This weekend, Star Wars: Rebels launched its second season with a slew of familiar Star Wars characters, but perhaps the most familiar of all was the welcome return of James Earl Jones’ sonorous bass voice as Darth Vader. But what do you know about the history of the voice of Vader? It wasn’t always Jones!
On set during the filming of the original Star Wars, Darth Vader’s lines were delivered by David Prowse, the imposing English actor who played the body of the Sith Lord. Depending on what you read and which interview you absorb, director George Lucas was either always planning on replacing this dialogue, or decided to replace the dialogue after he realized Prowse’s West Country English accent wasn’t cutting it. [Ed: Thanks to commenter J. Michael Spencer for correcting and clarifying the region where Prowse’s accent originates.]
In numerous interviews James Earl Jones points out that Lucas always wanted something “darker” —not in terms of race, but rather a voice that was more bass in contrast to Prowse’s tenor. Gleefully, Jones says that what Star Wars was stuck with was a guy who “had a stutter,” referring to himself. And when during the filming of The Empire Strikes Back, another voice emerged, albeit not one heard in the final cut of the movie. Apparently the director of that film, Irvin Kershner, would do the lines for Darth Vader on the set. James Earl Jones claims that Kershner’s high-pitched voice was much scarier than anything he could pull off.
Obviously James Earl Jones is the canonical voice of Vader, and perhaps the only person we can imagine speaking his imposing dialogue. But even before the original Star Wars trilogy was complete, Jones wasn’t the only official voice of Vader; NPR produced three Star Wars radio dramas (airing in 1981, 1983, and 1996), each starring Brock Peters as Darth Vader. That’s right! The excellent actor—who appeared as Admiral Cartwright in Star Trek IV and Star Trek VI and also as Ben Sisko’s father in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine—was the radio voice of the baddest of the Sith. Peters’ performance is noticeably different than James Earl Jones’, but it’s somehow not incorrect at all. Many of the voice actors changed from each radio drama, but the consistency of Brock Peters is part of what makes the Vader of the radio slightly more “human” than the Vader of the films. Because we can’t see Vader in the radio drama, we kind of need a voice that sounds, oddly, a little kinder than the Vader of the films. Peters didn’t try to “do” Jones, which is why his Vader is so interesting.
Of course, neither Brock Peters nor James Earl Jones did the voice for Vader in the various video games over the years. Back in 1996, the video game Dark Forces saw Scott Lawrence convincingly take on the voice of Darth Vader. Meanwhile, T.C. Carson did Vader for Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds, and Matt Sloan voiced Vader in the popular and Vader-centric The Force Unleashed. (Which contemporary Star Wars actor John Boyega has cited as being a personal favorite when he was a bit younger.)
But, Vader in translation is even more interesting than Vader in English (or Galactic “Basic”). The Brazilian version of Vader is played by Silvio Navas, the Spanish (in Spain) version is Isidro Olace but in 1997 was changed for the special editions to Federico Romano. Check out this video for a complete run down of every single time Vader says “No, I am your father.” The German rendition from Heinz Peturo is particularly mortifying.
Perhaps the strangest Vader voice of all is that of Hayden Christensen’s Anakin Skywalker. We tend to think of Vader being Vader when he gets in the suit, but face it, he’s being referred to as Darth Vader in Revenge of the Sith when he still looks like Hayden. And Hayden’s voice as Vader is a little weird—if you think about it for one second, you can do an impression of Hayden in Star Wars right now. He draws out his vowels a bit, but flattens the end of his sentences in an almost Andrew Garfield kind-of-way. Sorry maw-ster. There’s no way to be sure if this was an intentional affect on Hayden’s part, but if you allow your ears to squint a little bit (you know what I mean) there is some kind of connection between Hayden’s voice and that of James Earl Jones.
The likelihood that Darth Vader’s voice will be needed in The Force Awakens is fairly low. But if there was a ghost of Anakin Skywalker or Darth Vader, or even just his disembodied voice, who should do it? Brock Peters is sadly no longer with us, and even though some of us (maybe just me) might like having Hayden return, that might not work either. So could James Earl Jones show up again in The Force Awakens? Probably not, but, if there’s one thing his return as Vader on Rebels has taught us, it’s that there’s no denying the power of that voice.
Ed. note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified David Prowse as Scottish. The actor is English.
Ryan Britt is the author of Luke Skywalker Can’t Read and Other Geeky Truths out this November from Plume(Penguin) Books. He’s written (and wept) about dinos since before he can remember.
I’m always going back to the radio dramas of the original trilogy (well, ANH and TESB; RotJ wasn’t very good), and I’ve got to say that Brock Peters’s performance as Vader is absolutely wonderful. I remember listening to it the first time and was a little put off by his voice because it didn’t have Jones’s iconic sound, but the more and more I listened to the episodes, the more I appreciated that he made the role his own.
The New Hope and Empire radio dramas really had absolutely stellar casts. Luke, C3PO, and Lando all had their movie actors reprise their roles (Billy Dee Williams gets a lot more Lando to work with, which is a huge treat), but Ann Sachs and Perry King as Leia and Han really knocked it out of the park too. Sachs in particular brings so much to her performance as Leia, and while I love Carrie Fischer in the movies, I have to say I actually prefer Sachs as the princess.
I hope that Tor.com one day does an episode-by-episode review of the radio dramas of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back (again, Return of the Jedi was a total wash). There’s so much material in there, and they’re so wonderfully and brilliantly realized.
This may seem like a minor point, but Prowse isn’t Scottish. He’s from Bristol, in SW England. It’s about as far from Scotland as you can get and still be on the same island. His accent is a West Country accent.
Spanish Vader for Spain was the great Constatino Romero, who sadly died some time ago. Personally liked it more than JEJ’s.
Thanks for the correction, J. Michael Spencer, that is not at all a minor point! We’ve updated the article with the information you’ve provided.
Sebastian Shaw. End of Return of the Jedi. Deserves not to be forgotten.
The French voice for Darth Vader (except in the first movie) was Georges Aminel, also known for dubbing Sylvester the cat. Knowing this makes it really hard to take Vader seriously.
Out of curiosity, what do you find so mortifying about Peturo’s performance? I’ve always been impressed by his Vader, finding him even darker than Jones’ (or, perhaps, just colder?).
@5 – well, technically Sebastian Shaw wasn’t Vader ;)
I never liked Peters’ version of Vader. There are line readings (and you can blame the writing too) that make Vader show weakness and emotion that he never shows in the movies. He is more of a ranting and raving villiian in the radio show than the very measured and efficient deadliness of Jones’ lines in the movies.
The best example is the Leia torture scene where Jones says very simply “and now, your highness, we will discuss the location of your hidden rebel base” while Peters’ Vader gets so worked up that he yells at a flunky who interrupts him. Then in Empire, Peters’ Vader calls attention to the bald-head-helmet scene while movie Vader just ignores it, as if he’s challenging the admiral to make a comment.
Having said all that, the more expressive Vader of the radio drama fits Hayden Christiansen’s acting style a lot better. His Vader/Anakin is scared and lashes out with emotion that doesn’t fit Original Trilogy movie Vader at all.
Ryan, great article, I loved it! Just a small correction, addition:
There are usually two Spanish dubbings of things, one in Spain, and one (normally in Mexico, but sometimes Argentina or Chile) for Latin America. Original trilogy (and their special editions) Vader was voiced in Spain by Constantino Romero, who also did it in Episode III. For Latin America, Carlos Petrel did Vader’s voice on Episode IV, and Isidro Olace (not Isidoro) did so in Episode V and VI. Federico Romano (not Frederico) took over for the Special Editions of the entire original trilogy, and for Episode III.
@5 – Larry: Seconded!
@8 – Lisamarie: Well, you are right… but still.
@10 Lordmagnusen
Thanks for the clarifications, distinctions and corrections! Those spellings should be fixed now.
My pleasure, but I hate to be a nag… you corrected the spellings, but still left Olace and Romano as the Spain Spanish voices, when they did the Latin American Spanish (neutral Mexican) voice. In Spain, Vader was dubbed by solely by Constantino Romero.
Hello!
I want to tell the person who has written this article, that I am spanish, and the voice of Dark Vader in Spain has always been the great voice of Constantino Romero, show man, radio announcer and voice actor, and not Isidro Olace. He has also doubled to spanish language to other characters, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Terminator” or Clint Eastwood. And I can say, and affirm, that his voice is much more powerful and with more personality than that of James Earl Jones, and I say it with all due respect to James Earl Jones and the public speaking english
Anyone who understands Spanish and sees this series in spanish (but Spanish from Spain, not latin America) can check what I have said
A greeting
Eeh… I’m from Latin America, and I’ve seen Star Wars in the Spain dubbing, and no, Romero is in no way better than James Earl Jones. Víctor, you might have grown up loving that version, and you might have your own preference, but what you’re saying amounts to heresy. :)
No, it’s not heresy. I think you’ve never heard Constantino Romero’voice, for to say nothing. I recommend that you see the Starwars saga “A New Hope”, “The Empire Strikes Back” and “The Return of the Jedi” in european spanish. And you will not only be impressed by the voice of Constantino Romero, but also other voices, like José María Alarcón when doubled to the emperor Palpatine in “The Return of the Jedi”
And I do not say it because I am spanish, but it is that Constantino does not need nor modulador to doubling to Vader, his voice is incredible. But in part I understand you, you’re not spanish and you’ve never heard it. I tell you that the voice of James Earl Jones is no better than that of Constantino Romero, and the voices of Latin America simply do not shade him
George Lucas himself was fascinated when he heard the European Spanish version