Robert Earl Jones facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Robert Earl Jones
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Jones in 1938
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| Born | February 3, 1910 Tate County, Mississippi, U.S.
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| Died | September 7, 2006 (aged 96) Englewood, New Jersey, U.S.
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| Other names | Earl Jones |
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| Years active | 1938–1993 |
| Spouse(s) |
Ruth Connolly
(m. 1929; div. 1934)Jumelle Jones
(m. 1938; div. 1950)Ruth Williams
(m. 1960; died 1981) |
| Children | 2, including James Earl Jones |
Robert Earl Jones (born February 3, 1910 – died September 7, 2006) was an American actor and professional boxer. He was one of the first important Black film stars. Jones was also a link to the exciting Harlem Renaissance period of the 1920s and 1930s. He worked with famous writer Langston Hughes early in his career.
Jones was well-known for his main roles in movies like Lying Lips (1939). Later in his career, he had important supporting roles in films such as The Sting (1973), Trading Places (1983), The Cotton Club (1984), and Witness (1985). He was the father of the famous actor James Earl Jones.
Contents
Biography
Early life and boxing career
Robert Earl Jones was born in northwestern Mississippi. The exact place is not fully clear, but it was either Senatobia or nearby Coldwater. His parents were Robert and Elnora Jones. Robert Earl Jones left school when he was young to work as a sharecropper. This meant he farmed land owned by someone else and paid them with a share of his crops. He did this to help his family.
Later, he became a prizefighter, which is a professional boxer. He fought under the name "Battling Bill Stovall." He even trained with the famous boxer Joe Louis, helping him practice for his fights.
Acting career highlights
Jones became interested in acting after he moved to Chicago. He was one of thousands of African Americans who moved from the Southern states to the North during the Great Migration. By the 1930s, he moved to New York City.
In New York, he worked with young people through the Works Progress Administration. This was a large government program created during the New Deal to help people find jobs during the Great Depression. Through this program, he met Langston Hughes, a young poet and playwright. Hughes cast Jones in his 1938 play, Don't You Want to Be Free?.
Jones also started acting in movies, appearing in more than twenty films. His first big movie role was in 1939. He played a detective in Lying Lips, a "race film" made by and for African American audiences. He also appeared in another film by the same director, Oscar Micheaux, called The Notorious Elinor Lee (1940).
After these early films, Jones often acted in crime movies and dramas. Some of his notable roles include Wild River (1960) and One Potato, Two Potato (1964). In the Oscar-winning 1973 movie The Sting, he played Luther Coleman. This character was an older con artist who gets killed, which leads to the main "sting" operation in the film. Later in his career, Jones appeared in other well-known movies like Trading Places (1983) and Witness (1985).
Toward the end of his life, Jones was praised for his role as Creon in The Gospel at Colonus (1988). This was a Black musical version of an old Greek story called the Oedipus legend. He also appeared in episodes of popular TV shows like Lou Grant and Kojak. One of his last stage roles was in a 1991 Broadway play called Mule Bone. This play was written by Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, another important writer from the Harlem Renaissance. His very last movie was Rain Without Thunder (1993).
During the 1950s, Robert Earl Jones was put on a list called the Hollywood blacklist. This happened because he was involved with groups that some people thought were too "left-wing" or against the government. This made it hard for him to find work in Hollywood for a while. However, he was later honored with a special lifetime achievement award by the U.S. National Black Theatre Festival.
Personal life and family
Robert Earl Jones was married three times. His first marriage was to Ruth Connolly in 1929. They had a son named James Earl Jones, who later became a very famous actor. Robert and Ruth separated before James was born in 1931, and they divorced in 1933. Robert Earl Jones did not get to know his son, James, until the mid-1950s, when James was an adult.
He married two more times: to Jumelle Jones from 1938 to 1950, and to Ruth Williams from 1960 until she passed away in 1981. He also had another son, Matthew Earl Jones.
Robert Earl Jones passed away on September 7, 2006, in Englewood, New Jersey. He was 96 years old and died of natural causes.
Images for kids
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Jones in 1938
See also
In Spanish: Robert Earl Jones para niños
