This Is US star Ron Cephas Jones dies aged 66 as family share emotional tribute
Emmy Award-winning actor Ron Cephas Jones has died at the age of 66. The star was most famous for his role as William Hill on This Is Us but also appeared on hit shows such as Law & Order: Organized Crime. Announcing his death on Saturday, the actor's family told People magazine: “Beloved and award-winning actor Ron Cephas Jones has passed away at the age of 66 due to a long-standing pulmonary issue.
“Throughout the course of his career, his warmth, beauty, generosity, kindness and heart were felt by anyone who had the good fortune of knowing him.
“He began his career at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and his love for the stage was present throughout his entire career, including his recent Tony-nominated and Drama Desk Award-winning performance for his role in Clyde’s on Broadway.”
Award-winning actor Ron Cephas Jones has died at the age of 66. (Getty Images)“Ron’s inner-beauty and soul was evident to the huge audience from his multi-Emmy award-winning performance on This is Us. He is survived by his daughter Jasmine Cephas Jones."
The hit NBC show This Is Us ran from 2016 to last year and saw Jones take home two Emmys - one in 2018 and the other in 2020.
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On it, Jones played Randall Pearson’s (Sterling K. Brown) biological father William Hill.
The win in 2020 was extra special as his daughter,. Jasmine, also took home an Emmy for outstanding performance in a short form comedy or drama - leaving the pair as the first father-daughter combo to win Emmys in the same year.
The star told in a 2021 interview with the New York Times that he had received a double lung transplant in 2020.
A heavy smoker, Jones had been plagued by poor breathing for years but admitted he ignored the problem.
This was until his first year in This Is Us where he had an x-ray and was told he had advanced emphysema, a pulmonary condition in which damage to the lungs deprives the blood of oxygen.
He carried on for a year longer but after one incident on set where he became short of breath and had to be taken away in an ambulance, Jones changed his mind.
Ron Cephas Jones played William Hill in This Is Us and won two Emmys for his performances (NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via)He told the New York Times: "“I was in total denial. I told myself that it would pass, or that I was just getting older. I was afraid and didn’t want to change what I wasn’t ready to change.”
As well as This Is Us, Jones also starred in the Netflix Marvel series Luke Cage, NYPD Blue, Mr. Robot and Dolemite Is My Name.
Fans of the show swarmed to social media to pay tribute to Jones as news of his death broke.
One said: "Ron Cephas Jones had a prolific career, but he gave one of the greatest TV performances of the 2010s as William on This Is Us. The episode dedicated to his character’s passing is a masterpiece, and a perfect, fitting microcosm of his gifts as a performer. May he rest in peace."
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Another said: "We’re sad to hear about the passing of actor Ron Cephas Jones who has died at the age of 66. Rest in power. An incredible talent. He will be missed."
A third added: "Ron Cephas Jones has some of the best performances I’ve seen in the last 15 years playing the wise older man in television. He created history with his daughter Jasmine Cephas Jones being the first father-daughter to win Emmys same year. Rest in Power."
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