Welcome to Hard Talk from the BBC World Service with me, Stephen Sacker.

The legendary American actor James Earl Jones has died at the age of 93.

In 2011, I had the chance to speak with him in London's West End, where he'd come to star in the play Driving Miss Daisy.

He was born into poverty in the deep south during the

era of segregation. He moved to New York and took up acting when young black men were supposed to

know their place and stick to it. Six decades on, he was the recipient of an honorary Oscar for his lifetime achievements.

And when I spoke to him, he was still starring in plays on both sides of the Atlantic in his 80s.

He was perhaps best known across the world for his unique voice, rich and deep, which became

the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars movies.

He lived through times of enormous social change in America, from the fight for civil rights

to the election of a black president. I asked him how close the US had come to genuine racial equality. James Earl Jones, welcome to Hard Talk.

Welcome to our theatre. Well, thank you very much. The Wyndham's.

The Wyndham's Theatre, where you, for weeks, have been treading the boards in a pretty

exacting role in the play Driving Miss Daisy. A lovely role and a great pleasure to be in him.

Well, I just wonder whether it is any harder these days to get up for all of the rehearsing,

all of the preparation, all of the grueling physical endurance you have to have for a daily play.

Everybody works, you know. The prime minister works, the president works, or plays, either one, and then sleeps. So that's

all, that's all we do. And it's not hard to go to work with this play. It's really such a pleasure

doing it with Vanessa Redza Redgrave and Boy

Gaines. I just wonder if this play particularly resonates with you because it's set in Atlanta

in the South during the era of segregation. Of course, you were born and raised in your very

earliest years in Mississippi during the era of segregation. Does this particularly

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