Hello! What are some of your favorite Pro-Palestine, Anti Zionist fc's you'd like to see used more? I want to make an OC and have zero ideas but I want to try to only use FC's that, like, aren't heartless pieces of shit, ya know?
Cherien Dabis (1976) Palestinian / Jordanian.
Michael Malarkey (1983) Palestinian, Italian-Maltese / Irish, German.
May Calamawy (1986) Jordanian, Palestinian / Egyptian.
Dina Shihabi (1989) Palestinian, Saudi Arabian / Norwegian, German and Haitian.
Nemahsis / Nemah Hasan (1994) Palestinian.
Angel Guardian (1998) Palestinian and Filipino.
Noor Taher (1999) Palestinian and Lebanese.
Saint Levant (2000) Palestinian, Serbian / Algerian, French.
Josie Totah (2001) Palestinian / Lebanese, Italian, Irish, German - is a trans woman.
+ an entire masterlist of Palestinian fcs!
Also, since lots of people are asking here's a masterlist but PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE POSTED AND/OR SPOKEN ABOUT PALESTINE!
Why I'm not adding people who have only asked for a ceasefire.
HERE is @leepacey's list.
I also have a private list you're welcome to DM me for, both also have people who support Isr*el for people to avoid.
Vanessa Redgrave (1937)
Miriam Margolyes (1941) Jewish.
Charles Dance (1946)
Patti Smith (1946)
Duke Erikson / Garbage (1951)
Annie Lennox (1954)
Butch Vig / Garbage (1955)
Juliet Stevenson (1956)
Peter Capaldi (1958) - donated an auction to Cinema4Gaza.
Steve Marker / Garbage (1959)
Hugo Weaving (1960)
Michael Stipe (1960)
Liam Cunningham (1961)
Sabrina Ferilli (1964)
Paco Tous (1964)
Robert Del Naja / Massive Attack (1965)
Björk (1965)
John Cusack (1966)
Shirley Manson / Garbage (1966)
Aasif Mandvi (1966) Indian.
Serj Tankian (1967) Armenian.
Tricky / Massive Attack (1968) Afro Jamaican / Anglo-Guyanese.
Kathleen Hanna (1968)
Benedict Wong (1971) Hongkonger.
Boots Riley (1971) African-American, one quarter Ashkenazi Jewish (maternal grandmother), small amounts of German, English, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, Scottish, Wampanoag.
Ava DuVernay (1972) Louisiana Creole.
Gabrielle Union (1972) African-American.
Poorna Jagannathan (1972) Indian.
Haifa Wehbe (1972) Egyptian / Lebanese.
Kimya Dawson (1972) African-American.
Ava DuVernay (1972) African-American.
Cat Power (1972)
Sarah Sophie Flicker (1973) Jewish.
Omar Metwally (1974) Egyptian / Dutch.
Maxine Peake (1974)
Itziar Ituño (1974)
Nelly Karim (1974) Egyptian / Russian.
Mahershala Ali (1974) African-American.
Sara Ramírez (1975) Mexican and some Irish - non-binary, queer and bisexual (they/them).
Carice van Houten (1976)
Karen Olivo (1976) Puerto Rican [Spanish, Indigenous, possibly other] / Dominican Republic, Chinese - is non-binary (they/them).
Haaz Sleiman (1976) Lebanese - is gay.
Antonio De Matteo (1978)
Joelle Mardinian (1977) Lebanese.
Alberto Ammann (1978) Argentinan.
Daniel Brühl (1978)
Max Collins / Eve 6 (1978)
Kayvan Novak (1978) Iranian.
Residente / René Pérez Joglar (1978) Puerto Rican.
Immortal Technique (1978) Amerindian, Spanish, French and African.
Hend Sabry (1979) Egyptian.
Luis Bordonada (1979) Mexican.
Kate Box (1979) - is gay.
Ser Anzoategui (1979) Argentinian and Paraguayan - is non-binary (they/them).
Dorra Zarrouk (1980) Tunisian.
Amerie (1980) African-American / Korean.
Angelica Ross (1980) African-American - is trans.
Dargen D'Amico (1980)
Gustaf Skarsgård (1980)
Madeleine Sami (1980) Fijian-Indian / White - is a lesbian.
Khalid Abdalla (1980) Egyptian.
Arian Moayed (1980) Iranian.
Massari (1980) Lebanese.
Tahar Rahim (1981) Algerian.
Kaan Urgancıoğlu (1981) Turkish.
Shawna Farmer / chubbycartwheels (1981)
Beth Ditto (1981) - is queer.
Morgan Spector (1981) Ashkenazi Jewish / Irish, German, some Scottish and English.
Jesse Williams (1981) African-American, Seminole / Swedish.
Amanda Seales (1981) African-American / Grenadian [African, at least one quarter European].
Riz Ahmed (1982) Pakistani.
Arthur Darvill (1982) - donated an auction to Cinema4Gaza.
Emel Mathlouthi (1982) Tunisian.
Rajshri Deshpande (1982) Indian.
Niamh McGrady (1982)
Yolanda Bonnell (1982) Ojibwe, White / Indian - is two-spirit and queer (she/they) - is open about having OCD and ADHD!
Macklemore (1983)
Luna Maya (1983) Indonesian.
Amir Eid (1983) Egyptian.
Aisling Bea (1984)
Mohamed Emam (1984) Egyptian.
Mahira Khan (1984) Pakistani.
Alex Meraz (1984) Mexican [Purepecha].
Sami Zayn (1984) Syrian.
Jena Malone (1984)
Zawe Ashton (1984) Ugandan / White - donated an auction to Cinema4Gaza.
Siobhan Thompson (1984)
Ravyn Ariah Wngz (1984) Mohawk, Tanzanian, Afro-Bermudian - is a Two-Spirit trans woman (she/her).
Kristin Chirico (1984) - is questioning their gender, “encompassing a lot of things” but is not yet sure if she’s nonbinary or a gender non-confirming woman and uses they/her - openly bisexual and demisexual and have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, ADHD, dyslexia, and asthma.
Tamanna Roashan (1984) Indian / Afghani.
Asia Kate Dillon (1984) Ashkenazi Jewish / Unspecified - non-binary and pansexual (they/them).
Burak Özçivit (1984) Turkish.
Enjy Kiwan (1984) Egyptian.
Kid Cudi (1984) African-American.
Sepideh Moafi (1985) Iranian.
Lilan Bowden (1985) Taiwanese / English, Welsh.
Alex Meraz (1985) Mexican [Purépecha].
Aabria Iyengar (1985) African-American.
Rahul Kohli (1985) Punjabi Indian.
Marina Diamandis (1985)
Troian Bellisario (1985) American, Louisiana Creole [African, French, English] / White.
Sonam Kapoor (1985) Indian.
Carmen V. Ortega Baljian (1985)
Carsie Blanton (1985) Jewish.
Haley Webb (1985)
Yani Gellman (1985) Ashkenazi Jewish, possibly other.
Giulia Michelini (1985)
Lewis Hamilton (1985) Afro Grenadian / White.
Eréndira Ibarra (1985) Mexican - is bisexual.
Karim Kassem (1986) Egyptian / Egyptian Jewish.
Mihaela Drăgan (1986) Romani - is queer.
Asim Chaudhry (1986) Pakistani.
Jenna Coleman (1986) - donated an auction to Cinema4Gaza.
Diane Guerrero (1986) Colombian.
Whitney Greyton (1986) Black South African / Namibian - is queer (she/they).
Fahriye Evcen (1986) Turkish.
Amber Riley (1986) African-American.
Ericka Hart (1986) African-American - is non-binary femme, queer, and polyamorous (she/they).
Lido Pimienta (1986) Colombian [Wayuu, Afro-Colombian] - is queer.
Mihaela Dragan (1986) Romani.
DJ Snake (1986) Algerian / French.
Alba Flores (1986) Romani, Spanish [including Andalusian] - is a lesbian.
Saagar Shaikh (1986) Pakistani.
Mustafa Ali (1986) Pakistani.
Lily Gladstone (1986) Kainai Blackfoot, Amskapi Pikuni Blackfoot, Nez Perce, Dutch, Cajun - she/they.
Pidgeon Pagonis (1986) Mexican and Greek - is intersex and non-binary (they/them).
Guz Khan (1986) Pakistani.
Eugene Lee Yang (1986) Korean - is gay.
Bob the Drag Queen (1986) African-American - is polyamorous, pansexual and non-binary (he/her).
Asim Chaudhry (1986/87) Pakistani.
Marwa Agrebi (1987) Tunisian.
Mercury Stardust (1987) - is non-binary trans femme (she/they).
Sasha Velour (1987) Russian Jewish / Ukrainian, other - is genderfluid (she/they when not in drag, she while in drag).
Susan Wokoma (1987) Nigerian.
Munroe Bergdorf (1987) Afro Jamaican / English - is trans.
Michael B. Jordan (1987) African-American.
Juliana Huxtable (1987) African-American - is trans.
Nicola Coughlan (1987)
Anjana Vasan (1987) Tamil Indian.
Pearl Mackie (1987) West Indian / English - is bisexual.
Erika Ishii (1987) Japanese - is genderfluid (she/they/any) - also posted on Brennan’s post: “Thank you for always being thoughtful with your advocacy and direct in your action. From the river to the sea.”
Michaela Coel (1987) Ghanaian - is aromantic, boycotted the Sydney Festival 2022 for Palestine.
Carina Shero (1988)
Joe Cole (1988)
Elsa Hosk (1988)
Kendrick Sampson (1988) African-American / English, Scottish, German, Cajun/French, Danish, Norwegian.
Kelly Piquet (1988) Brazilian.
Navild Acosta (1988) African-American - is non-binary queer (he/him).
Brennan Lee Mulligan (1988)
Swara Bhasker (1988) Indian.
Aiysha Hart (1988) Saudi Arabian and English.
John Early (1988) - is gay.
Sabrina Dhowre Elba (1988) Somali.
Joel Kim Booster (1988) Korean - is gay and has bipolar disorder.
Gratiela Brancusi (1989) Romani and Greek Romanian.
Frank Waln (1989) Sicangu Oyate Lakota Sioux.
Rakeen Saad (1989) Jordadian.
Morfydd Clark (1989)
Mary Lambert (1989) - is a lesbian.
Meyne Wyatt (1989) Wongutha and Yamatji.
Dina Torkia (1989) Egyptian / English.
Kiell Smith-Bynoe (1989) Afro Barbadian and Afro Jamaican - donated an auction to Cinema4Gaza.
Laith Ashley (1989) Afro Dominican - is a trans man and asexual.
Shea Couleé / Jaren Kyei Merrell (1989) African-American - non-binary (they but she/her while in drag).
Emma Watson (1990)
Mitski (1990) Japanese / White.
Arrows Fitz (1990) African-American - is non-binary (he/they/she/it).
Shirine Boutella (1990) Algerian.
Luke Baines (1990)
Julia Jacklin (1990)
Josh O’Connor (1990) - donated an auction to Cinema4Gaza.
Paapa Essiedu (1990) Ghanaian - and donated an auction to Cinema4Gaza.
Lolly Adefope (1990) Yoruba Nigerian.
Tabria Majors (1990) African-American.
Rosaline Elbay (1990) Egyptian.
Katie Findlay (1990) English, Hongkonger, Portuguese-Macanese, Scottish - is queer (they/them).
Poppy Liu (1990) Chinese - is non-binary (she/they).
Shareena Clanton (1990) Blackfoot, Cherokee, African-American, Wangkatha, Yamatji, Noongar, Gija.
Maren Morris (1990)
Kiowa Gordon (1990) Hualapai, White.
Leigh-Anne Pinnock (1991) Afro Barbadian and Jamaican.
Joe Alwyn (1991)
Emily Ratajkowski (1991)
Jari Jones (1991) African-American / Filipino - is trans.
Vico Ortiz (1991) Puerto Rican - non-binary (they/them).
Denée Benton (1991) African-American.
Dylan O'Brien (1991)
Bonnie Wright (1991)
Ramy Youssef (1991) Egyptian.
Sarah Kameela Impey (1991) Indo-Guyanese / British.
Ali Burak Ceylan (1991) Turkish.
Seychelle Gabriel (1991) French, Mexican / Italian, including Sicilian - also has Spoken up for Sudan.
Alexa Nikolas (1992)
Emma D’Arcy (1992) - is non-binary (they/them).
Jarvis Johnson (1992) Unspecified.
Tasha Cloud (1992) African-American - is a lesbian.
Jess Bush (1992)
Rosa Robson (1992) - donated an auction to Cinema4Gaza.
Jade Thirlwall (1992) English, three eights Arab [Egyptian, Yemeni], small amount of Scottish.
Faia Younan (1992) Syrian.
Merhan Keller (1992) Egyptian.
Julien Solomita (1992)
Pauline Chalamet (1992) Ashkenazi Jewish / English, Scottish, Irish, French.
Hari Nef (1992) Ashkenazi Jewish - is a trans woman.
Paloma Elsesser (1992) African-American / Chilean-Swiss.
Katie Gavin / MUNA (1992) - is queer.
Rupi Kaur (1992) Punjabi Indian.
Joana Ribeiro (1992)
Medalion Rahimi (1992) Iranian, Iranian Jewish - uses she/they.
Conor Mason / Nothing But Thieves (1992)
Rose Matafeo (1992) Samoan / Scottish and Croatian.
Zaqi Ismail (1992) Tanzanian.
Cailin Russo (1993)
Tara Emad (1993) Egyptian / Yugoslav Montenegrin.
Younes Bendjima (1993) Algerian.
Bobbi Salvör Menuez (1993) - is trans non-binary (they/them).
Stormzy (1993) Ghanaian.
Chance the Rapper (1993) African-American.
Raveena Aurora (1993) Punjabi Indian.
Naomi McPherson / MUNA (1993) West Indian and Irish - is queer and nonbinary (they/them).
Freddy Carter (1993)
Ghali (1993) Tunisian.
Jordan Alexander (1993) German, Irish, African-American.
Charlotte Day Wilson (1993)
Mia Khalifa (1993) Lebanese.
Maria Thattil (1993) Indian.
AJ Tracey (1994) Afro-Trinidadian / Welsh.
Ben Barlow (1994)
Asia Jackson (1994) Ibaloi Filipino and African American.
Isabella Roland (1994) Jewish.
Josette Maskin / MUNA (1994) Jewish - is queer and nonbinary (she/they).
Aimee Lou Wood (1994)
Rose Williams (1994)
Joseph Quinn (1994) - donated an auction to Cinema4Gaza.
Jasmin Savoy Brown (1994) African-American / English, German, one quarter Norwegian, some Scots-Irish/Northern Irish - is queer.
Theo Tiedemann (1994) Asian - is trans non-binary and gay (he/they).
Little Simz (1994) Yoruba Nigerian.
Huda Elmufti (1994) Egyptian.
Dylan Gelula (1994) Ashkenazi Jewish / Unspecified.
Arsema Thomas (1994) Nigerian / Ethiopian - is non-binary (she/they).
Earl Sweatshirt (1994) Black South African.
Kurtis Conner (1994)
Julien Baker (1995) - is a lesbian.
Kehlani (1995) African-American, French, Blackfoot, Cherokee, Spanish, Mexican, Filipino, Scottish, English, German, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, Welsh, Cornish, Irish, Choctaw - non-binary womxn, lesbian and polyamorous - she/they.
Achraf Koutet (1995) Moroccan.
Lucy Dacus (1995) - is queer.
Jack Wolfe (1995) - is queer - donated an auction to Cinema4Gaza.
Daniel Caesar (1995) Afro Barbadian and Jamaican.
Archie Madekwe (1995) Igbo Nigerian (one quarter), White.
Jazzelle / Jazzeppi Zanaughtti (1995) Afircan-American.
Elvina Mohamad (1995) Malaysian.
Stanzi Potenza (1995) - is non-binary (she/they) - has epilepsy and ADHD.
Willow Pill (1995) - is trans femme, has cystinosis and is autistic.
Bree Kish (1996) ¼ Black.
Alessia Cara (1996)
CMAT / Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson (1996) - is bisexual.
Josefine Frida Pettersen (1996)
María Isabel (1996) Dominican.
Mustafa the Poet (1996) Sudanese.
Lorde (1996)
Florence Pugh (1996)
Lowkey (1986) Iraqi / English.
Denzel Curry (1995) Afro Bahamian and Unspecified Native American.
Brandon Soo Hoo (1995) Chinese.
Lily Gao (1995) Chinese.
Halema Hussain (1995) - Sylheti.
Jessie Mei Li (1995) Hongkonger / English - is a gender non-conforming woman who uses she/they.
Grace Van Dien (1996)
Diana Veras (1996) Dominican.
Abdelhamid Sabiri (1996) Moroccan.
Lauren Jauregui (1996) Cuban [Spanish, possibly other], likely some Basque - is bisexual.
Ally Beardsley (1996) - is non-binary (they/them).
Thea Sofie Loch Naess (1996)
AURORA (1996)
Leo Sheng (1996) Chinese - is a trans man.
Imaan Hammam (1996) Moroccan / Egyptian.
Tavi Gevinson (1996) Ashkenazi Jewish / Norwegian [converted to Judaism].
Quintessa Swindell (1997) African-American / White - is non-binary (they/he).
070 Shake (1997) Dominican - doesn't like to put labels on her sexuality.
Zara Larsson (1997)
Faye Webster (1997)
Alison Oliver (1997) - donated an auction to Cinema4Gaza.
Juliette Motamed (1997) Iranian.
Madeline Ford (1997)
Asa Butterfield (1997)
Scene Queen (1997)
Micheal Ward (1997) Afro Jamaican.
Xiran Jay Zhao (1997) Hui Chinese - is non-binary (they/them).
Lori Harvey (1997) African-American.
Mayan El Sayed (1997) Egyptian.
Hania Aamir (1997) Pakistani.
Sisi Stringer (1997) African Australian.
Omar Apollo (1997) Mexican - is gay.
Kaiit (1997) Papuan / Gunditjmara, Torres Strait Islander - is non-binary (she/he/they).
Piper Curda (1997) Korean / English, Scottish - is apsec.
Iman Meskini (1997) Tunisian / Norweigan - is pro Palestine!
Clara Nieblas (1997) Mexican.
Janella Salvador (1998) Bisaya Filipino.
Ethel Cain (1998) - is a trans bisexual woman.
Joanna Pincerato (1998) Mexican, Syrian. Swedish and Italian.
Joanna Arida (1998) Jordadian.
Chella Man (1998) Hongkonger and Jewish - is deaf, trans genderqueer and pansexual (he/they).
Benedetta Porcaroli (1998)
Em / Not Even Emily / Still Not Emily (1998) Taiwanese / Chinese.
Luna Carmoon (1998)
Gretta Ray (1998)
Clairo (1998) - is bisexual and has juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
SANTAN / Dave (1998) Edo Nigerian.
Salsabiela A. (1998) Unspecified.
Ariela Barer (1998) Mexican, Ashkenazi Jewish.
Celeste O'Connor (1998) Kenyan - is non-binary (they/them).
Wegz (1998) Egyptian.
Jessica Alexander (1999)
Rafaela Plastira (1999)
Minami Gessel (1999) Japanese / Ashkenazi Jewish.
Kenna Sharp (1999) - is queer.
Samara Joy (1999) African-American.
Sab Zada (1999) Chinese, Filipino, and Hispanic.
Zoe Terakes (2000) Greek Australian - trans masc non-binary guy (they/he).
Anthony Lexa (2000) - is a trans woman.
Marissa Bode (2000) African-American - is disabled.
Odessa A'zion (2000) Ashkenazi Jewish, English, some Irish, Northern Irish, Welsh, German.
Reneé Rapp (2000) - is a lesbian.
Celia Rose Gooding (2000) African-American - bisexual and gray asexual, uses she/they - also saw somewhere they don't like being called a woman.
Lucas Jade Zumann (2000) Ashkenazi Jewish / possibly German.
Cat Burns (2000) Liberian - is queer, autistic and has ADHD.
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (2001) Tamil.
Andria Tayeh (2001) Jordanian and Lebanese.
Freya Allan (2001)
Ari Notartomaso (2001) - is non-binary (they/he).
Rachel Zegler (2001) Colombian / White.
Maria Guardiola (2001)
Hope Ikpoku Jnr (2001) Black British.
Morgan Davies (2001) - is a trans man.
Corey Maison (2001) - is a trans woman.
Ahmet Haktan Zavlak (2001) Turkish.
Kei Kurosawa (2001) Bisaya Filipino and Japanese.
Rhea Norwood (2001) - has type 1 diabetes.
Aaron Rose Philip (2001) Afro-Antiguan - is a trans woman who has cerebral palsy.
Denise Julia (2002) Filipino.
Nessa Barrett (2002) Puerto Rican.
Yara Mustafa (2002) Jordanian.
Iris Apatow / Iris Scot (2002) Ashkenazi Jewish / Irish, Scottish, Finnish, German.
Kosar Ali (2003) Somali.
Paris Paloma (?)
Madeleine Hyland (?)
Bobby Sanchez (?) Peruvian [Quechua] - is Two-Spirit and trans, uses she/her sometimes they/they).
Nick Hakim (?) Chilean / Peruvian.
Micaela López Bianchi (?) Argentinian.
Jas Lin (?) Taiwanese - is queer (they/them).
Georgia Maq (?)
Eddy Mack (?) Jordanian.
Ellie Kim / SuperKnova (?) Korean - genderfluid, transgender woman (she/her).
Alexia Roditis / Destory Boys (?) - uses they/them.
Violet Mayugba / Destory Boys (?)
Narsai Malik / Destory Boys (?)
David Orozco / Destory Boys (?)
Neil Turner / Los Campesinos! (?)
Tom Bromley / Los Campesinos! (?)
Kim Paisey / Los Campesinos! (?)
Rob Taylor / Los Campesinos! (?)
Jason Adelinia/ Los Campesinos! (?)
Matt Fidler / Los Campesinos! (?)
Raul Briones (?) Mexican.
Britton Smith (?) Black.
Farrah / farrahescapes (?) Emirati.
CJ / Cup of Jo / cupofjoemusic_ (early 20's) Pangasinense Filipino.
Gian / Cup of Jo / cupofjoemusic_ (early 20's) Pangasinense Filipino.
Rapha / Cup of Jo / cupofjoemusic_ (early 20's) Pangasinense Filipino.
Gab / Cup of Jo / cupofjoemusic_ (early 20's) Pangasinense Filipino.
Sevii / Cup of Jo / cupofjoemusic_ (early 20's) Ilocano Filipino.
Xen / Cup of Jo / cupofjoemusic_ (early 20's) Ilocano Filipino.
Grey Gritt (?) Ojibwe and Metis - is genderqueer (they/them).
Elaine Crombie (?) Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara, Warrigmay, South Sea Islander, and White.
Nori Reed (?) Korean / Unspecified - is non-binary (she/her).
Shahd Khidir (?) Sudanese.
Arewà Basit (?) Black - uses she/they.
Majid Al Maskati / Majid Jordan (?) Bahraii.
Jordan Ullman / Majid Jordan (?)
+ please let me know if you want more!
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James Earl Jones
American actor hailed for his many classical roles whose voice became known to millions as that of Darth Vader in Star Wars
During the run of the 2011 revival of Alfred Uhry’s Driving Miss Daisy in London, with Vanessa Redgrave, the actor James Earl Jones, who has died aged 93, was presented with an honorary Oscar by Ben Kingsley, with a link from the Wyndham’s theatre to the awards ceremony in Hollywood.
Glenn Close in Los Angeles said that Jones represented the “essence of truly great acting” and Kingsley spoke of his imposing physical presence, his 1,000-kilowatt smile, his basso profundo voice and his great stillness. Jones’s voice was known to millions as that of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars film trilogy and Mufasa in the 1994 Disney animation The Lion King, as well as being the signature sound of US TV news (“This is CNN”) for many years.
His status as the leading black actor of his generation was established with the Tony award he won in 1969 for his performance as the boxer Jack Jefferson (a fictional version of Jack Johnson) in Howard Sackler’s The Great White Hope on Broadway, a role he repeated in Martin Ritt’s 1970 film, and which earned him an Oscar nomination.
On screen, Jones – as the fictional Douglass Dilman – played the first African-American president, in Joseph Sargent’s 1972 movie The Man, based on an Irving Wallace novel. His stage career was notable for encompassing great roles in the classical repertoire, such as King Lear, Othello, Hickey in Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh and Big Daddy in Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
He was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi, the son of Robert Earl Jones, a minor actor, boxer, butler and chauffeur, and his wife Ruth (nee Connolly), a teacher, and was proud of claiming African and Irish ancestry. His father left home soon after he was born, and he was raised on a farm in Jackson, Michigan, by his maternal grandparents, John and Maggie Connolly. He spoke with a stutter, a problem he dealt with at Brown’s school in Brethren, Michigan, by reading poetry aloud.
On graduating from the University of Michigan, he served as a US Army Ranger in the Korean war. He began working as an actor and stage manager at the Ramsdell theatre in Manistee, Michigan, where he played his first Othello in 1955, an indication perhaps of his early power and presence.
The family had moved from the deep south to Michigan to find work, and now Jones went to New York to join his father in the theatre and to study at the American Theatre Wing with Lee Strasberg. He made his Broadway debut at the Cort theatre in 1958 in Dory Schary’s Sunrise at Campobello, a play about Franklin D Roosevelt.
He was soon a cornerstone of Joseph Papp’s New York Shakespeare festival in Central Park, playing Caliban in The Tempest, Macduff in Macbeth and another Othello in the 1964 season. He also established a foothold in films, as Lt Lothar Zogg in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove (1963), a cold war satire in which Peter Sellers shone with brilliance in three separate roles.
The Great White Hope came to the Alvin theatre in New York from the Arena Stage in Washington, where Jones first unleashed his shattering, shaven-headed performance – he was described as chuckling like thunder, beating his chest and rolling his eyes – in a production by Edwin Sherin that exposed racism in the fight game at the very time of Muhammad Ali’s suspension from the ring on the grounds of his refusal to sign up for military service in the Vietnam war.
Lorraine Hansberry’s Les Blancs (1970) was a response to Jean Genet’s The Blacks, in which Jones, who remained much more of an off-Broadway fixture than a Broadway star in this period, despite his eminence, played a westernised urban African man returning to his village for his father’s funeral. With Papp’s Public theatre, he featured in an all-black version of The Cherry Orchard in 1972, following with John Steinbeck’s Lennie in Of Mice and Men on Broadway and returning to Central Park as a stately King Lear in 1974.
When he played Paul Robeson on Broadway in the 1977-78 season, there was a kerfuffle over alleged misrepresentations in Robeson’s life, but Jones was supported in a letter to the newspapers signed by Edward Albee, Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Miller, Lillian Hellman and Richard Rodgers. He played his final Othello on Broadway in 1982, partnered by Christopher Plummer as Iago, and appeared in the same year in Master Harold and the Boys by Athol Fugard, a white South African playwright he often championed in New York.
In August Wilson’s Fences (1987), part of that writer’s cycle of the century “black experience” plays, he was described as an erupting volcano as a Pittsburgh garbage collector who had lost his dreams of a football career and was too old to play once the major leagues admitted black players. His character, Troy Maxson, is a classic of the modern repertoire, confined in a world of 1950s racism, and has since been played by Denzel Washington and Lenny Henry.
Jones’s film career was solid if not spectacular. Playing Sheikh Abdul, he joined a roll call of British comedy stars – Terry-Thomas, Irene Handl, Roy Kinnear, Spike Milligan and Peter Ustinov – in Marty Feldman’s The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977), in stark contrast to his (at first uncredited) Malcolm X in Ali’s own biopic, The Greatest (1977), with a screenplay by Ring Lardner. He also appeared in Peter Masterson’s Convicts (1991), a civil war drama; Jon Amiel’s Sommersby (1993), with Richard Gere and Jodie Foster; and Darrell Roodt’s Cry, the Beloved Country (1995), scripted by Ronald Harwood, in which he played a black South African pastor in conflict with his white landowning neighbour in the 40s.
In all these performances, Jones quietly carried his nation’s history on his shoulders. On stage, this sense could irradiate a performance such as that in his partnership with Leslie Uggams in the 2005 Broadway revival at the Cort of Ernest Thompson’s elegiac On Golden Pond; he and Uggams reinvented the film performances of Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn as an old couple in a Maine summer house.
He brought his Broadway Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof to London in 2009, playing an electrifying scene with Adrian Lester as his broken sports star son, Brick, at the Novello theatre. The coarse, cancer-ridden big plantation owner was transformed into a rumbling, bear-like figure with a totally unexpected streak of benignity perhaps not entirely suited to the character. But that old voice still rolled through the stalls like a mellow mist, rich as molasses.
That benign streak paid off handsomely, though, in the London reprise of a deeply sentimental Broadway comedy (and Hollywood movie), Driving Miss Daisy, in which his partnership as a chauffeur to Redgrave (unlikely casting as a wealthy southern US Jewish widow, though she got the scantiness down to a tee) was a delightful two-step around the evolving issues of racial tension between 1948 and 1973.
So deep was this bond with Redgrave that he returned to London for a third time in 2013 to play Benedick to her Beatrice in Mark Rylance’s controversial Old Vic production of Much Ado About Nothing, the middle-aged banter of the romantically at-odds couple transformed into wistful, nostalgia for seniors.
His last appearance on Broadway was in a 2015 revival of DL Coburn’s The Gin Game, opposite Cicely Tyson. He was given a lifetime achievement Tony award in 2017, and the Cort theatre was renamed the James Earl Jones theatre in 2022.
Jones’s first marriage, to Julienne Marie (1968-72), ended in divorce. In 1982 he married Cecilia Hart with whom he had a son, Flynn. She died in 2016. He is survived by Flynn, also an actor, and a brother, Matthew.
🔔 James Earl Jones, actor, born 17 January 1931; died 9 September 2024
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