all just a “special effect.” When the films broke box office records, he was persuaded to reconsider.

He was also known as a television performer, playing the older Alex Hailey on Roots: The Next Generation and winning one of his two EMMYs for the lead role in the American drama Gabriel’s Fire. His gravelly tones were used on The Simpsons and as the voice of Mufasa in The Lion King.

He also appeared in the first episodes of Sesame Street. To see if the show worked, the producers showed clips to schoolchildren. The clip that had the biggest impact by far was of James Earl Jones standing still and slowly counting from one to ten.

In 2011, he received an honorary Oscar for his contribution to the film industry. He received it on stage at a London theatre where he appeared with Vanessa Redgrave in the play Driving Miss Daisy.

Such was the authority in his voice, James Earl Jones became a regular voice in commercial voice-overs, documentaries and computer games. He was the voice of SeaWorld in Florida and NBC’s Olympic coverage. Someone even had the good sense to ask him to record all 27 books of the New Testament.

He was happy to lend his voice to business, but was more reserved about politics. His father had been blacklisted by McCarthy, and he steered clear of controversy.