Hard-hitting actor Jones dies

Actor Robert Earl Jones, a fixture in Broadway shows and movies and the father of actor James Earl Jones, has died aged 96.

Jones worked as a sharecropper then became a boxer before arriving in New York from Mississippi and taking up acting.

Jones played boxing champion Joe Louis in Spirit of Youth among other films before his career was interrupted in the 1950s when he was blacklisted for refusing to testify before the McCarthy hearings.

His movie career resumed in the late 1950s andhe continued acting into the 90s with roles in Odds Against Tomorrow, Wild River, The Sting and Witness.