Biography
Robert Earl Jones was an American actor. He was born on 3 February 1910 in Senatobia, Mississippi, and died on 7 September 2006 in Englewood, New Jersey. Early in his career he worked as a sharecropper and as a prizefighter under the name Battling Bill Stovall, serving as a sparring partner to Joe Louis. He later studied acting at the American Theatre Wing.
Jones made his Broadway debut in 1945 in The Hasty Heart and appeared in further stage productions including Caesar and Cleopatra (1949) and Mule Bone (1991). He performed alongside his son, actor James Earl Jones, in several Off-Broadway shows. His film roles included a leading part in Lying Lips (1939) and supporting parts in The Sting (1973) as Luther Coleman, Trading Places (1983), The Cotton Club (1984) and Witness (1985). He was also seen in television series such as Kojak.
