Courtney B. Vance Recalls Rehearsing Heartbreaking ‘Fences’ Scene With James Earl Jones for the Tony Awards: ‘The Tears and Snot Flowed’
variety.comCourtney B. Vance Courtney B. Vance is a Tony- and Emmy-winning actor and the president of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation. To Vance, legendary actor James Earl Jones was known as “Jimmy.” The two first met in the 1980s while starring in August Wilson’s drama “Fences,” which went on to win the Pulitzer Prize and four Tony Awards, including Jones’ prize for best leading actor in a play.
Here, Vance reflects on the “Fences” family, their enduring friendship and his final visit with his onstage father. James lived in upstate New York, and I was there about six months ago.
The whole family was there, and we were all just laughing, talking about old times. He said to me, “Courtney, they’ve got me so ensconced in this bubble, I think I’m gonna live to be 100.” I said, “Jimmy, I know you will.” We didn’t have a chance to reminisce about our experience with “Fences,” what that time in our lives meant to us.
That’s my only regret. [In the 1980s] Lloyd Richards, the director and master teacher, had set up a template where August Wilson’s plays went to all the regional theaters, and we’d workshop the play as we went.
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