ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 12, 1996 TAG: 9604120017
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: EXTRA EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: KATHLEEN SAMPEY ASSOCIATED PRESS
James Earl Jones stands in a New York City hotel suite engrossed in something atop the mantelpiece of the room's fireplace. He hears someone enter and, without looking up, says, ``Hello.''
It's the voice that welcomes people to Bell Atlantic.
It is a commanding, but not unfriendly, voice and becomes less intimidating when followed by his broad smile and outstretched hand.
Dressed in black slacks and matching blazer with a blue buttoned-down shirt open at the neck, he settles his 6-foot-11/2-inch frame into a too-soft chair to talk about his new movie.
``A Family Thing,'' now playing at the Salem Valley 8, is the story of a white man, played by Robert Duvall, who discovers he has a black half-brother named Ray Murdock, played by Jones.
``He's a simple guy, you know,'' Jones said of Murdock. ``I'm not often asked to do something with this simplicity.''
His voice has dropped to just above a whisper and stays that way for most of the interview.
Murdock is a Chicago cop slouching toward retirement. When Duvall's character confronts him, both men are shaken from what they thought was the ordinariness of their lives. From there, the story unfolds, not as a study in race relations, Jones said, but as the study of a family going through a search for its identity.
``You're raised to think of yourself as one thing, and you realize that's not what you are,'' he said of the story.
``Race doesn't define the characters in the story. What's interesting about the story is that people discover what they are aside from being black or white.''
Smiling, he adds, ``We are who we are for much more interesting reasons than our color.''
As for Jones, his ubiquitous and instantly recognizable voice is how millions of people define him. But even that isn't what it seems.
When audiences see ``A Family Thing,'' they'll notice Jones' character stuttering. It's not a put-on.
``It's something that I've fought very hard against for years,'' Jones explains of the stutter that has been his companion all his life. ``But it's not difficult to let it go. Let it happen.''
Born in Arkabutla, Miss., in 1931, Jones' parents split before he was born. His maternal grandparents reared him and when they eventually moved to Michigan, Jones said his stuttering began. He was about 5.
He described his being uprooted from Mississippi as no less than traumatic. ``I remember leaving that place forever,'' Jones said. ``To me it was not the land of the KKK. It was home.
``Whenever strangers were near, I didn't talk. It was just too embarrassing,'' Jones recalled. He communicated in school through writing only. But with the help and encouragement of his high school teacher Donald Crouch, he mustered the courage to join the debating team, Jones said. When alone and in his spare time, he would read Shakespeare aloud.
Jones said he and director Richard Pearce thought the stutter would lend another dimension to Murdock, basically a man whose whole life was one of just trying to get along.
In some ways, Murdock is like James Earl Jones.
For example, Jones said he does not believe that we live in a color-blind society - nor does he care. All he wants for himself and anybody else is to be able to go about his business.
Racists can think or feel whatever way they want, he said, and in a voice suddenly reminiscent of Darth Vader, he added, ``Just don't get in my way.''
He said this with an expression of utmost benevolence; even smiled. But the eyes, dark blue, meant business.
To Jones, racism, no matter where it comes from, is equivalent to ``insanity'' and can be as all-consuming and dangerous as drugs.
``The truth about people is that we should be encouraged to drop the things that eat us up - the obsessive things, like racism or sexism, whatever,'' Jones said. ``Just drop it. Go on with your life.''
That truth is what Jones said he has tried to illustrate through the characters he has played since landing his first role in an off-Broadway production in 1957.
Although he was known for years in New York drama circles, Jones gained stardom on Broadway in 1968 for his portrayal of Jack Jefferson in ``The Great White Hope,'' a play based on the life of Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion. The role earned him his first Tony award, and he was nominated for an Academy Award for his work in the film version.
Many prominent stage and screen roles followed. But those closest to Jones' heart are the ones that were part of what he likes to call ``starless movies.'' By that he means films in which no actor's ego overshadows the artistry of trying to tell a story.
``Field of Dreams,'' makes his list. As does ``Matewan,'' ``Claudine,'' ``Cry the Beloved Country,'' and the made-for-TV movie ``The Man,'' about the first black president of the United States.
He includes ``A Family Thing'' in the ``starless'' category, despite the presence of himself and Duvall, who also produced the film.
``Robert Duvall didn't set out to make this his movie,'' Jones said admiringly.
Jones said his own role enabled him to see Duvall's acting craft up close. He marveled at what he referred to as Duvall's powerful subtlety, a skill Jones said he is still trying to teach himself in terms of film: reining himself in enough to deliver an effective, nuanced performance.
He described Duvall as an ``exacting actor'' but ``very generous, very fair.'' And finally declared him ``a pleasure to work with.''
As for how audiences will receive the film, Jones said, ``all I can do is tell a story that I think is meaningful and see what happens. I'd rather present to you people that are in trouble and disturb you in how they resolve their troubles.''
After a pause and a smile, the man whose voice almost nobody would describe as unpleasant, summed up his mission as an actor:
``I think I'd rather disturb people than make them feel good.''
LENGTH: Long : 109 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Jones.by CNB