The theater industry, and the entertainment world in general, lost a legend in September 2024 when two-time Tony winner James Earl Jones died at 93 years old. Jones, who also received the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2017, is one of just 27 performers to earn EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) status, having also won the Lifetime Achievement Oscar, Emmy Awards for Heat Wave and Gabriel’s Fire, and a Grammy for Great American Documents. All 41 Broadway venues dimmed their marquee lights for one minute on September 26 in honor of Jones.
“James Earl Jones was a true pillar of the Broadway industry, providing unforgettable experiences to multiple generations of theatergoers—all while accumulating many well-deserved honors, awards, and achievements for his iconic performances in other entertainment fields,” noted The Broadway League interim president Jason Laks in a press statement. “While we acknowledge and celebrate Mr. Jones’ significant legacy across multiple mediums, we are particularly proud of his legacy on Broadway, and are grateful for the many memorable performances with which he graced our stages.”
Here’s a look at six of the late actor’s most iconic Broadway performances.
The Great White Hope
Jones landed his first Broadway theater role in Sunrise at Campobello in 1958, but earned his first Tony for Best Actor in a Play for The Great White Hope around a decade later. The show, which also won the Tony for Best Play, opened October 3 at the Alvin Theatre and ran for more than 500 performances. Jones played Jack Jefferson, a character based on real-life boxer Jack Johnson, a Black heavyweight champion in the 1910s.
The play, and subsequent film adaptation in 1970, details media-driven efforts to find the next “great white hope” to beat Jones’ character. It also explores his controversial relationship with a white woman, played by Jane Alexander, who won the Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Both Jones and Alexander reprised their roles for the 1970 film, earning Best Actor and Best Actress Oscar nominations.
Fences
Jones won his second Best Actor Tony Award for Fences, another play that illuminated the Black experience in America, with an emphasis on one man’s struggles to bond with his wife and son. Written by August Wilson as part of his 10-play Century Cycle, the played debuted at 46th Street Theater and ran for more than 500 performances before closing in June 1988. A revival starring Denzel Washington was shown at the Cort Theatre, which was renamed the James Earl Jones Theatre in 2010.
Jones received the Tony for his portrayal of Troy Maxson, a former baseball star in the Negro League working as a sanitation worker in segregated Pittsburgh in the 1950s. He also won Outstanding Actor in a Play honors from the Drama Desk Awards and Outer Critics Circle Awards.
Driving Miss Daisy
Part of playwright Alfred Uhry’s Atlanta Trilogy, Driving Miss Daisy explores the evolving friendship of a Southern Jewish woman and her Black chauffeur over a 25-year period from 1948 to 1973. Although it is now an iconic story, thanks to its film adaptation (which won four Oscars), Driving Miss Daisy premiered Off-Broadway in 1989. Jones played the role of the driver, Hoke Coleburn, in the 2010 Broadway revival, which had 180 performances at the John Golden Theatre.
While Jones didn’t earn a Tony nomination for his performance, the play was a commercial success, earning more than $13.5 million in ticket sales, with an average capacity exceeding 80 percent. His co-star, Vanessa Redgrave, was nominated for the Tony for Best Actress in a Play.
The Iceman Cometh
Four years after winning his first Tony, Jones starred in a revival of Eugene O’Neill’s 1946 play The Iceman Cometh. He portrayed the lead character, Theodore “Hickey” Hickman, a recovering alcoholic salesman who tries to get his old saloon drinking buddies to follow his path before ultimately revealing he had murdered his wife. The show was revived on Broadway in 1985, 1999, and 2018.
On Golden Pond
Jones earned his third Tony nomination for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in the 2005 production of Ernest Thompson’s On Golden Pond, which ran for 93 performances at what is now the James Earl Jones Theatre. Jones starred alongside Leslie Uggams as an elderly husband and wife spending the summer at their Maine cottage. The play explores the changes in the twilight years of the couple’s marriage and Jones’ character’s increasingly estranged relationship with his daughter, who shows up with news of her engagement.
Jones was runner-up for the Tony, losing to Bill Irwin for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
The Best Man
In his third to last play, The Best Man, Jones received his fourth and final Best Actor in a Play Tony nomination for his portrayal of fictional former US President Arthur Hockstader. Written by Gore Vidal, the play won six Tony Awards in 1960 and was revived in 2000 and 2012. It tells the story of two candidates in the Presidential primaries, Secretary of State William Russell and Senator Joe Cantwell, both of whom are trying to get Hockstader’s endorsement.
James Corden won the Tony in 2012 for his performance in One Man, Two Guvnors, but Jones won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play.