James Earl Jones, the respected actor with the resonant bass voice, has been the voice of CNN for much of the past 34 years and even after his death Monday at age 93, that will not change.
“We are deeply saddened to hear of James’s passing,” CNN said in a statement. “He was the voice of CNN and our brand for many decades, uniquely conveying through speech instant authority, grace, and decorum. That remarkable voice is just one of many things the world will miss about James. Our thoughts are with his family.”
Rick Salcedo, a CNN senior vice president for marketing and creative services in 1990, came up with the idea of having Jones do the promos.
“Maybe we can develop a signature, something that would become synonymous with CNN,” he said he thought at the time in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2001 when he got laid off.
“I thought of a voice saying, ‘This is CNN,’ and it was a no-brainer. James Earl Jones just popped into my head,” Salcedo told the AJC.
Salcedo, in an interview Monday, said he was surprised he was able to actually get Jones to do it. He doesn’t recall how much they paid him each year but he said even on CNN’s modest marketing budget, it was reasonable.
He recalls flying up to New York City to do the recording session. “Jones couldn’t have been nicer and more professional,” Salcedo said. “As many times as I may have asked him to do a line, he would be more than happy to do one more.”
Salcedo said he never heard complaints from listeners or bosses about his decision. “He has this incredible voice,” he said. “We were thrilled just to have an association with someone of the stature of James Earl Jones.”
Jones’ deal was renewed each year with the network throughout the 1990s and 2000s but for a time, CNN let the deal lapse. After Jeff Zucker took over CNN in 2013, the network renewed the licensing deal for the signature sound bite and Jones’ voice was heard again. Jones’ bass voice has been part of CNN ever since.
“I just emptied my mind, then filled it with the thought of all the hundreds of stories — tragic, violent, funny, touching — that could be following my introduction. And then I said, ‘This is CNN,’” he told The Toronto Star in 2013.
He then added: “You know the proudest moment of my career? Two air force pilots told me that when they landed after fighting in the Gulf War, the first thing they heard was my voice on CNN and knew they were safe.”
Jones’ agent, Barry McPherson, confirmed to The Associated Press that Jones died Monday morning at home. The cause was not immediately clear.
The actor built up nearly 200 screen credits over an extensive 60-year career, Among his many career highlights are the voice of Darth Vader in the “Star Wars” series of films, the voice of Mufasa in “The Lion King,” Alex Haley in TV’s “Roots,” warlord Thulsa Doom in “Conan the Barbarian,” an African king in “Coming to America,” a baseball loving author in “Field of Dreams,” Admiral Greer in “The Hunt for Red October” and “Patriot Games” and a South African preacher in “Cry, the Beloved Country.”
The pioneering Jones, who worked deep into his 80s, won two Emmys, a Golden Globe, two Tony Awards, a Grammy, the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors and was given an honorary Oscar and a special Tony for lifetime achievement. In 2022, a Broadway theater was renamed in his honor.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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