Remembering “Good Times” and “Roots” actor John Amos, who has died aged 84

John Landis knew exactly what he was doing when he cast John Amos opposite James Earl Jones in 1988's Coming to America. The audience viewed both of them primarily as fathers. Jones cut an intimidating figure as King Jaffe Joffer, father of Eddie Murphy's Prince Akeem.

Amos, as Cleo McDowell, was his opposite: the slightly awkward if protective father of Shari Headley's Lisa, whom citizen Akeem wooed, much to his family's dismay. To anyone who grew up in the era of Norman Lear's dominance of prime-time comedy, Amos is known as James Evans Sr., the hard-working father and husband of Esther Rolle's Florida Evans on “Good Times.”

For this reason, he was considered one of the first great black TV dads and an instantly recognizable face on television and film.

On Tuesday, Amos' son Kelly Christopher Amos confirmed in a statement that the actor died of natural causes on August 21 in Los Angeles. He was 84.

Amos and Jones, who died Sept. 9, both appeared in the acclaimed 1977 miniseries “Roots.” However, Jones played Alex Haley in the present day of the story, while Amos portrayed the older version of Kunta Kinte in the 19th century, for which he received an Emmy nomination.

Jones' assured expressiveness and beefy presence are instantly recognizable in films and television series, including a recurring role on “The West Wing” as Admiral Percy Fitzwallace and head of Homicide and boss of the title character in the first season of NBC's “Hunters.”

In addition to his appearances in Coming to America and Coming to America 2 in 2021, Amos starred in Die Hard 2 in the 1990s. He made his film debut in 1971 in Melvin Van Peebles' “Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song.”

John Alan Amos Jr. was born on December 27, 1939 in Newark, New Jersey to John Amos Sr., a mechanic, and Annabelle, who worked as a housekeeper before returning to school to become a nutritionist.

Amos graduated from Colorado State University with a degree in sociology, where he played football. He then played for several professional teams, briefly signing as a free agent with the Denver Broncos in 1964 and the Kansas City Chiefs in 1967, being cut from both teams before pursuing an acting career.

Amos' first major television role was as weatherman Gordon “Gordy” Howard on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” between 1970 and 1973. Then came “Good Times,” a spin-off of Norman Lear's “Maude,” which starred Amos' character was presented for the first time.

As James Evans Sr., Amos said he was proud to have portrayed the economic reality of many Americans during the economic depression of the mid-1970s. James was a steadfast patriarch of a working-class family on Chicago's South Side struggling to make ends meet, earning what he could by juggling part-time jobs.

Behind the scenes, Amos clashed with Lear and the show's writers over their inauthentic depictions of black life and the elevation of Jimmie Walker's cartoonish JJ, Florida and James' eldest son, to the center of attention.

In a 2017 interview with “Sway in the Morning,” Amos recalled that when the show began, there were no Black writers. Amos, who wrote and appeared on “The Leslie Uggams Show” in 1969, took issue with some of the portrayals.

“They kept talking about their successes and the rest, and I looked at each one of them and said, 'Well, how long have you been black?' “This just doesn’t happen in the community,” Amos said at the time, as reported on Ebony.com. “‘We don’t think like that. We don't behave like that. We won't let our children do that.'”

Eventually, Lear fired Amos and revealed James' death off-screen in the 1976 two-part fourth season premiere.

Lear and Amos improved their relationship to the point that Lear joined him in the short-lived CBS sitcom “704 Hauser,” the final “All in the Family” spinoff in which Amos stars as a liberal father who moves into Archie Bunker's former bunker. a top position at home in Queens. It lasted five episodes. He also made a surprise appearance during ABC's live recreation of a “Good Times” episode featuring many celebrities in 2019.

But Amos had already reprized his TV father role on other shows, including “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” where he played Will's stepfather; “All About the Andersons,” in which he co-starred with Anthony Anderson in the role of his father; and “Martin,” where he appeared as the no-nonsense father of Thomas Mikal Ford’s character Tommy.

According to Amos' son, the actor's final TV appearance will be in the upcoming drama “Suits: LA.”