There are few professions that are as forgiving — or as appreciative — of age as the theater. At 100, the legendary George Abbott directed and revised a Broadway revival of “Broadway.” Last April, at age 89, Angela Lansbury received the Olivier Award for the London revival of “Blithe Spirit.” And a production of D.L. Coburn’s “The Gin Game,” starring James Earl Jones, 84, and Cicely Tyson, 90, recently started previews at the Golden Theatre prior to an October 14 opening. Jones is a two-time Tony Award winner (“Great White Hope,” “Fences”) and two years ago Tyson picked up the Tony for her riveting portrayal in “The Trip to Bountiful,” nearly six decades after her stage debut in 1957 in “The Dark of the Moon.”“I am SO old,” Jones declared last Monday night as he took to the stage at the Plaza Hotel Ballroom to accept a lifetime achievement award from Samuel L. Jackson and George Lucas at the American Theatre Wing Gala. In that familiar basso profundo, the actor told the star-studded crowd, “I’m so old that my gratitude for the American Theatre Wing embraces more than the thanks for this night’s wonderful celebration. I go way back.”Indeed, in 1955, the Michigan-born Jones attended the American Theater Wing’s Professional School, where he said, “They taught us not to put ethnic or gender limits on the characters we studied. You want to play a woman? Try it! They taught us speech for Shakespeare, and speech for Arthur Miller, and speech for Tennessee Williams.” And then with a mischievous glint in his eye, he added, “and speech for George Lucas.”Jones’s extraordinary honors — a recent honorary Oscar joins a shelf full of his Tonys, Emmys, and a Grammy — conveys the breadth of his career. While “The Gin Game” is his twentieth Broadway show, his “invisible” film performances were also lauded, in particular Darth Vader in “Star Wars” and the voice of Mufasa in the animated classic “The Lion King.” Said Heather Hitchens, President of the American Theatre Wing, “His presence is so indelible, his talent so immense. He’s managed to make some of his most memorable film roles without even showing his face.” Lucas recalled that there were in fact two finalists for the voice of Darth Vader — Jones and Orson Welles. “It was a tough choice but in the end a really easy choice,” said Lucas. “James Earl Jones won hands down. And he created with very little dialogue one of the greatest villains that ever lived. And a story is only as good as the villain.”Jackson reminded the packed audience that the actor’s life is almost always precarious no matter how well-established he or she may be. He recalled that he met Jones when he came to an audition for Milos Forman’s 1981 film “Ragtime.” He introduced himself and commented to Jones that surely he had the role he had come for in the bag. “I don’t know yet,” Jones told Jackson. “I haven’t had the interview.” As it turned out, Moses Gunn was cast in the role much to Jackson’s surprise. “I got to say that was an invaluable lesson for me.”For actors like Lansbury, Tyson, and Jones, their profession is a vocation that defies retirement. They take inspiration from all the greats who have come before. The legendary Sarah Bernhardt played the seventeen-year-old Joan of Arc when she was 64. At one point in the drama, Joan is asked by the tribunal, “What is your age, Mademoiselle?” At that point, Bernhardt would turn to the audience and declare, “Dix-sept!” daring anybody to snicker. Instead they invariably gave her a standing ovation. Jones for his part told Brandon Voss in Playbill that the theater “…won’t let you retire. It's — your energy, your life. Before we die, there's work to be done.”
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