Brendan Foley here, remembering James Earl Jones who recently passed away at the age of 93. Jones was an icon of film, television, and the stage. Whether you most associated his face with comedic roles like Coming to America or The Sandlot or whether you knew him from dramatic turns in Field of Dreams or The Hunt for Red October, James Earl Jones was a constant presence in American pop culture. But with due respect to Mr. Jones’s diverse and highly esteemed acting career, I don’t believe it to be any great stretch to argue that his greatest legacy, his most iconic element as an actor, was his incredible voice.
Deep and resonant, possessed of both limitless warmth and bone-chilling fury, James Earl Jones had a voice like no other.
A Legendary Career
If he had only ever voiced Darth Vader and leant extraordinary menace to that black-clad figure stalking out of a nightmare, just that would have been enough to secure his legendary stature.
If he had only ever voiced Mufasa and provided a young generation with their first exposure to grief, the loss of that kind and regal king serving as an instructor in the true loss that we’d all come to experience in our own lives, that would have been enough, as well.
That Mr. Jones portrayed both characters is a testament to the range of his voice, yes, but also to the depth and power that can come from any voice. Without ever appearing onscreen as either Vader or Mufasa, James Earl Jones imprinted himself onto both figures in an indelible way. So much so, that when new Star Wars entries brought back Vader, and when Disney remade The Lion King, they made no effort to replace him. The voice was as intrinsic to the characters as any part of their physical attributes.
And that’s without getting into how funny he could be, too.
Keeping the Legacy Alive
At Marketing Messages, we know a thing or two about voices. It is very literally our business.
And if there’s a lesson that we can take away from the career of James Earl Jones, it is just how powerful a voice can. James Earl Jones was not some vocal cameleon, able to shift and disguise his identity at will and assume all manner of different persona. He always sounded like, well, like James Earl Jones.
But with his intonation and with his delivery, Mr. Jones’s voice could stand in for both ultimate benevolent good and total destructive evil and everything in between.
While we would never suggest that anyone should attempt to replicate Mr. Jones’s voice, the man was one of one, we do encourage other voice actors to look at the scope of what he accomplished with only his voice.
Even with short projects like IVR prompts or a voicemail message, there are always opportunities for personality to shine through, for energy and delivery to convey more than just what is scripted. Anyone can look at a script and simply read what is written, but the voice actors that get requested again and again, that we feel most confident turning to when a new customer comes to us with a request, are those talents who treat the voice like an instrument: Capable of producing all manner of results if carefully applied.
Finding Your Voice
Remembering James Earl Jones understand there will never be another James Earl Jones. But perhaps voice artists can take the body of work that he left behind and use it as an example as to just how powerful a force a single voice can be.
To learn more about the various voices available via Marketing Messages, check out our library of audio samples for our various voice artists here.
And contact us today so we can discuss all your audio needs.