JAMES EARL JONES MY LIFE IN 10 Pictures

"I just try to be content wherever I am." -James Earl Jones

HE'S KNOWN for the dulcet tones in everything from Star Wars to CNN ads. But growing up in Mississippi and Michigan, James Earl Jones suffered from a severe stutter and barely spoke at all. "One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can't utter." But through poetry and then the stage, James found his voice. "It was language. It was speech. It was the things that I'd been denied all those years and had denied myself all those years." Now, there's no denying he's one of the world's most respected actors - moving easily among theater, film and TV. And James, who turns 92 on Jan. 17, has no plans to stop moving. "I feel young at heart, and I love to work and will continue to act for as long as I can."

1) 1964 DIRECT HIT For his film debut as a bombardier in Dr. Strangelove, James felt "fortunate" to work with director Stanley Kubrick. But the actor admitted, "He was unique - the only man I have ever known who spoke in the manner, if not the accent, of an English lord and chewed gum at the same time."

2) 1970 HOPE NOT "I'm not happy with any film I've done," he's revealed. But with The Great White Hope, James was really "disappointed" in bringing his Tony-winning role as boxer Jack Jefferson to the screen. "I didn't know how to do film acting...I was lost."