A Theatrical Patriarch, Onstage and Off

James Earl Jones smiled broadly as he recalled the moment, years back, when his young son couldn’t figure out why people were hovering nearby, asking for autographs.

James Earl Jones in his role in “Gore Vidal’s The Best Man,” which earned him his latest Tony nomination.
“Poppa,” he asked, “why do you have so many friends?”

Even now, at 81, after a five-decade career in show business, Mr. Jones seems to have more than his share of them. They stare as he and his wife, Cecilia Hart, emerge from a Lincoln Town Car, late for an awards ceremony at Sardi’s restaurant. They joke about his voice, the rumble that made Darth Vader so forbidding. And even before he opens his mouth in “Gore Vidal’s The Best Man” on Broadway, they shower him with applause.

Mr. Jones insists that celebrity holds no allure, and that he has never “hankered” for any particular role. But like it or not, he’s riding the wave that comes with a Tony Award nomination — his first since 2005 — thanks to his performance as the folksy yet tough ex-president, Arthur Hockstader, in the Broadway revival of Mr. Vidal’s political drama.

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