James Earl JonesChristopher Hardin (born January 17, 1931) is a well-known African-American actor who was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi and raised in Dublin, Michigan by his maternal grandparents. He moved to Michigan around the age of 5, when he developed a stutter so severe he refused to speak aloud. He remained functionally mute for 8 years until he reached high school. He credits a high school teacher who discovered he had a gift for writing poetry with helping him out of his silence. The teacher believed forced public speaking would help him gain confidence and insisted he recite a poem in class each day. "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." Ironically, he is most famous for his deep authoritative voice. His first film role was in Dr. Strangelove in 1964. He has appeared in many roles since, but is probably best known as the sonorous voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars films, Mufasa in The Lion King, a Disney animated feature, and CNN tagline, "This is CNN." He has performed considerable amounts of other voice-over work. He has also periodically performed guest voices on television's The Simpsons. James portrayed General Solomon in the computer game Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun. He also starred in the television program Under One Roof as Neb Langston, a widowed police officer, a role for which he received an Emmy nomination. He appears in television and radio advertising for Verizon Wireless. He also read the opening tease for NBC's coverage of the 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Athens. He won Tony awards in 1959 in The Great White Hope and in 1987 in Fences. He received Kennedy Center Honors in 2002. This page about James Earl Jones includes information from a Wikipedia article. Additional articles about James Earl Jones News stories about James Earl Jones External links for James Earl Jones Videos for James Earl Jones Wikis about James Earl Jones Discussion Groups about James Earl Jones Blogs about James Earl Jones Images of James Earl Jones |
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He received Kennedy Center Honors in 2002. Martin is a member of Mensa International. He won Tony awards in 1959 in The Great White Hope and in 1987 in Fences. Martin's personal collection has at one time included the art of O'Keeffe, Twachtman, Diebenkorn, de Kooning, Kline, Twombly, Frankenthaler, Hopper, Hockney, Lichtenstein, and Picasso. He also read the opening tease for NBC's coverage of the 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Athens. Martin is also an avid art collector, particularly modern American art, and a trustee of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He appears in television and radio advertising for Verizon Wireless. In 2002, Martin adapted the Carl Sternheim play The Underpants, which ran Off-Broadway at Classic Stage Company. He also starred in the television program Under One Roof as Neb Langston, a widowed police officer, a role for which he received an Emmy nomination. In 2001, Martin hosted the 73rd Annual Academy Awards. James portrayed General Solomon in the computer game Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun. In 1993, Martin wrote the play Picasso at the Lapin Agile, which had a successful run in several American cities. He has also periodically performed guest voices on television's The Simpsons. He appeared in a version of Waiting for Godot as Vladimir (with Robin Williams as Estragon). He has appeared in many roles since, but is probably best known as the sonorous voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars films, Mufasa in The Lion King, a Disney animated feature, and CNN tagline, "This is CNN." He has performed considerable amounts of other voice-over work. They later appeared in the collection Pure Drivel. Strangelove in 1964. Throughout the 90s, after Tina Brown took over The New Yorker, Martin wrote various pieces for the magazine. His first film role was in Dr. In 1999, Martin and Goldie Hawn starred in a remake of the 1970 Neil Simon comedy, The Out-of-Towners. So my first year of school was my first mute year, and then those mute years continued until I got to high school." Ironically, he is most famous for his deep authoritative voice. Martin starred in the Ron Howard film, Parenthood in 1989. I couldn't talk. That same year, Roxanne, a film he cowrote, won him a Writers Guild of America award and more importantly, the recognition from Hollywood and the public that he was more than a comedian. "I was a stutterer. In 1987, Martin joined comedian John Candy in the John Hughes film, Planes, Trains and Automobiles. The teacher believed forced public speaking would help him gain confidence and insisted he recite a poem in class each day. It was originally entitled The Three Caballeros and Martin was to be teamed with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. He credits a high school teacher who discovered he had a gift for writing poetry with helping him out of his silence. In 1986, Martin joined fellow Saturday Night Live veterans Martin Short and Chevy Chase in Three Amigos!, which was directed by John Landis, and written by Martin, Lorne Michaels and Randy Newman. He remained functionally mute for 8 years until he reached high school. Martin was in two more Reiner-directed comedies after The Jerk: Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid in 1982, and The Man with Two Brains in 1983. He moved to Michigan around the age of 5, when he developed a stutter so severe he refused to speak aloud. The film was a financial failure; Martin's comment at the time was "I don't know what to blame, other than it's me and not a comedy.". Christopher Hardin (born January 17, 1931) is a well-known African-American actor who was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi and raised in Dublin, Michigan by his maternal grandparents. To prepare for that film, he took acting lessons from the director, Herbert Ross, and spent months learning how to tap dance. It emboldened him to try his hand at his first serious film, Pennies From Heaven, a movie he was anxious to do because of the desire to avoid being typecast. He was executive producer for a prime-time TV series starring Martin Mull and a late-night series called Twilight Theater. Stanley Kubrick met with him to discuss him starring in an early, screwball comedy version of Traumnovelle (Kubrick later changed his approach to the material). The success of The Jerk opened more doors for him. The movie was a huge success, grossing $100 million on a budget less than a twentieth of that amount. In 1979, Martin wrote and starred in his first full-length movie, The Jerk, directed by Carl Reiner. The film was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Short Film, Live Action. The seven-minute long film was written by and starred Martin. Martin's first film was a short, The Absent-Minded Waiter (1977). His real goal was to get into film. But
unknown to his audience, stand-up comedy was "just an accident" for him. By the end of the 1970s, he had acquired the kind of following normally reserved for
rock stars, with his tour appearances typically occurring at sold-out arenas filled with tens of thousands of screaming fans. His style is off kilter and ironic, and sometimes makes fun of stand-up comedy traditions. It mixes philosophical riffs with sudden spurts of "happy feet", deft banjo playing with balloon depictions of concepts like venereal disease. In these and his two other albums, Martin's stand-up comedy was self-referential, sometimes self-mocking. Both albums won Grammys for Best Comedy Recording in 1977 and 1978. Both were million sellers. A top 40 hit King Tut, from the album, released in 1978, was backed by the Toot Uncommons (better known as the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band). His next album, A Wild and Crazy Guy, was an even bigger success reaching the number two spot on the chart, and spawning another catch phrase, this time based on an SNL skit where Martin and Dan Aykroyd played a couple of bumbling Czechoslovakian playboys. The album was a huge success; one of its tracks, Excuse Me, helped establish a national catch phrase. That exposure, together with appearances on NBC's Saturday Night Live (SNL), led to his first of four comedy albums, Let's Get Small. In the mid-1970s he made frequent appearances as a stand-up comedian on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He continued to write, earning an Emmy nomination for his work on Van Dyke and Company in 1975. He appeared at San Francisco's The Boarding House among other locations. He then started performing his own material, sometimes as an opening act for groups such as the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Carpenters, and sometimes appearing on camera:. Martin also wrote for John Denver (a neighbor of his in Aspen, Colorado at one point) and The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour. Martin, along with the other writers for that show, won an Emmy Award in 1969. A girlfriend helped him get his first real job in 1967, as a comedy writer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, the show she was on as a dancer. Nevertheless, his time there changed his life:. Martin majored in philosophy at California State University, Long Beach, but dropped out. Martin worked at the Bird Cage Theater in Knott's Berry Farm and at the Magic Shop at Disneyland as a teenager, where he developed his talents for magic, juggling, playing the banjo and creating balloon animals. Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American comedian, writer, producer, actor, musician and composer born in Waco, Texas and raised in Orange County, California. Looney Tunes: Back In Action (2003). Cheaper by the Dozen (2003). Bringing Down the House (2003). Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch (2002, TV). Novocaine (2001). Fantasia 2000 (1999) host. Bowfinger (1999). The Out-of-Towners, (1999). The Prince of Egypt (1998, voice). The Spanish Prisoner (1997). Bilko (1996). Sgt. Father of the Bride Part II (1995). Mixed Nuts, (1994). A Simple Twist of Fate (1994), also written by Martin. Leap of Faith (1992). HouseSitter (1992). Grand Canyon (1991). Father of the Bride (1991). Story (1991), also written by Martin. L.A. My Blue Heaven (1990). Parenthood (1989). Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988). Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987). Roxanne, (1987), also written by Martin. Little Shop of Horrors (1986). ¡Three Amigos!, (1986), also co-written by Martin. All of Me (1984). The Lonely Guy (1984). The Man with Two Brains (1983) also co-written by Martin. Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982) also co-written by Martin. Pennies from Heaven (1981). The Jerk, (1979) also co-written by Martin. The Muppet Movie (1979). Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, (1978). Sgt. The Absent-Minded Waiter (1977) (short). The Steve Martin Brothers (1981). Comedy is Not Pretty! (1979). A Wild and Crazy Guy, (1978). Let's Get Small (1977). The Pleasure of My Company (2003). The Underpants: A Play (2002). Shopgirl (2001). Pure Drivel (1998). Story and Roxanne: Two Screenplays (1997). L.A. Picasso at the Lapin Agile and Other Plays: Picasso at the Lapin Agile, the Zig-Zag Woman, Patter for the Floating Lady, Wasp (1996). Cruel Shoes (1979). Johnny Cash and Friends in 1976. The Smothers Brothers Show in 1975, and. The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour from 1972 to 1973,. The Ken Berry Show in 1972,. Ray Stevens Show in 1970,. |