James Earl Jones, the iconic voice behind Star Wars‘Darth Vader and The Lion KingMufasa, has died. He was 93.

The star died on the morning of Monday, September 9, at his home in Dutchess County, New York, his agent confirms to PEOPLE.

He is survived by his son Flynn Earl Jones. His wife Cecilia Hart died in October 2016.

Some of the actor’s other memorable film roles included: Coming to America (1988), Field of dreams (1989), The sandbox (1993) and The Hunt for Red October (1990).

Quiet early years

James was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi, and later raised by his grandparents in Michigan. He spent eight years of his childhood in silence because of a stutter. “I stuttered badly, so I withdrew and lived in a world of silence rather than speaking,” the actor told a congressional panel in 2002. He eventually overcame it, however, with the help of a teacher who, when Jones began writing poetry, encouraged him to read it aloud.

In his memoirs Voices and silencesJones explained, “The written word is safe from the stutterer. The script is a sanctuary.”

Acting wasn’t always part of his plan. While at the University of Michigan, he studied pre-med and joined the Army. When he finally got to acting, he had to work as a janitor to make ends meet.

Although he didn’t want to call it that, his big breakthrough came in the play The Great White Hopewhich premiered in 1967, as Jack Jefferson, a role that earned him the 1969 Tony Award for Best Actor. When the play was adapted into a film in 1970, Jones played the lead role, and his performance earned him a Golden Globe win and an Academy Award nomination. He was the second black actor to receive an Oscar nomination after Sidney Poitier.

Throughout his career, the classically trained actor brought his deep, authoritative voice to challenging roles such as the tragic heroes of Shakespeare’s Othello And King LearIn his early years on stage, it was unusual for a black actor to play the lead role in Shakespeare’s plays.

“If it bothers anyone that I’m black and playing Lear, it’s not because there’s anything wrong with me. It’s their problem,” he told PEOPLE in 1974.

The voice that launched a fan empire

While British actor David Prowse was the man physically behind the mask of Darth Vader in the Star Wars films, it was Jones who gave the character a menace by providing his voice in the original trilogy.

“I’m just special effects,” Jones once told AFI, explaining that George Lucas wanted a “darker” voice in 1977 Star Wars film. “So he hires a guy who was born in Mississippi, grew up in Michigan, and stutters.”

“With all these so-called disabilities, I was lucky enough to get a job that paid me $7,000, and I thought that was good money,” he said. “It was great to be a part of that.”

After Star WarsJones married his second wife, Hart, in 1982, and the two welcomed their only child, Flynn, that same year. He won his second Tony Award in 1987 for playing Troy Maxson, a retired baseball player who had trouble communicating with his son, in August Wilson’s Fences.

Jones has gone from film to TV and back to the stage. He has always called himself a “craftsman actor.” In 1990, he won two Emmy Awards in the same year: one for best actor in Gabriel’s Fire and another for an outstanding supporting role in the miniseries Heat wave.

He also received several other Emmy nominations for guest starring roles in series, including Everwood, Under one roof, Fences And Frasier.

Jones discovered he had type 2 diabetes in the 1990s, which he discovered “quite by accident,” he said during an appearance at the Rachael Ray Show from 2016.

“Once I knew I had type 2 diabetes, it was about getting help from my family and my doctors,” he said. He launched a campaign called “I Can Imagine,” which helps people manage their diabetes.

The actor has appeared in productions of On Golden Pond, Cat on a hot zinc roofAnd Much ado about nothingwhich also starred Vanessa Redgrave. In 2012, Jones earned his fourth Tony nomination for The best man.

He also returned to some of the voice roles that made him such an icon, lending his voice to the role of Darth Vader in the animated series Star Wars: Rebels and for 2016 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

In 2019, the actor reprised his role as Mufasa for the live-action film The Lion Kingstarring Beyoncé and Donald Glover as voice actors.

There’s a reason Jones’ career has lasted more than 50 years: He loves it. “I want to play anything that gives me the opportunity to learn about people who are really different from me,” he once told PEOPLE. “I want to tell as much as I can about what I think about myself — not my black self or my American self, but my real self.”