"RIP dad" — Mark Hamill pays tribute to James Earl Jones who voiced Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker's father in Star Wars, after his death

Best known as the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise, James Earl Jones recently passed away on September 9, 2024, at the age of 93. As per BBC, the late actor's agent, Barry McPherson, mentioned in a statement that James was surrounded by his family at the time of his demise.

In addition to multiple prominent Hollywood celebrities, actor Mark Hamill, took to X (formerly Twitter) and reposted Variety's tweet, mentioning:

"#RIP dad."

The actor giving tribute to James Earl Jones by calling him dad is a reference to Mark Hamill playing Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars franchise. In Star Wars: Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker finds out that Darth Vader is his father, during a fight in Cloud City. Hence, Mark referred to the late actor as "dad" in his tribute tweet.

Apart from Mark Hamill, the late actor's co-star from Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner also gave a tribute to James on Instagram, wherein he quoted:

“That booming voice. That quiet strength. The kindness that he radiated. So much can be said about his legacy, so I’ll just say how thankful I am that part of it includes Field of Dreams."

Since James Earl Jones was the voice of CNN's tagline, the broadcasting channel The Hollywood Reporter commented that the late actor was the brand's voice for many decades, further stating "uniquely conveying through speech instant authority, grace, and decorum."

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James Earl Jones signed off his voice to be recreated by AI for Darth Vader

In September 2022, James Earl Jones decided to officially retire from the role of being the voice of Darth Vader. The late actor featured as Vader's voice in the Star Wars franchise right from the time he first dubbed for the character in 1977, followed by the sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

As per Vanity Fair in September 2022, James signed over the rights to his voice as Darth Vader to Lucasfilm that same year, allowing them to recreate his iconic voice via artificial intelligence using the AI innovation by Respeecher - a Ukrainian tech start-up.

The supervising sound editor at Lucasfilm, Matthew Wood, had previously recorded James Earl Jones' voice for the role of Darth Vader, as quoted in the publication. Wood was aware of the fact that James was close to retiring from dubbing for the Star Wars character, and presented the actor with the idea of Respeecher.

According to Matthew, the Coming to America actor was looking to catch a break from Darth Vader's character, and Matthew questioned how they would be moving forward. The sound editor also recalled that the last time they recorded Darth Vader's dialogue with James was in 2019, when he was featured in Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker.

Moreover, Vanity Fair stated that Respeecher helped recreate the late actor's voice as Darth Vader for Disney+ Star Wars spinoff Obi-Wan Kenobi in 2022.

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The late actor boasts multiple achievements, including winning three Tony awards, two Emmys, and a Grammy award. James Earl Jones also won an Honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement back in 2011.

Additionally, James became the second black man nominated for an Academy Award in 1971 for Best Actor, after Bahamian-American actor Sidney Poitier.