While on a visit to NYC sometime in the mid-70s, I had the opportunity to attend an outdoor performance of King Lear in Central Park.

James Earl Jones played the title role–in whiteface! No, I have no idea why. Maybe he was just trying to be archaeologically correct. Or perhaps he was protesting, or making fun of, the practice of white actors in makeup portraying black characters. Laurence Olivier’s portrayal of Othello comes to mind. If you’ve seen the movie you’ll no doubt recall how distracting the blackface was, how poorly it was applied, and how it just didn’t go with that face.

Still, in Othello, the fact the title character is a black man is essential to the play. In Lear, the character is a fictitious king, someone who never existed. There is no point in trying to make it historically accurate. The sight of Jones’ obviously African features, not to mention that incredible voice, coming out of that pasty-white death mask was quite jarring. No amount of acting could get me around that. (All the other players were Caucasian).

He looked like an albino.