In sad news for generations of movie- and theater-goers, acclaimed actor James Earl Jones (01/17/1931, Capricorn Horse) has died at age 93. 

Over his lifetime, Jones achieved an incredible oeuvre. The New York Times obituary describes, “scores of plays, nearly 90 television network dramas and episodic series, and some 120 movies,” and Jones was also a Grammy-award-winning voiceover artist. Yet over and above his acclaimed performances on stage and screen, Jones’ perhaps most famous work went uncredited at his request, at least initially. Motivated by respect for the actor who physically performed the role of Darth Vader in the first two Star Wars films, Jones asked not to be credited for his voiceover. But it was his distinctive, richly hypnotic baritone—spliced with the sound effect of a SCUBA regulator—that turned the good-turned-evil man-machine created by George Lucas (05/14/1944, Taurus Monkey) into one of the most memorable movie characters of all time. Jones’ delivery of lines like, “I am your father,” and “I find your lack of faith disturbing,” became ingrained into the cultural fabric of the twentieth century. 

Aside perhaps from the Dragon, James Earl Jones’ Chinese sign of the Horse is more associated with public performance—and acting specifically—than any other Chinese sign. Famous actors born under this sign tend to exude incomparable charisma, the likes of Steve McQueen (03/24/1930, Aries Horse), Sean Connery (08/25/1930, Virgo Horse), Jennifer Lawrence (08/15/1990, Leo Horse), Jackie Chan (04/07/1954, Aries Horse), Kristen Stewart (04/09/1990, Aries Horse), Emma Watson (04/15/1990, Aries Horse), James Dean (02/08/1931, Aquarius Horse), Margot Robbie (07/02/1990, Cancer Horse), Harrison Ford (07/13/1942, Cancer Horse), Clint Eastwood (05/31/1930, Gemini Horse), and Rita Hayworth (10/17/1918, Libra Horse). In fact, the eternal independence of the Horse sign, ever motivated to go it alone in some way or another, seems to convey a uniquely cinematic brand of magnetic presence. Whether appearing physically on-screen or simply projecting his voice, James Earl Jones seems to have embodied this transfixing performative energy.

The Horse sign is equally known for their devotion and hard work, traits which are also synonymous with Jones’ Western sign of Capricorn. An Earth sign which represents patience and diligence, enlivened by Cardinal energy with its affinity for beginnings and possibilities, Capricorn can be masterful at taking control of their own destiny, and gently but resolutely bending others to their will. Perhaps the most singularly remarkable aspect of James Earl Jones’ legacy is not merely his screen presence and speaking voice, but the fact that traumas in his childhood meant he was mute until the age of eight. He recounted the role of trauma in his devotion to acting, saying in 1974 that:

Just discovering the joy of communicating set [acting] up for me, I think. In a very personal way, once I found out that I could communicate verbally again, it became a very personal thing for me, like making up for lost time, making up for the years that I didn’t speak. 

Jones described channelling the traumas of youth into his actual performances, saying in 1968, “No matter how old the character I play, even if I’m playing Lear, those deep childhood memories, those furies, will come out. I understand this.” There is a remarkable synergy between this description and an account of performances given by blues singer Janis Joplin (01/19/1943), whose on-stage intensity became the stuff of legend, and who shares an almost identical matrix of energy with Jones. 

When you’re performing, it’s like you’re aware of the fact that you’re that you’re standing on a stage and that people are looking at you, so what you do is, like, I suppose an actress; you put your head in a place where you recall all these emotions, ’cause you can’t really feel ’em standing out on stage…like, you don’t say, “Well, now I’m going to remember January the 14th, when so-in-so kicked me in the teeth,” I mean, you don’t really do that. But you just, when you’re singing the tune, you sort of like put your head in a place, in an emotional place that is apt to that tune.

Another performer born just days after Jones, on the cusp between Capricorn and Aquarius, in a Horse year was soul singer Sam Cooke (01/22/1931, Aquarius Horse). Shortly before his tragic murder, Cooke released what became known as a civil rights anthem, “A Change is Gonna Come”, and Jones similarly sought to leverage his fame by bringing racial consciousness into the mainstream. In a 1998 interview expressing his admiration for the actor Sidney Poitier (02/20/1927, Pisces Rabbit), Jones explained:

Well, that was not part of the bargain that you be valid on other issues besides being Black, you know, Hollywood, at that time was not really used to that…So I’m sure they conjure stories. I know the stories about violence, about hitting people was conjured about me, and it’s not that there’s somebody up at the top, you know, pulling these strings, but there is a puppetry going on. And especially in the PR world, if you want to get somebody in the spotlight, what’s the quickest way to do it? A little something that’s not quite true, but interesting. And all these little games that are played, you could you get caught in them sometimes, you know? But there are games. And Sidney just wanted to be, to represent more than that, yeah, [than] the Black thing.

Other celebrities who in diverse ways have fulfilled the destiny of the Capricorn Horse combined sign, blending determination and an instinct for understanding power structures with independent performativity and charisma, include actor/director Kevin Costner (01/18/1955, Capricorn Horse) and actor Willa Fitzgerald (01/17/1991, Capricorn Horse).

Nobel-prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison (02/18/1931, Aquarius Sheep) once described that writing goodness was more complicated than evil: that evil dresses up in a tuxedo and top hat, while goodness “lurks backstage and bites its tongue.” Unquestionably, Darth Vader is a tuxedoed villain par excellence. On top of his other countless achievements, there is something wonderful about James Earl Jones humbly letting others take the credit.