The entertainment industry lost one of its living legends on Monday, September 9 with the passing of James Earl Jones. The Oscar-nominated actor’s iconic deep voice became a marker of sophistication, drama, and prestige—and, occasionally, late-night comedy gold.
After news of Jones’ passing broke on Monday, many late-night fans began fondly remembering his turns on Late Show with David Letterman. Letterman’s team shared a highlight reel of these moments, putting together clips from nine different appearances the actor made on the program over the years (which you can watch above).
Those moments include a classic 1999 Top Ten List about the effects of Y2K—and, fittingly, a 2001 list devoted to the Top Ten Things That Sound Cool When Spoken by James Earl Jones. (The actor was game enough to recite such ridiculous lines as “objects in mirror may be closer than they appear,” the meow-filled Meow Mix cat food jingle, and “Wassssuppp?”)
Letterman also called in that booming voice via telephone, at one time having Jones recite a list of baseball injuries for no other reason than giving viewers the opportunity to hear them recited in such a classy manner.
Jones even appeared on Late Show to read excerpts from the autobiography of Richard Simmons, another frequent Letterman guest, who passed away in July.
“The Letterman show was genius. And James Earl Jones totally got it,”wrote journalist and TCM host Ben Mankiewicz on X/Twitter. “TV can be so great. Two legit legends at work.”
Jill Leiderman, a producer on Late Show, added a tribute of her own to Letterman’s Instagram post. She described Jones as “so kind, gracious, professional, warm, and generously willing to do whatever Dave + the writers dreamt up. A pure delight to work with—in person or over the phone.”
