Ron Cephas Jones, ‘This Is Us’ Actor Who Won 2 Emmys, Dies At 66

(LOS ANGELES) – Ron Cephas Jones, a seasoned stage actor who won two Emmys for his performance as a long-lost father who finds forgiveness on the NBC television drama series “This Is Us,” has died at 66, according to a spokesman.

In an emailed statement, Dan Spilo, Jones’ manager, said that the actor died “due to a long-standing pulmonary issue.”

“Throughout his career, anyone who had the good fortune of knowing him felt his warmth, beauty, generosity, kindness, and heart,” Spilo added.

Jones underwent a double lung transplant in 2020 due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and was hospitalized for over two months.

Jones portrayed William “Shakespeare” Hill in “This Is Us,” a biological father whose life is revived by his bond with the family of his son Randall Pearson, played by Sterling K. Brown.

“One of the most wonderful people the world has ever seen is no longer with us,” Brown remarked after Jones’ death in an Instagram post. “The world is a little darker. You are adored, brother. And you will be remembered.”

Jones played a more prominent role in the series’ early seasons, but she appeared in some capacity in all six seasons, which used time-jumping tales that provided recurring opportunities for its performers even after their characters died.

Jones was nominated for two Emmys for Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series in 2018 and 2020.

Ron Cephas Jones, ‘This Is Us’ Actor Who Won 2 Emmys, Dies At 66

“Ron was the best of the best — on screen, on stage, and in real life,” “This Is Us,” creator Dan Fogelman said on X, the social media platform that replaced Twitter. “Wow, what an actor. I don’t think I ever modified a single one of his takes in a cut because everything he performed was flawless.”

Before and after “This Is Us,” Jones spent most of his career in the theatre, returning to Broadway even after his transplant caused him to relearn how to breathe and walk.

“My whole life has been the stage,” Jones stated in a late 2021 interview with The New York Times, revealing that he had discreetly suffered from respiratory problems since he began working on “This Is Us.”

“The idea of not performing again seemed worse to me than death,” Jones explained.

He was nominated for a Tony Award and won a Drama Desk Award in 2022 for his Broadway performance as a truck-stop chef in Lynn Nottage’s “Clyde’s.”

Jones, a native of Paterson, New Jersey, graduated from nearby Ramapo College, where he had planned to major in jazz but changed his major to theatre during his sophomore year. He traveled the country in the late 1970s and early 1980s, working as a bus driver in Southern California for several years.

He relocated to New York in the mid-1980s, where he began hanging out and collaborating at the Nuyorican Poets Café, a significant creative hub for poetry, hip-hop, and the performing arts.

In 1994, he scored his breakthrough role as the lead in Cheryl West’s drama “Holiday Heart.”

He would spend the next few decades in the theatre, frequently in Off-Broadway productions in New York, notably a title part in Shakespeare’s “Richard III” at The Public Theatre, and roles with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago.

Jones has also appeared as a guest on “Mr. Robot,” “Luke Cage,” and “Lisey’s Story.”

His film credits include “Half Nelson” starring Ryan Gosling in 2006 and “Dolemite Is My Name” with Eddie Murphy in 2019.

His daughter, Jasmine Cephas Jones, survives him.

SOURCE – (AP)