Actor Robert Earl Jones, Father of James Earl Jones, Dies

Robert Earl Jones, whose acting career spanned seven decades but who was best known as the father of actor James Earl Jones, died on Thursday, September 7 at the Lillian Booth Actors’ Home in Englewood, New Jersey. Various sources list the date of his birth differently, ranging from 1900 to 1911, but several news outlets have reported that he was born on February 3, 1910 in Mississippi and died at 96.

He made his Broadway debut under the name Earl Jones in The Hasty Heart (1945) and went on to appear in such productions as Set My People Free (1948), Caesar and Cleopatra (1949), Mister Johnson (1956), Eugene O’Neill’s More Stately Mansions (1967) and All God’s Chillun Got Wings (1975), Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman (1975 revival), the musical The Gospel at Colonus (1988), and Mule Bone (1991). He also acted with his son in several Off-Broadway and regional shows.

Jones appeared in the films Lying Lips (1939) and The Notorious Elinor Lee 1940, but his career was stalled for a time in the 1950s when he was blacklisted for refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He made uncredited screen appearances in Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) and Wild River (1960). In later years, he appeared in such films as One Potato, Two Potato (1964), The Sting (1973), Trading Places and Sleepaway Camp (1983), The Cotton Club (1984), Witness (1985), and Rain Without Thunder (1992). His television credits include the series The Defenders, Kojak, Lou Grant, and a TV version of The Gospel at Colonus.

Prior to becoming an actor, Jones was a prizefighter billed as “Battling Bill Stovall” and served as a sparring partner of the legendary Joe Louis. During the years of the blacklist, he worked for a time as a floor finisher and studied at the American Theatre Wing in New York.

In his youth, Jones married Ruth Connelly, but they separated before their son James Earl was born in 1931. They later divorced. Jones’ second marriage, to Jumelle P. Jones, also ended in divorce. In addition to James Earl, he is survived by another son, Matthew Earl Jones of Chandler, Arizona, and a grandchild.