The beloved actor was known for roles like Darth Vader, Mufasa, King Jaffe Joffer, and more.
For many, James Earl Jones was the voice of Darth Vader. And indeed he was, a role so iconic that it will live on for generations to come. The actor, who passed away this morning in his home, is famous for many other roles, and other websites will talk all about them.
For me, however, as much as I adored Jones' as Vader when I was growing up and discovering Star Wars, my absolute favorite of his roles was Jaffe Joffer in Coming to America.
My father has been a an audiophile his entire life. He loves radios and stereo systems, always tinkering, always finding a new combination of speakers and receiver, always playing music and enjoying the rich sounds coming from his latest setup. This love, naturally, extended to our home entertainment system, which revolved around the TV and VCR (and eventually DVD player) being hooked into a stereo system and sub woofer. Needless to say, we watched a lot of movies in our household.
Many of the classics that my father showed my sister and I weren't always... kid-friendly, so to speak. From a young age, like five or six, I was swept up in such movies as The Terminator, The Predator, Dirty Harry, Soylent Green, The Omega Man, Tombstone, and countless other awesome films. A lot of the movies my dad showed us were ones that he either grew up and remembered enjoying, or others that caught his attention as a young man. While everything I just listed are among my own favorite films, there's one that made quite the impression on me as a kid: Coming to America.
Coming to America was one of the funniest movies I'd ever seen. As we watched it, I couldn't help but laugh seeing the hijinks of Akeem and Semmi interacting with the colorful denizens of Queens and the clash of cultures that ensued. The quiet nobility of Akeem made him into one of my favorite characters in all of cinema. So impactful was this movie on my development as a young man, that I made two friends in middle school. Their names were Kayode and Yemi, who upon my first meeting with them made my 11-year-old mind explode because they were the the spitting image (in terms of personalities) of Akeem and Semmi. I loved them both instantly.
My dad's side of the family is from the Bay Area. He grew up in Oakland and saw the city transform from relative tranquility into the dark place that it became in the '80s. Experiencing the hood has an impact on a person, and my dad's familiarity with rough cities like the fictional version of Queens in Coming to America, along with Eddie Murphy's style of comedy, I believe in part drew him to the movie. And because my dad and his brothers would constantly relay their experiences growing up in Oakland to my sister and I in hilarious anecdotes and retellings, watching Coming to America felt just a little more special than some of the other movies we would watch. It's hard to explain, but watching that movie (especially all the scenes with the barber shop guys) made me feel more connected to my dad and my uncles.
And right there, smack in the middle of things, is Akeem's father, King Jaffe Joffer, played by the legendary James Earl Jones. He isn't featured throughout the entire film, but every scene he's in he's perfection (and steals the show). He is simultaneously regal and threatening, but also soft, caring, and even slightly goofy. Jones' presence on screen was so potent that you couldn't help but believe he was an actual ruler. I know this isn't his best role, or his most important one, but it's the one that tugs most at my heart. So, for me, when I think of James Earl Jones, I think of King Joffe, with that giant lion's head draped over his shoulder as he strides through paths of flower petals everywhere he walks. The King of Zamunda might be gone, but James Earl Jones will live on in all of the minds of the fans he touched over his six-decades long career. Rest in peace, sir.
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