Robert Earl Jones (February 3, 1910 – September 7, 2006), sometimes credited as Earl Jones, was an American actor. One of the first prominent black film stars, Jones was a living link with the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s, having worked with Langston Hughes early in his career.
Jones was best known for his leading roles in films such as Lying Lips (1939) and later in his career for supporting roles in films such as The Sting (1973), Sleepaway Camp, Trading Places (both 1983), The Cotton Club (1984), and Witness (1985). He was the father of actor James Earl Jones.
Biography Early life Jones was born in northwestern Mississippi; the exact location is uncertain since some sources indicate Senatobia, while others suggest nearby Coldwater. A son of Robert and Elnora Jones, Robert Earl Jones left school at an early age to work as a sharecropper to help his family. He later became a prizefighter. Under the name "Battling Bill Stovall", he was a sparring partner of Joe Louis.
Career Jones became interested in theater after he moved to Chicago, as one of the thousands leaving the South in the Great Migration. He moved on to New York by the 1930s. He worked with young people in the Works Progress Administration, the largest New Deal agency, through which he met Langston Hughes, a young poet and playwright. Hughes cast him in his 1938 play, Don't You Want to Be Free?
Jones also entered the film business, appearing in more than twenty films. His film career started with the leading role of a detective in the 1939 race film Lying Lips, written and directed by Oscar Micheaux, and Jones made his next screen appearance in Micheaux's The Notorious Elinor Lee (1940).McLellan, Dennis (September 20, 2006). "Robert Earl Jones, 96; Actor, Father of James Earl Jones". Los Angeles Times. Jones acted mostly in crime movies and dramas after that, with such highlights as Wild River (1960) and One Potato, Two Potato (1964). In the Oscar-winning 1973 film The Sting, he played Luther Coleman, an aging grifter whose con is requited with murder leading to the eponymous "sting". In the later 20th century, Jones appeared in several other noted films: Trading Places (1983) and Witness (1985).
Toward the end of his life, Jones was noted for his stage portrayal of Creon in The Gospel at Colonus (1988), a black musical version of the Oedipus legend. He also appeared in episodes of the long-running TV shows Lou Grant and Kojak. One of his last stage roles was in a 1991 Broadway production of Mule Bone by Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, another important writer of the Harlem Renaissance. His last film was Rain Without Thunder (1993).
Although blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s due to involvement with leftist groups, Jones was ultimately honored with a lifetime achievement award by the U.S. National Black Theatre Festival.
Personal life and death Jones was married three times. As a young man, he married Ruth Connolly (died 1986) in 1931; they had a son, James Earl Jones. Jones and Connolly separated before James was born in 1931, and the couple divorced in 1933. Jones did not come to know his son until the mid-1950s. Jones remarried twice, to Jumelle Jones from 1938 to 1950, and Ruth Williams from 1960 until her death in 1981. He had a second son, Matthew Earl Jones. Jones died on September 7, 2006, in Englewood, New Jersey, at age 96.
Work Theatre Year Title Role Venue1945 The Hasty Heart Blossom Hudson Theatre, Broadway1945 Strange Fruit Henry McIntosh NY theater production1948 Volpone Commendatori City Center1948 Set My People Free Ned Bennett Hudson Theatre, Broadway1949 Caesar and Cleopatra Nubian Slave National Theatre, Broadway1952 Fancy Meeting You Again Second Nubian Royale Theatre, Broadway1956 Mister Johnson Moma Martin Beck Theater, Broadway1962 Infidel Caesar Soldier Music Box Theater, Broadway1962 The Moon Besieged Shields Green Lyceum Theatre, Broadway1968 More Stately Mansions Cato Broadhurst Theatre, Broadway1975 All God's Chillun Got Wings Street Person Circle in the Square Theatre, Broadway1975 Death of a Salesman Charley 1977 Unexpected Guests Man Little Theatre, Broadway 1988 The Gospel at Colonus Creon Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, Broadway1991 Mule Bone Willie Lewis Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes1939 Lying Lips Detective Wenzer 1940 The Notorious Elinor Lee Benny Blue 1959 Odds Against Tomorrow Club Employee uncredited1960 Wild River Sam Johnson uncredited1960 The Secret of the Purple Reef Tobias 1964 Terror in the City Farmer 1964 One Potato, Two Potato William Richards 1968 Hang 'Em High (posse) 1971 Mississippi Summer Performer 1973 The Sting Luther Coleman 1974 Cockfighter Buford 1977 Proof of the Man Wilshire Hayward 1982 Cold River The Trapper 1983 Trading Places Attendant 1983 Sleepaway Camp Ben 1984 The Cotton Club Stage Door Joe 1984 Billions for Boris Grandaddy 1985 Witness Custodian 1988 Starlight: A Musical Movie Joe 1990 Maniac Cop 2 Harry 1993 Rain Without Thunder Old Lawyer final film role
Television Year Title Role Notes1964 The Defenders Joe Dean Episode: The Brother Killers1976 Kojak Judge Episode: Where to Go if you Have Nowhere to Go? 1977 The Displaced Person Astor Television movie1978 Lou Grant Earl Humphrey Episode: Renewal1979 Jennifer's Journey Reuven Television movie 1980 Oye Ollie Performer Television series1981 The Sophisticated Gents Big Ralph Joplin 3 episodes1982 One Life to Live 1985 Great Performances Creon Episode: The Gospel at Colonus 1990 True Blue Performer Episode: Blue Monday
References
External links
Earl Jones Institute website
Robert Earl Jones profile, University of Wisconsin's Actors Studio audio collection