ROBERT EARL JONES

'Robert Earl Jones' (February 3 1910 – September 7 2006) was an American actor and the father of actor James Earl Jones.
While born in Mississippi, the actual location of Jones' birth is unclear as some sources indicate Senatobia,^[1] while others suggest nearby Coldwater.^[2] Additionally, his date of his birth is reported by different sources as anywhere from 1900 to 1911. The most likely date is 1910 as reported by the United States Social Security Administration.^[3]

Contents

Roots in the Harlem Renaissance

Stage and screen career

Personal life

Stage

Filmography

Television

References

External links

Roots in the Harlem Renaissance

Jones was a grade-school dropout and a sharecropper before making his way, via Chicago, to New York City and a career on stage and in film. Altogether Jones appeared in more that 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. After moving to New York in the 1930s (after a short career as a prize fighter in Chicago where champion Joe Louis used him as a sparring partner), 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:

Stage and screen career

He was a boxer and ran in marathons in addition to his acting. The ''Amsterdam News'' reported that Jones ran several marathons including the 1996 New York City Marathon at the age of 86.
His most noted role was in the 1973 film ''The Sting'', in which he played an older con man alongside Robert Redford. He also appeared in the films ''Witness'', ''Trading Places'', and ''The Cotton Club''. Jones acted mostly in crime movies and dramas and his career highlights were ''Cold River'' and ''One Potato, Two Potato''. His career started in 1939 with a small role in ''Odds Against Tomorrow'' (1959). Although he never achieved the fame enjoyed by his son, James, Jones found a 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, a 1991 adaptation by another figure from the Harlem renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston of ''Mule Bone''.
Though blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s, he was ultimately honoured with a lifetime achievement award by the U.S. National Black Theatre Festival.

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

Stage

★ ''Mule Bone'' (1991) ★ ''The Gospel at Colonus''(1988) ★ ''Unexpected Guests'' (1977) ★ ''Death of a Salesman'' (1975) ★ ''All God's Chillun Got Wings'' (Revival) (1975) ★ ''More Stately Mansions'' (1968) ★ ''The Moon Beseiged'' (1962)

★ ''Infidel Caesar'' (1962) ★ ''Mister Johnson (play)'' (1956) ★ ''Fancy Meeting You Again'' (1952) ★ ''Caesar and Cleopatra'' (Revival) (1949) ★ ''Set My People Free'' (1948) ★ ''The Hasty Heart'' (1945)

Filmography

★ ''Rain Without Thunder'' (1992) ★ ''Maniac Cop 2'' (1990) ★ '' (1988) ★ ''Witness'' (1985) ★ ''The Gospel at Colonus'' (1985) as Creon ★ ''The Cotton Club'' (1984) ★ ''Billions for Boris'' (1984) ★ ''Sleepaway Camp'' (1983) ★ ''Trading Places'' (1983) ★ ''Cold River'' (1982) ★ ''Jennifer's Journey'' (1981) ★ ''The Sophisticated Gents'' (1981)

★ ''Proof of the Man'' (1977) ★ ''The Displaced Person'' (1977) ★ ''Cockfighter'' (1974) ★ ''The Sting'' (1973) as Luther Coleman ★ ''Mississippi Summer'' (1971) ★ ''One Potato, Two Potato'' (1964) ★ ''Terror in the City'' (1964) ★ ''Wild River'' (1960) ★ ''Odds Against Tomorrow'' (1959) ★ ''The Notorious Elinor Lee'' (1940) ★ ''Lying Lips'' (1939)

Television

★ ''Lou Grant'' (1978)

★ ''Kojak'' (1976)

★ ''The Defenders'' (1963)

References

1. Senatobia, Mississippi
2. Coldwater, Mississippi
3. Social Security Death Index Search 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.

External links

★

★

★

★

★ http://www.earljonesinstitute.com/history.htm

★ http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,1961248,00.html Obituary