James Earl Jones names the biggest regret of his career

There is probably no film fan in the world who doesn’t recognise the voice of James Earl Jones. Whether they heard first as the intimidating Darth Vader in Star Wars or Mufasa in The Lion King, Jones’ booming register is precisely what many would expect to hear blaring out of a movie theatre speaker. Although Jones may have his work cut out for him as one of the premiere voices in the business, he did admit to having a few regrets along the way.

When first taking on his role in Star Wars, Jones would never be behind the mask as Darth Vader. Performed by a stunt double, Jones was responsible for the booming voice, striking fear into the heart of any Jedi when his baritone was paired with the glowing red lightsaber and iconic black helmet.

Since Jones never had a starring role behind the camera, he decided not to have his name credited as the voice actor behind the iconic Sith lord. While the idea may have made sense for his contribution at the time, the business side of that decision would haunt Jones for the next few years.

Rather than receive the same credit given to Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford, Jones was inadvertently leaving a lot of money still on the table. Compared to the massive influx of Star Wars residuals everyone else was earning, Jones was awarded a simple stipend for his work with very little fanfare.

For the few years when Star Wars was at its peak, no one knew that Jones was the voice behind one of cinema’s most emblematic villains. Considering what the movie was up against, it would make sense for Jones not to go for the most significant slice of the royalties that he probably could.

Regarding the science-fiction premise, Star Wars was looked at as a significant gamble at the time, made by George Lucas on a budget that looked minuscule compared to what the later iterations were made for. Even though some studios weren’t willing to roll the dice on a movie about an operatic story set in space, the massive success of Star Wars didn’t sit well with Jones, who was only acknowledged as part of the special effects department.

Because he was broke at the time, Jones would later claim that he asked to be paid in cash for his time after being offered no shares of the franchise money. Instead of the massive boost most of his costars were given, Jones walked away with just $7,000, later recalling, “$7,000 was big money for me in those days. I was broke and needed the money to pay rent and buy groceries!”.

Even though Jones may look back and laugh at it now, his time behind the vocal booth has given him work for future generations of film lovers. Coming after his first significant franchise, Jones’ work with Disney and his parts in standalone films like Field of Dreams has given him a net worth of $45million. While the money might not be anything to scoff at these days, it might sting a little bit seeing how the original Star Wars would make $775m at the box office.