James Earl Jones' most memorable roles: “Field of Dreams”, “The Lion King, Star Wars, ”more

A look back at Darth Vader, Mufasa, King Jaffe Joffer, Admiral James Greer, and more iconic characters portrayed by the legendary actor, who has died at 93.

Screen legend and one of the most recognizable voices in cinema, James Earl Jones, died on Monday at 93. He leaves behind an esteemed film canon that will live on for decades to come in films like Field of Dreams, Coming to America, a Tom Clancy trilogy, and, of course, his iconic voice work as the villainous Darth Vader in numerous Star Wars projects and the beloved Mufasa in Disney's Lion King and its sequels.

During his career, Jones earned three Emmys, three Tonys, a Grammy, and an honorary Oscar in 2011 for lifetime achievement. Read on below as we celebrate Jones' onscreen legacy.

Related: Star Wars icon Mark Hamill mourns Darth Vader actor James Earl Jones: 'RIP dad'

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Not a shabby way to start a film career: Jones' very first film role was in the Stanley Kubrick classic Dr. Strangelove: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, as as Lt. Lothar Zogg, a member of the B-52 bomber crew. The director cast the young actor after spotting him in a play while scouting another star. "George C. Scott was playing Shylock in Shakespeare in the Park when Kubrick came to look him over," Jones recalled in a 2014 New York Times interview. "I was also in the play, as the Prince of Morocco, and Kubrick said, 'I’ll take the Black one, too.' That’s not what he actually said, but that’s the way I like to put it." —Jillian Sederholm

The Great White Hope (1970)

Howard Sackler, who wrote Kubrick’s first film, Fear and Desire, debuted his controversial The Great White Hope on Broadway in 1968, where it launched up-and-comer Jones to fame. Jones won a Tony for his performance as the pugnacious, irrepressible boxer Jack Johnson (play name Jack Jefferson), and the play won a Pulitzer Prize. The Great White Hope was adapted to the screen in 1970 by the great Martin Ritt, and Jones, who had become synonymous with the play’s success, was called to reprise his role. It marked the beginning of an unparalleled Hollywood career, coronating Jones with first nomination for an Academy Award. It was the second-ever for a Black actor (following Sidney Poitier for The Defiant Ones), but sadly would be Jones' last. —Ryan Coleman

Voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars franchise

Few actors can say that their voice alone made for one of the most recognizable and iconic villains ever put to screen, but with Jones' voiceover role as Darth Vader, that’s precisely what happened — though the actor famously didn’t initially see it that way. Jones himself requested that his name be left out of the credits for Star Wars films, A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, because as he said in an interview with Newsday in 2008, he felt he was "just special effects." By the third film, Return of the Jedi, however, Jones admitted, "it became so identified that by the third one, I thought, okay I'll let them put my name on it." His voiceover work as the famous masked Sith Lord was in fact so beloved and iconic that he reprised the role several times, in the animated TV series Star Wars Rebels and the live-action films Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. In 2022, the veteran star revealed that he’d signed a deal with Lucasfilm authorizing future voice roles for Vader to be created with Respeecher using archival audio of the star. Even in death, it seems Jones' work as Vader will live on. —Lauren Huff

Field of Dreams (1989)

In the hit Kevin Costner baseball movie, Field of Dreams, Jones portrayed author Terence Mann, an activist whose books have been banned, who teams up with Costner’s Ray Kinsella to build a field with much more meaning than a game. It’s Jones who gives the speech that begins, "Ray, people will come, Ray," in that booming voice, "They’ll come to Iowa for reasons they can’t even fathom." Costner said of Jones after news of his costar's death: "If you’ve seen it, you know that this movie wouldn’t be the same with anyone else in his role. Only he could bring that kind of magic to a movie about baseball and a corn field in Iowa. I’m grateful to have been a witness to him making that magic happen. —Lauren Huff

Related: Kevin Costner honors late Field of Dreams costar James Earl Jones: 'Only he could bring that kind of magic'

Coming to America (1988) and Coming 2 America (2021)

Before he voiced a beloved lion king, Jones played a monarch of another fictional African kingdom: King Jaffe Joffer (whose costume, ironically, included a full lion pelt), ruler of Zamunda, in 1988's Coming to America. The stern ruler must travel to New York to find his wayward eldest son, Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy), who fled home to pursue true love instead of a traditional arranged marriage. Jones returned for another round of regal flair in 2021 sequel, Coming 2 America, which takes place 30 years later as the King is on his deathbed and the family learns that Akeem has sired a long-lost American son (Jermaine Fowler). —Jillian Sederholm

The Hunt for Red October (1990), Patriot Games (1992), and Clear and Present Danger (1994)

The throughline in the Jack Ryan film franchise, Deputy Director of the CIA and Admiral James Greer, doesn't just mentor Ryan in the hands of Jones. He's a smooth blend of dignity and mischievousness, with a touch of teasing, and a boss we would all learn a thing or two from. Though the leading role changed actors, from Alec Baldwin to Harrison Ford, Jones grounded the franchise and never wavered in being the warm character. —Yolanda Machado

The Sandlot (1993)

Playing Mr. Mertle in The Sandlot, a neighbor the local kids exaggerated and feared, but later learned is just a big ol' softie with an ache for his baseball playing past, was perhaps a perfect match for Jones' larger than life presence. Though the role was one of the smaller ones of his career, his delicate but firm performance, made you believe every word when Mertle says "Baseball was life, and I was good at it, real good." Jones reprised the role in 2005's lesser-seen sequel, The Sandlot 2. —Yolanda Machado

Voice of Mufasa The Lion King franchise

Not a single viewer was emotionally unaffected by the death of Mufasa, the all-powerful and benevolent leader of the Pride Lands, in 1994’s The Lion King. Only Jones could have elicited such an effect in one of his most beloved roles. His commanding and distinctive vocals captured not just the regality but warmth required for the role of a dearly-departed father whose spirit continues to live on through his son, Simba. Jones was the only original cast member to reprise his role in Jon Favreau's 2019 blockbuster remake — a reprisal that the filmmaker will remember for the rest of his days. "He could have just as easily said no. His voice could have sounded different. There’s a lot of ways this could not have worked out. That all of the stars aligned and there I was listening to him record… I felt something very powerful happening," Favreau previously told Entertainment Weekly of working with the screen legend. "It felt like a very significant milestone when we recorded him." The sun may have set on Jones’ time here, but his turn as Mufasa lives on forever. —Jessica Wang

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.