James Earl Jones Was An Absolute Hunk When He Was Younger

Believe it or not, James Earl Jones with the comforting, powerful voice perfect for narration had a prominent stutter as a child. It was so intense, in fact, that Jones barely spoke for years. "I didn't want to talk bad enough that I just gave up," he told NPR. "...it was too

Believe it or not, James Earl Jones — with the comforting, powerful voice perfect for narration — had a prominent stutter as a child. It was so intense, in fact, that Jones barely spoke for years. "I didn't want to talk — bad enough that I just gave up," he told NPR. "...it was too painful."

What he could do, however, was help others. "There was another pupil who sat behind me who was also a stutterer and the teacher, who was young, would shake him, and I'd say, 'L-l-lll-l-let me teach him' and I took over his studies, or when he had to talk," Jones recalled, per the Daily Mail. "I understood him. I understood that shaking him was not going to help."

It took a passionate high school teacher, and the act of writing and reciting poetry, for Jones to find his own voice. His teacher "insisted that I read [my poetry] out loud. ... That sort of gave me some confidence in uttering words," he told MLive.

To this day, Jones said his stutter is still part of his life. "I don't say I was 'cured,'" he told NPR. "I just work with it."

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