Robert_Earl_Jones

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Robert Earl Jones Robert Earl Jones Robert Earl Jones Coldwater.[2] Additionally, his date of birth has been variously reported by different sources as between 1900 and 1911. The most likely date is 1910 as reported by the United States Social Security Administration.[3] Career Jones, a grade-school dropout, was a sharecropper, and boxing prizefighter before making his way, via Chicago, to New York City and a career on stage and in film. Under the name "Battling Bill Stovall", he was a sparring partner of Joe Louis.[4] Altogether Jones appeared in more than twenty films, including The Cotton Club (1984) and The Sting (1973). Jones was a living link with the Harlem renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s, having worked with Langston Hughes early in his career. In New York in the 1930s Jones worked with young people on the Works Progress Administration, the largest New Deal agency, through which he met Langston Hughes, who cast him in his 1938 play, Don’t You Want to Be Free? Jones told the New York Times in 1974: "It was kind of natural. Langston Hughes’ aunt, Toy Harper, taught me how to read my first poem: ’I am a Negro black as the night is black/ Black like the depth of my Africa’ and several other poems. It was poetic drama, put together by several of his poems. We linked them together by a narrative, and I was that narrator. Jones’ career started in 1939 with a small role as a detective in the 1939 film Lying Lips. Jones acted mostly in crime movies and dramas after that, with such highlights as Cold River and One Potato, Two Potato. Jones also appeared in several other noted films over the span of his career: Witness, Trading Places, and The Cotton Club. Jones appeared in the Oscar-winning 1973 film The Sting, as Luther Coleman, an aging grifter whose con is requited with murder leading to "the sting". Although he never achieved the fame enjoyed by his son, James, Jones found a photo by Carl Van Vechten, 1938. Born Robert Earl Jones 3 February 1910(1910-02-03) Senatobia, Mississippi, USA 7 September 2006 (aged 96) Englewood, New Jersey, USA Earl Jones 1955-1993 Ruth Williams Jumelle P. Jones Ruth Connolly Died Other name(s) Years active Spouse(s) Robert Earl Jones (February 3, 1910 – September 7, 2006) was an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the films The Cotton Club and The Sting and as the father of actor James Earl Jones. Biography Early life Born in Mississippi, the specific location of his birth is unclear as some sources indicate Senatobia,[1] while others suggest nearby 1 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia comfortable niche in Hollywood with steady work from the 1960s through the early 1990s. Toward the end of his life, Jones was noted for his stage portrayal of Creon in a 1988 musical version of the Oedipus legend, The Gospel at Colonus. He also made appearances in the long-running TV shows Lou Grant and Kojak. His last film was in the 1992 drama Rain Without Thunder. One of his last stage roles was in a 1991 production of Mule Bone by Hughes and another figure from the Harlem renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston. Though blacklisted by the House UnAmerican Activities Committee in the 1950s, he was ultimately honoured with a lifetime achievement award by the U.S. National Black Theatre Festival. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Robert Earl Jones Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) Wild River (1960) The Secret Of The Purple Reef (1960) The Defenders (1963) TV Terror in the City (1964) One Potato, Two Potato (1964) Mississippi Summer (1971) Willie Dynamite (1973) The Sting (1973) as Luther Coleman Cockfighter (1974) Kojak (1976) TV The Displaced Person (1977) Proof of the Man (1977) Lou Grant (1978) TV The Sophisticated Gents (1981) Jennifer’s Journey (1981) Cold River (1982) Trading Places (1983) Sleepaway Camp (1983) Billions for Boris (1984) The Cotton Club (1984) The Gospel at Colonus (1985) as Creon Witness (1985) Starlight: A Musical Movie (1988) Maniac Cop 2 (1990) Rain Without Thunder (1992) Personal life Jones died at his home in 2006, in Englewood, New Jersey, of natural causes. • Ronald Earl Jones, father • Rebecca Sunden-Jones, mother • Brian Jones, brother • Mary Jones, sister • John Earl Jones, brother • Ruth Connoly, wife • James Earl Jones, son • Matthew Earl Jones, son • Flynn Earl Jones, grandson References [1] David Patrick Stearns (December 2006). "Robert Earl Jones: US actor rooted in the Harlem renaissance". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2006/ dec/01/guardianobituaries.usa. Retrieved on 2007-01-26. [2] "Robert Earl Jones". Internet Broadway Database. http://www.ibdb.com/ person.asp?ID=47197. Retrieved on 2007-01-26. [3] "Social Security Death Index Search". RootsWeb.com. http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/ cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi. Retrieved on 2007-05-23. A database search on Robert Jones, 121-01-1664 returns: ROBERT EAR L JONES, 03 Feb 1910, 07 Sep 2006, (V) 12564 Pawling, Dutchess, NY 121-01-1664, New York. [4] Margalit Fox (19 September 2006). "Robert Earl Jones, 96, Broadway Actor, Dies". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/ obituaries/19jones.htm. Retrieved on 2008-04-21. Work Stage • • • • • • • • • • • • • The Hasty Heart (1945) Set My People Free (1948) Caesar and Cleopatra (Revival) (1949) Fancy Meeting You Again (1952) Mister Johnson (play) (1956) Infidel Caesar (1962) The Moon Besieged (1962) More Stately Mansions (1968) All God’s Chillun Got Wings (Revival) (1975) Death of a Salesman (1975) Unexpected Guests (1977) The Gospel at Colonus (1988) Mule Bone (1991) Filmography • Lying Lips (1939) • The Notorious Elinor Lee (1940) 2 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Robert Earl Jones • Robert Earl Jones at the Internet Movie Database • Robert Earl Jones at TV.com • Robert Earl Jones at Yahoo! Movies External links • The Earl Jones Institute • Robert Earl Jones at the Internet Broadway Database Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Earl_Jones" Categories: 1910 births, 2006 deaths, African American actors, American film actors, American stage actors, American television actors, Actors from Mississippi, Hollywood blacklist This page was last modified on 21 May 2009, at 23:09 (UTC). All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) taxdeductible nonprofit charity. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers 3