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8/22 OT :Totes McGotes

James Earl Jones on Darth Vader, Mufasa and, natch, Totes McGotes

Photo James Earl Jones CreditChristian Oth for The New York Times


Your new film, "Gimme Shelter," is the latest of more than 65 features that you’ve acted in. What’s the secret to longevity? The secret is never forgetting that you’re a journeyman actor and that nothing is your final thing, nothing is your greatest thing, nothing is your worst thing. I still consider myself a novice.

Did you know the film’s star, Vanessa Hudgens, before you took the project? No, but it’s wonderful to work with a new generation. It’s great to know that talent keeps coming. I still run into kids who will ask me, "How do you become a star?" Well, that’s a great question — I don’t have a clue.

When you look at the scope of contemporary black cinema, do you feel you helped make it possible by breaking down barriers? I feel a great sense of pride, but I don’t think I contributed anything to that. My first impression of a breakout black character was in "Die Hard," the black kid who played the hacker taking care of the control board downstairs. When you have black guys playing different kinds of roles, it’s just sort of spreading the goodies, you know? Everybody gets some.

You made your film debut as a member of the B-52 bomber crew in Stanley Kubrick’s "Dr. Strangelove." How did that happen? George C. Scott was playing Shylock in Shakespeare in the Park when Kubrick came to look him over. I was also in the play, as the Prince of Morocco, and Kubrick said, "I’ll take the black one, too." That’s not what he actually said, but that’s the way I like to put it.

When people ask you about "Star Wars" or"The Lion King," would you much rather talk about something you actually appearedin? Oh, no. The stories that become popular are sometimes the best. "March of the Penguins," I’m sure, is one of the best stories ever told. It’s only the birds and the weather, and there’s Morgan Freeman with the best and clearest Southern-gentleman voice I’ve ever heard.

Do you feel any sense of professional competition with him? Oh, no. It’s a whole different sound. He and I are both from the South, but Morgan never dropped the Southern accent. It’s not a Southern-black voice — there’s a Southern-gentleman aspect to his voice, and that makes it so wonderful to listen to. The best part of "The Shawshank Redemption" was his narration.

Was there a point in your career when you realized your voice was going to be a perpetual cash machine for you? I didn’t want it to be. You know, I don’t hear the voice you hear. I’m not party to the Darth Vader tone. All I’m doing is using the voice I have to try to be as clear as I can with the language I’m using.

And this is after having grown up rarely speaking because of your stutter? When I learned how to talk, the best advice my teacher gave me was: Don’t listen to yourself. Don’t listen to the tones you make, because you might be impressed by it. If you start listening to yourself, nobody else will.

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RECENT COMMENTS

rjb_boston

21 January 2014

singularly unaffected man - thats always a treat to encounter in his profession!

Andrew

21 January 2014

Have always admired him as an actor and that gorgeous baritone! Fun to point out the voice to my kids when watching "Strangelove" - "that's...

mazzystar

19 January 2014

I generally love James Earl Jones. It's really remarkable to see him in earlier work, such as Claudine, because you get a sense of how great...

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You’re never tempted to pick up the phone and pretend to be Darth Vader? I did that once when I was traveling cross-country. I used Darth as my handle on the CB radio. The truck drivers would really freak out — for them, it was Darth Vader. I had to stop doing that.

And now you’re in a series of commercials for Sprint in which you’re reciting Facebook posts and text messages in your regal tone. Isn’t that a kick in the ass? There’s Malcolm McDowell on one side of the stage, and I’m on the other side of the stage, and we’re doing this high-school language. I don’t know what the heck it means.

You never had any fear that these commercials might somehow be beneath you? The only fear I had was that the kids would think we were mocking them. Our director said, "Give it all the dignity and all the power that you can whether you understand it or not." Totes McGotes.

Now that you have been introduced to "Totes McGotes," do you find yourself saying it more frequently? I avoid it. That’s not my property.