We lost one of the greats on Monday, September 9, as James Earl Jones passed away at the age of 93. Jones lent his voice to some of the most iconic characters and moments in movie and TV history. But one thing that has always stuck with me about Jones was what he overcame in becoming an instantly recognizable voice that meant so much to so many.
James Earl Jones grew up with a stutter. I first remember hearing about this in a behind the scenes documentary about the making of Star Wars (I can't remember definitively, but maybe Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy), where he described himself as a kid from Mississippi with a speech impediment. Jones spoke more in detail about his stutter in an interview with PBS from 2014.
