Mississippi Quote of the Day: James Earl Jones on Stuttering

Arkabutla, Mississippi native James Earl Jones has one of the most famous voices in the world, but he barely used it when he was growing up. Afflicted with a stutter, the actor, who would go on to provide the voice of Darth Vader and portray King Lear and Othello in critically acclaimed Broadway productions, has said in interviews that he preferred not to talk at all in his childhood.
Here’s what Jones had to say about it in an interview with the Daily Mail:
“As a small child, I would communicate to my family, or at least those who didn’t mind being embarrassed by my stutter or my being embarrassed. I did communicate with the animals quite freely, but then that’s calling the hogs, the cows, the chickens. They don’t care how you sound, they just want to hear your voice.”
“Stuttering is painful,” Jones added. “In Sunday school, I’d try to read my lessons, and the children behind me were falling on the floor with laughter … By the time I got to school, my stuttering was so bad that I gave up trying to speak properly.”

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Rick Hynum is editor-in-chief of HottyToddy.com. Email him at rick.hynum@hottytoddy.com.