Inside James Earl Jones’ 34-Year Marriage to Cecilia Hart: ‘I Could Relax and Be Myself with Her’

James Earl Jones, who died at age 93 on Monday, Sept. 9, left behind a powerful body of work on both screen and stage. But another part of his legacy was his 34-year marriage with Cecilia Hart. 

“She made me laugh. She was stimulating,” the late actor wrote in his 1993 memoir Voices and Silences. “And she did not seem to take me seriously at all, which meant I could relax and be myself with her.”

Jones, who was previously married to Julienne Marie Hendricks from 1968 to 1972, met Hart on a television series that ended up being short-lived: Paris, a police procedural from Steven Bochco that ran for 13 episodes between 1979 and 1980. The Lion King actor starred as Detective Captain "Woody" Paris, while Hart, who had also previously been married to actor Bruce Weitz, played Sergeant Stacey Erickson. 

The project marked the first collaboration for the couple, who went on to star together in a production of Othello in 1982. That same year, they tied the knot at the United Nations chapel in New York City and welcomed their son Flynn (who later worked as Jones’ assistant). “He was conceived on our wedding night,” Jones told The New York Times in 2012. 

Although Hart and Jones kept their personal life in Dutchess County, New York out of the spotlight, the two were often each other’s dates for red carpet events in the city. As they each worked on various acting projects, the Star Wars star often praised his wife in interviews. “She’s how I stay grounded,” he told The New York Times, amid the “glitter” of show business. 

In a PEOPLE interview in 2009, Jones indicated it was Hart who suggested to him he should accept the part of the reclusive Terence Mann in Kevin Costner's 1989 movie Field of Dreams.

"That's on my cherished list," he said of the hit project. "My wife read the script before I got home. She said, 'Here's a little movie you've got to do.' It was a family… That was special."

Speaking to the Washington Post in 2014, Jones shed light on some of his own family’s daily routines.

“Rest is important, and it’s hard to get on this schedule,” he said at the time. “But I try to get eight hours every night. Which is not something I’m used to. I’m used to staying up until 1 o’clock, 2 o’clock. But my wife feeds me well, [and] I do moderate exercise on the treadmill or the step-up, just to get the heart going.”

He also recalled meeting Hart’s parents and asking them to approve the marriage. Jones joked that the only problem in marrying Hart was that he “had to stop flirting with her mother.”

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Tragically, Hart died in 2016 at age 68 of ovarian cancer. Jones gave his wife of 34 years a touching tribute when, at the 2017 Tony Awards, he accepted a Special Tony for Lifetime Achievement. 

"I want to thank my wife Ceci for being such a wonderful companion in my life and in my work," he said onstage. "And for being the great co-producer of our son Flynn and for being so dazzling on the red carpet."