
Died at 95
male
James Earl Jones (January 17, 1931 – September 9, 2024) was an American actor. He was described as "one of America's most distinguished and versatile" actors for his performances on stage and screen, and "one of the greatest actors in American history". Over his career, he received three Tony Awards, two Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1985. He was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 1992, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2002, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2009 and the Honorary Academy Award in 2011. His deep voice has been praised as a "stirring basso profondo that has lent gravel and gravitas" to his projects.

James Earl Jones

Galactus
for Galactus in Marvel's The Silver Surfer
Suggested by quinnwalton

He was born Norrin Radd on the planet Zenn-La, part of an extremely long-lived and technologically advanced humanoid race which had created a worldwide utopia devoid of crime, disease, hunger, poverty, and want of any kind. His father named him after revered scientist Norrin Konn, the man responsible for raising Zenn-La from barbarism to utopia.[26] Norrin Radd's mother Elmar, ill-suited to this stifling environment, eventually killed herself.[27] Urged on by his atypically ambitious father Jartran, Norrin was raised as a grimly intellectual youth, encouraged to seek knowledge, advancement and achievement rather than the aimless hedonism which had come to dominate Zenn-Lavian society; however, a disgraced Jartran would later commit suicide himself after he was accused of idea theft [28]. [29] Despite his lifelong lover Shalla-Bal, Norrin grew into a restless soul who longed for challenge and struggle, immersing himself in histories of Zenn-La's adventurous ancient past.[30] Norrin's life changed forever when a menacing alien spacecraft pierced Zenn-La's long-neglected defense systems. transforming Radd into a silver-skinned, cosmic-powered super-being[30] patterned after an adolescent fantasy plucked from Norrin's memories.[31] Known thereafter as the Silver Surfer because of the silvery flying board he rode, Radd departed Zenn-La with Galactus.[30]
