James Earl Jones Receives Honorary Academy Award

Academy Award® winner Sir Ben Kingsley joined Vanessa Redgrave presented, onstage at the Wyndham's Theatre, an Honorary Academy Award® to James Earl Jones. Filmed footage of the presentation, which was made after the curtain call for the critically acclaimed production of Driving Miss Daisy, was shown at the Awards dinner in Los Angeles.

James Earl Jones stars in Driving Miss Daisy together with Vanessa Redgrave and Boyd Gaines at the Wyndham's Theatre until 17 December 2011. The play, written by Alfred Uhry and directed by David Esbjornson is designed by John Lee Beatty with costumes by Jane Greenwood, lighting by Peter Kaczorowski , music by Mark Bennett and sound by Christopher Cronin. Driving Miss Daisy is being produced in the West End by Jed Bernstein and Adam Zotovich.

When Daisy Werthan, a widowed, 72 year-old Jewish woman living in midcentury Atlanta, is deemed too old to drive, her son Boolie hires Hoke Coleburn, an African American man, to serve as her chauffeur. What begins as a troubled and hostile pairing soon blossoms into a profound, life-altering friendship that transcends all the societal boundaries placed between them.

Multi award winning James Earl Jones was last on stage in the West End in the hit production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof at the Novello Theatre. He has won Tony Awards® for the Broadway productions of The Great White Hope and Fences and a Tony Award® nomination for the revival of On Golden Pond. His other Broadway credits include Master Harold and the Boys, Of Mice and Men and The Iceman Cometh. His film credits include The Great White Hope, for which he received an Oscar®nomination, Dr. Strangelove, Coming To America, The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger and Field of Dreams. On television his credits include Gabriel's Fire and Heat Wave, receiving Emmy Awards for both, The Defenders, Two and a Half Men and House. He is well known for his voiceover work with perhaps the most prominent roles being Darth Vader in the Star Wars films and the voice of Mufasa in Disney's The Lion King.

 

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos

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