Science behind James Earl Jones’ life with stuttering

James Earl Jones, the iconic voice of Darth Vader, has died. Creative collaborators and famous fans alike, from Mark Hamill to Denzel Washington, have been coming forward to publicly mourn the late actor.

From joining the exclusive EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) club to becoming the commanding voice of CNN, Jones’ career was illustrious. But he also faced major challenges in his private life. Among them, “The Lion King” actor suffered from a severe stutter.

“The move from Mississippi to Michigan was supposed to be a glorious event,” Jones wrote in his “Voices and Silences” autobiography. “For me it was a heartbreak, and not long after, I began to stutter.”

Born Jan. 17, 1931, in Arkabutla, Mississippi, Jones grew up without his father. At 6 years old, he was adopted by his grandparents. “Mute for years in his stutterer’s shame,” he did not speak for more than a decade.

“I was mute from grade one through freshman year in high school,” he explained in a 1986 interview. “Mute because I just gave up on talking. I can’t cut it. When you’re mute that long, you become very curious about expressing yourself.”

After spending years communicating with his teachers and classmates through handwritten notes, Jones eventually experienced a major breakthrough. After discovering his gift for writing, high school educator Donald Crouch demanded he read one of his poems aloud in class. Jones did so perfectly. From there, persistent practice brought the speaking barrier tumbling.

“I could not get enough of speaking, debating, orating—acting,” Jones said in his book. What would follow was a monumental career in the arts, earning Jones two Emmys, a Golden Globe, two Tony Awards, a Grammy, the National Medal of Arts and the Kennedy Center Honor.

So stuttering, even in severe cases, can be overcome. But what precisely is a stutter? What causes this voice-crippling phenomenon?

According to the National Stuttering Association, there are a lot of factors at play.

“No one speaks perfectly all the time—we all experience disruptions in our speech,” the association reported. “For people who stutter, these disruptions, or disfluencies, are more severe and experienced more consistently. For some, stuttering goes away in childhood, for others, it persists throughout adulthood. Why is this?

“Researchers currently believe that stuttering is caused by a combination of factors, including genetics, language development, environment, as well as brain structure and function,” it continued. “Working together, these factors can influence the speech of a person who stutters.”

Stuttering, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, often begins between the ages of 2 and 6, as a child’s language faculties are beginning to grow at a more rapid pace. Around 3 million Americans suffer from the speech disorder, and 5% to 10% of all children experience stuttering, lasting anywhere from a few weeks to several years.

While 75% of children recover from stuttering, a quarter of them can be affected for a lifetime. The causes of stuttering are still unknown, but there are two likely culprits: developmental and neurogenic.

“Developmental stuttering occurs in young children while they are still learning speech and language skills,” the institute reported. “It is the most common form of stuttering. Some scientists and clinicians believe that developmental stuttering occurs when children’s speech and language abilities are unable to meet the child’s verbal demands.”

A less common form of stuttering may be the result of brain damage.

“Neurogenic stuttering may occur after a stroke, head trauma, or other type of brain injury,” the institute said. “With neurogenic stuttering, the brain has difficulty coordinating the different brain regions involved in speaking, resulting in problems in production of clear, fluent speech.”

A possible cause currently being investigated by researchers is family genes.

“For example, scientists have been working to identify the possible genes responsible for stuttering that tend to run in families,” The NIDCD said.

“NIDCD scientists have now identified variants in four such genes that account for some cases of stuttering in many populations around the world, including the United States and Europe. All of these genes encode proteins that direct traffic within cells, ensuring that various cell components get to their proper location within the cell. Such deficits in cellular trafficking are a newly recognized cause of many neurological disorders. Researchers are now studying how this defect in cellular trafficking leads to specific deficits in speech fluency.”

Jones’ legacy as a world-class entertainer and artist outshines his decade of silence. The legendary actor died Sept. 9 in his Hudson Valley, New York, home at the age of 93.

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