OK, class, I want you to practice this line and make it sound so iconic it’ll endure for a long, long time even in galaxies far, far away:
“Luke, I am your father…”
No luck? Didn’t nail that rich bass-baritone, bordering on basso profundo tone?
I guess that makes you and me both examples of people not born with the lucky larynx. But some people are.
Did you know Johnny Cash’s voice teacher told him to stop taking lessons so he wouldn’t ruin his natural tone and style? I can (reluctantly) imagine a musical world without “Folsom Prison Blues,” but it would be a depressing place.
As for one of the most famous voice owners of our era, James Earl Jones, he wasn’t born with the gold standard of presence, power, and vocal perfection either.
When Darth Vader Couldn’t Speak
Would you believe me if I told you James Earl Jones suffered through his childhood fighting a debilitating stutter?
Jones’ father also had the performance tug and left home to pursue his own acting career. Traveling and auditioning with a young child is challenging at best, so he arranged for five-year-old James to move from Mississippi to Michigan to live with his grandparents. A traumatic event for any young child.
Likely as a result of the upheaval in his life, Jones acquired a debilitating stutter and endured it for eight difficult years.
In school, he wrote whenever possible to communicate with other students and faculty. In his own words, he was “functionally mute” until a fortuitous encounter in high school with someone destined to change the trajectory of young Jones’ life.
Teacher’s Pet… Project
While in high school, Jones encountered Donald Crouch, an English teacher, who encouraged him to read poetry… aloud. No, not the “Roses are red” kind, but the real stuff.
Turns out he had a knack for writing prose too, so in addition to speaking the lines of previous poetry masters, Crouch encouraged him to read his own work out loud too. He did. And it changed his life forever.
Built, not Born: Breathing Life Into a Legend
Poetry returned his ability to speak, but it was technique, training, and lots of practice that developed that baritone silky smooth rumble that won awards for stage and screen performance.
In college, Jones followed in his father’s footsteps and studied acting, where he learned and practiced voice control techniques. Arguably, the most impactful was diaphragmatic breathing to drive those vocal cords like a ‘70s muscle car.
The idea is to inhale using the diaphragm below your lungs. Think of deep breathing where your chest doesn’t expand, but your lower belly area does. Then drive out the exhale the same way. More power, more air volume, more control. You get the idea.
”Luke… This is CNN.”
Over a career spanning seven decades, he racked up more than 100 film and TV credits, a Tony Award here, an Emmy there, and shelves full of special and lifetime achievement statuettes.
He brought Shakespeare to the stage, thundered across Broadway in Fences and The Great White Hope, for which he pocketed a Tony, following that up with an Oscar Best Actor nomination for the movie version a year later.
You also know the man as the voice of papa lion Mufasa from The Lion King, and, of course, that of the most notable villain ever, Darth Vader from the Star Wars franchise.
And you’ve likely seen (or heard) him in Field of Dreams, Coming to America, The Hunt for Red October, and even The Simpsons, along with dozens of other film, TV and stage appearances.
And yes, James Earl Jones was the CNN guy for 75% of forever. You know it: “This… is CNN…”
