James…You Are Our Daddy: A Look Back on James Earl Jones’ EGOT Legacy

It was just announced that The Shubert Organization, the largest operator of Broadway theaters (17 in total), will rename its historic Cort Theatre on 48th St. in the heart of Broadway, The James Earl Jones Theater. James will become the first African American actor in history for whom a Broadway theatre is named. All of America knows and loves James Earl Jones from his work in The Lion King, Coming to America, Field of Dreams, and countless others, but the theater lovers out there will also know him as an absolute darling of America’s gayest pastime, Broadway. Regardless of where you know him from, Jones has been a staple in the American zeitgeist for the better part of a hundred years. Here is a look back at the great roles of James Earl Jones, you may have missed, and how he got his famed EGOT status.

I was going to start with his Tonys because, duh: Broadway, but I decided I’d honor the democratic system of alphabetizing. Jones has won two Primetime Emmy Awards in his career: one for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries for the TV movie Heat Wave in 1990, and the other for Outstanding Actor in Drama Series the following year for Gabriel's Fire. It’s also worth noting that he won a Daytime Emmy in 2000 for Outstanding Performer in a Children’s Special for the TV movie Summer's End. We don’t deserve ya, Sir. Also, not for nothing, it's hard to order a hotdog brilliantly, but goddamnit James Earl Jones manages to do it. In fact he won an Emmy for it!

Jones won his Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album in 1977 for his reading of the Emancipation Proclamation in the series Great American Documents. One of the great things about a Grammy for Spoken Word, is it really is the truest command of language. With your eyes closed, in the darkest of rooms, and only the sound of Jones’ voice to ground you…you can be moved across centuries and you can be brought to the inner workings of your own soul from the words this man speaks. Brilliance like that is what makes this Universe beautiful.

In 2011, Jones won a honorary Oscar, A Lifetime Achievement Award for his decades-long career amazing audiences around the world on the silver screen. He was also nominated for Best Actor in 1970 for his role in The Great White Hope. He’s played some of the roles that absolutely defined millennial childhoods, mine included: Mufasa in The Lion King, the blind man in The Sandlot, Darth Vader in Star Wars, King Jaffe Joffer in Coming to America… the list goes on. But one of my favorite roles he’s ever played on screen was FAR from his most brilliant work, but I love it because it’s a good deep cut: Dr. Strangelove. This was Jones’ first role in a major film, where he played Lt. Lothar Zogg, and the very fact that he’s in this movie shows that even at a young age he had the chops that everyone could see.

No stranger to the ole boards, Jones has appeared in a whopping 21 Broadway shows. The Cort Theatre, which will soon be renamed in his honor, is where he made his Broadway debut in 1958 in Sunrise at Campobello. He has been nominated for 5 Tony Awards and has an incredible three wins, which, coincidentally, is the amount of Tonys I know in my life. So, in a way, I accept this honor for both of us. (Oof we’re only 3 days out of Black History Month and my white ass has already tried to take a Black man’s award *facepalm*).

Jones’ first Tony Award was in 1969 for his incredible role of boxer Jack Jefferson in The Great White Hope. He wowed audiences and critics alike with his command of Jefferson’s struggle, as well as incredible athleticism. Someone once said, “the actor is the athlete who speaks” and Jones’ command of the stage in this show was the perfect example of this. Here he is looking hot as fuck in his incredible performance at The Tony Awards in 1969.

Jones’ second Tony Award was for the famed August Wilson play Fences, where he originated the role of Troy Maxson. Many may have seen the newer adaptation of Fences with the amazing Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, but the original was James Earl Jones. For years in acting school, one consistent video that would keep popping up as a model of excellence in command of character was this one by Jones in Fences.

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