James Earl Jones passed away several days ago. I was going to write a little remembrance then, but I decided to wait a while, I wanted to see what other sites were writing first and what I thought was going to happen happened. Every other site was bringing up James’ voice work as Darth Vader or Mufasa. Not that there is anything wrong with that, of course. It’s just that, as I read through these articles remembering James, pretty much none of them seemed to mention my favourite role of his – and no, I don’t mean Kokumo from Exorcist II: The Heretic.

James Earl Jones had an enormous career, one that spanned eight decades on the big and small screen, as well as theatre work (he started in theatre in 1958 and his final film role was in 2021). This man had a list of roles that were as big and impressive as his iconic booming voice. Over the years, James played good guys and bad guys. He played straight roles and comedy roles. He did live-action and animation. He has played himself, he even voiced a toilet (he really did). James had played pretty much any role and in any genre that you can think of. He had such an amazing on-screen presence and that voice was so commanding that even if he was not on-screen and if was just doing voice work – he still had that on-screen presence. Darth Vader is such a memorable role, it is so ingrained into millions of people’s lives and so utterly epochal that, even though James is no longer with us – he will be back as Darth Vader. James agreed to allow Disney to use AI to recreate his voice. No, I’m not getting into the moral compass discussion of using AI of dead actors to keep them in films, that’s not what this article is about. If James was happy enough to allow AI to recreate his voice, then that was his decision.

As I said at the start of this, other sites have covered James Earl Jones playing Darth Vader and Mufasa mainly, but I wanted to remember James playing my favourite role of his. I do have to quickly mention James as Thulsa Doom in Conan the Barbarian and when he played Frank Couzo in one of the greatest martial arts films ever, Best of the Best. However, of all of the roles that James had played over the years – yes, even when he voiced a toilet (seriously, James Earl Jones voiced a toilet), for me, none of them were as iconic as the time he played King Jaffe Joffer in Coming to America.

Oh how I adore Coming to America, it is one of my all-time favourite films, certainly one of my favourite comedy films, probably my favourite Eddie Murphy film and yes, my favourite James Earl Jones role. It’s quite a minor role too. King Jaffe Joffer is in Coming to America at the start, is missing for the main part in the middle, and then pops back up at the end. It’s really nothing more than an extended cameo – but it is an amazing cameo. Coming to America is hilarious and in all of that comedy, you have James playing a king dead seriously – and that’s why it works. Aside from a couple of funny lines, King Jaffe Joffer is the straight guy, he’s deadpan and relatively humourless. James does such a great job of playing this ruler of a kingdom and that voice makes him even more regal. When he speaks, you listen. James is so commanding in the role that you can believe that he is a real king.

That is when he is in his own land of Zamunda too. When he does come to America at the end of the film, he is a massive fish out of water and has no idea how to talk to people. He is still his commanding self, but soon learns that he holds no power in New York. I love the bit when King Jaffe Joffer tries to buy Lisa’s dad off, and her dad replies with: “I don’t give a damn who you are! This is America, Jack. Now, you say one more word about Lisa here and I’mma break my foot off in your royal ass!” The reaction and look that James does is comedy gold and it is so great because he is playing it straight. I think that if James had played the role with more comedy, then it wouldn’t have worked. His experience acting in theatre, his more serious roles are what make this King Jaffe Joffer performance so damn great.

This is how I will always remember James Earl Jones, not as Darth Vader – one of the most iconic movie villains ever. Not as Mufasa – a cartoon lion. Not even as Malcolm X – an iconic revolutionary. For me, James will always be the out-of-touch king and father who was played to perfection, played straight – but with just the right amount of humour.

“Wrong! You are a prince who has never tied his shoes. Believe me, I tied my own shoes once. It is an overrated experience.”

One of the finest actors of any generation. Long live the King.