James Earl Jones’ Surprising Star Wars Salary Stands in Stark Contrast to His Current Net Worth.Linh

The late Coming to America actor had a surprisingly low pay for one of his most famous roles

The distance between James Earl Jones‘ humble beginnings and the end of his prolific career is a staggering one.

The late, great actor, who passed away aged 93 on Monday, September 9 in his home in Dutchess County, New York, was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi, on January 17, 1931, around five or six years before he was abandoned by both of his parents.

He was subsequently raised by his maternal grandparents in rural Michigan, particularly his notoriously racist grandmother, of whom he said during a BBC appearance in 2011: “She was the most racist person, bigoted person I have ever known.”

Given the fame his booming voice alone garnered not long into his career, it’s hard to imagine that it came from a man who became so traumatized as a child, he developed a stutter so severe, that for a time, he stopped speaking altogether.

Also ironic? His salary when he voiced Darth Vader in the original Star Wars film, Star Wars: A New Hope in 1977, arguably one of his most famous and beloved roles.

At the time around 46 years old, he revealed in later years that he was paid only $7,000 for the role, which took a few hours to film. Adjusted for inflation, that is around $36,000 today.

Speaking about it for a 2009 interview with the American Film Institute, he recalled: “George [Lucas] wanted, pardon the expression, a dark voice. So he hires a guy born in Mississippi, raised in Michigan, who stutters. And that’s the voice. That’s me.”

Acknowledging the irony of it all, he added: “I lucked out, from all these so-called handicaps, for a job that paid $7,000! And I thought that was good money. And I got to be a voice on a movie.”

He continued to voice Darth Vader for the subsequent films as well as related video games and television shows, as recently as 2022, for the mini series Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Jones also famously voiced Mufasa in Disney’s The Lion King, both in the original 1994 animated movie and in the 2019 live-action version also featuring Beyoncé, Seth Rogen and Donald Glover.

At the time of his death, he had a reported net worth of $40 million. 

He is survived by his son, Flynn Earl Jones, 42, who he shared with his late wife Cecilia Hart, who he married in 1982, and who passed away aged 68 in 2016. He was also previously married to former Broadway star Julienne Marie, from 1968 to 1972.