James Earl Jones delivers a riveting performance as paranoid patriarch King Lear, an aging monarch who insists that his three daughters prove their love for him, only to learn he's exalted the two who seek to destroy him. This live performance recording of Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival production deftly envisions the bard's haunting tragedy with a fine supporting cast, including Raul Julia, Paul Sorvino and Rene Auberjonois.

James Earl Jones
as King Lear

Douglass Watson
as Kent

Paul Sorvino
as Gloucester

Raúl Juliá
as Edmund

Rosalind Cash
as Goneril

Lee Chamberlin
as Cordelia

Ellen Holly
as Regan

Robert Stattel
as Albany

Robert Lanchester
as Cornwall

Lou Quinones
as Burgundy