AM Prep-Segue
Published Monday, Sept. 9, 2024 | 7:53 p.m.
Updated Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024 | 12:05 a.m.
NEW YORK (AP) – Actor James Earl Jones has died in the Hudson Valley region of New York at the age of 93, according to his agent. Jones died yesterday but a cause was not immediately clear. Jones was a stutterer who was so embarrassed about it that he stop speaking as a child. A high school teacher helped him talk again – and talk he did. Jones was the voice of Darth Vader in the “Star Wars” films, the voice of Mufasa in “The Lion King” and the voice of CNN. Jones also was one of the first Black actors on daytime TV, when he took a role on “As The World Turns” in 1965. He played Terence Mann in “Field of Dreams” and had roles in “Dr. Strangelove” and “The Hunt for Red October.”
NEW YORK (AP) – James Earl Jones initially made a mistake when doing the voice of Darth Vader: he tried to make him likable. Jones said in a 2005 Associated Press interview he tried to make the character more human – until George Lucas told him the voice was not human, so don’t make him human. For as distinctive a voice as Jones had, he was intimidated by another actor’s voice: Jeremy Irons, who voiced Scar in “The Lion King.” Jones said in a 1994 interview he was grateful not to record his part with Irons in the room because he would have been too distracted. Jones died yesterday at the age of 93.
NEW YORK (AP) – Former movie producer Harvey Weinstein had an emergency medical procedure yesterday to remove fluid on his heart and lungs, according to his representatives. Weinstein, who is 72, was rushed from the Rikers Island jail complex to Bellevue Hospital in New York late Sunday. His lawyer, Arthur Aidala (ay-DAL’-ah), says Weinstein had chest pains. Weinstein has suffered from a number of health complaints while in jail, including diabetes, anemia and eye problems. He is awaiting a retrial after his 2020 convictions on rape and sexual assault were dismissed in New York. He was convicted of rape in Los Angeles in 2022.
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) – Brandy admits she needed therapy to decompress after appearing in the psychological horror film “The Front Room.” Brandy says she goes to some dark places in the film, but she came out all right because she was able to compartmentalize the character. Filming in an abandoned house got into her head in a different way, though. Brandy says she burned sage and had crystals with her, just in case the house was haunted. “The Front Room” is in theaters now.