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Darth Vader is gone

The first thing that comes to mind for me is the baseball speech in Field of Dreams. That's what I'll most remember him for.


Ray, people will come, Ray.

They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway, not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past.

"Of course, we won't mind if you look around," you'll say. "It's only twenty dollars per person." They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it. For it is money they have and peace they lack.

And they'll walk out to the bleachers, and sit in shirt-sleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game, and it'll be as if they'd dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick, they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come, Ray.

The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball.

America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game -- it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again.

Ohhhhhhhh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.
 
The first thing that comes to mind for me is the baseball speech in Field of Dreams. That's what I'll most remember him for.


Ray, people will come, Ray.

They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway, not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past.

"Of course, we won't mind if you look around," you'll say. "It's only twenty dollars per person." They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it. For it is money they have and peace they lack.

And they'll walk out to the bleachers, and sit in shirt-sleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game, and it'll be as if they'd dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick, they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come, Ray.

The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball.

America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game -- it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again.

Ohhhhhhhh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.
That was my first thought as well.
 
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Truly great career - such a deep, powerful and unmistakable voice.

Growing up in the 70s & 80s, I'll always associate him with Darth Vader. His character in Field of Dreams is memorable but I also liked him in lesser roles in movies I enjoyed like The Sandlot, Coming to America and Clear and Present Danger.
 
Funny story from The Hollywood Reporter yesterday:

“Once, while traveling cross-country, Jones broke out his Darth Vader voice on the CB radio scanner. “The truck drivers would really freak out — for them, it was Darth Vader. I had to stop doing that,” he told The New York Times magazine.”

The man must have had a good sense of humor. Icon. Legend. He will be dearly missed. Rest In Peace.
 
While it was far from one of his iconic roles, I always remember Mr. Jones' change-of-pace turn as a blind man in an episode of Frasier.

Frasier had accompanied his producer Roz to a nursing home and Jones' character overheard Frasier in the hallway, During the course of a short version, they carried on a conversation during which Frasier dropped a mask made in the shape of Jones' wife's face that had been made by Jones' daughter.

Frasier is frantically trying to glue the nose which had broken off the mask while trying to hide the fact that something is wrong from a very perceptive blind man. Finally at the end, Frasier, overcome with guilt, confesses he had dropped the mask. Jones, replies something to the effect of, so that's why you wanted my denture adhesive. I've probably dropped that mask a half-dozen times, that stuff usually works pretty well.

Rest in peace Mr. Jones.
 
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