When was it known that James Earle Jones was the voice of Darth Vader?

February 13, 2021 9:27 AM

Allegedly, James Earl Jones was not credited in either Star Wars or Empire Strikes Back for his voice work as Darth Vader (by his choice). If so, when was it revealed to the general public that it was him?
posted by Brandon Blatcher to Media & Arts (8 answers total)

As someone who saw Star Wars the first week it came out: 1) it was obvious. After all, Jones had a major role in Roots, which was aired the same year, and Jones has fairly distinctive voice. 2) it was never really a secret. Hollywood, sad to say, has had a long history of not accrediting voice actors, although that has changed in recent years.
posted by SPrintF at 9:36 AM on February 13, 2021 [13 favorites]

No later than the release of Return of the Jedi in 1983. From this interview:

Q. Just wondering: How come you didn’t take a credit for Darth Vader’s voiceover in the first “Star Wars”?

A. The first two. You know the story, don’t you? When Linda Blair did the girl in “The Exorcist,” they hired Mercedes McCambridge to do the voice of the devil coming out of her. And there was controversy as to whether Mercedes should get credit. I was one who thought no, she was just special effects. (Note: The Screen Actors Guild helped her eventually receive credit for her work.) So when it came to Darth Vader, I said, no I’m just special effects. But it became so identified that by the third one, I thought, OK I’ve been denying it, I’ve been saying it sounds like the (7-Up soft drink) uncola nut guy Holder. Geoffrey Holder! ... and I got away with it. But for the third one, I said OK, I’ll let them put my name on it.
posted by googly at 9:59 AM on February 13, 2021 [8 favorites]

I definitely remember tuning into this interview because he was the voice of Darth Vader, but I think I knew earlier?
posted by warriorqueen at 10:09 AM on February 13, 2021

I also saw Star Wars the week it was released and I assumed common knowledge that he wa the uncredited voice of Darth (I remember my dad talking about it the second time we lined up that week in Hamilton to see it).
posted by saucysault at 10:38 AM on February 13, 2021

Best answer: The 14 July 1977 issue of Black magazine Jet mentions James Earl Jones as the voice of Darth Vader twice, less than two months after the movie release. David Prowse discusses it briefly in Cinefantastique 6/4, Spring issue 1978. So it looks indeed that it was public knowledge immediately.
posted by elgilito at 11:58 AM on February 13, 2021 [8 favorites]

I knew it at the time the OG movies were out but I couldn’t testify in a court of law as to when it was. But it was common knowledge.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 1:00 PM on February 13, 2021

I was only 8 when the first movie came out and I knew who it was. But then my family had watched Roots together.
posted by tzikeh at 12:07 PM on February 14, 2021

Best answer: After digging a little more, it seems that Variety wrote about Jones being the voice of the villain even before the movie came out. There's an entertainment column dated 31 May 1977 in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (if you don't have access, click on the "OCR" link) where a reader "feels strongly" that it was Jones due to his "so distinct" voice and the entertainment editor congratulates her for her "acute ear" by quoting Variety.
posted by elgilito at 1:45 AM on February 15, 2021