# James Earl Jones Has Pneumonia **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 24, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-earl-jones-has-pneumonia/309718 "2005-06-24T19:45:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-earl-jones-has-pneumonia/309718/1 "2005-06-24T19:45:01Z")
[At his age, it’s a serious illness.](http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/06/24/people.jones.reut/index.html) > [@](#): > > Jones, 74, an accomplished stage actor and the voice of Darth Vader in the “Star Wars” movies, has been off the Tony Award-nominated New York production since June 15 and is not expected to make a full recovery until August, according to a statement. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-earl-jones-has-pneumonia/309718/2 "2005-06-24T19:55:56Z")
How ironic that he’s probably breathing much like Darth Vader right now. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-earl-jones-has-pneumonia/309718/3 "2005-06-24T19:57:18Z")
The Broadway production of “On Golden Pond” is closing because people don’t want to see it without him, and the show can’t survive till August through the lean summer season. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-earl-jones-has-pneumonia/309718/4 "2005-06-24T20:10:03Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The Broadway production of “On Golden Pond” is closing because people don’t want to see it without him, and the show can’t survive till August through the lean summer season. ☹ I wonder if they’ve called Sidney Poitier’s agent. (Actually, no offense to Leslie Uggams but it’d be a cool way to reunite him with Katharine Houghton and cash in on the “Hepburn” connection- and make the daughter a lesbian while you’re at it to be more topical.) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2005, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-earl-jones-has-pneumonia/309718/5 "2005-06-25T01:12:01Z")
I can’t believe he’s 74! I hope he makes a full recovery. He’s one of my all time favorite actors, and one of the two people I’d pay to hear read the phone book. (The other is Alan Rickman). ☹ ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2005, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-earl-jones-has-pneumonia/309718/6 "2005-06-25T04:22:52Z")
**Guinastasia** Oh definitely one of the great voices of our time. (Alan Rickman is pretty good too). I don’t know if you remember **Paul Frees** but he had another one of those voices that spoke with “authority”. (Among other things, he was the voice of the talking rings in the “Time Machine” - 1960) ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2005, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-earl-jones-has-pneumonia/309718/7 "2005-06-25T05:55:11Z")
Sorry, folks, for sheer beauty, if not power alone, the late Mark Lenard had the best voice ever to issue from a human being.