John Amos death: “Good Times”, “Roots” actor was 84 years old

John Amos, the prolific actor known for his work in the sitcoms “Good Times” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” the film “Coming to America” ​​and the miniseries “Roots,” has died. He was 84.

Amos' publicist Belinda Foster confirmed news of his death to the Associated Press on Tuesday. Further details were initially not known.

For three years and three seasons, Amos was adored by audiences across the country as the hard-hearted patriarch of the Evans family on the 1970s sitcom Good Times. Amos played James Evans, a hard-working Korean War veteran with a withering eye and sharp mind who did everything he could to provide for his family.

Like any great TV dad, Amos loved all of his TV kids equally – which became a point of contention behind the scenes as scripts began to focus more and more on the comedic antics of the eldest Evans child, JJ (Jimmie “JJ” Walker). . In a 2014 interview with the Television Academy, Amos recalled expressing concerns that the show placed “too much emphasis on JJ and his chicken hat” while neglecting James Evans' “other two children.”

According to Amos, his creative differences with the “Good Times” producers – including the legendary Norman Lear – led to him being labeled a “nuisance” and fired from the show. Lear personally called Amos to deliver the news.

“I didn’t swear or anything. I just hung up,” Amos told the Television Academy.

“And he didn’t call me back to ask if I had anything else to say. I haven’t heard from him for months.”

Amos recovered quickly and triumphantly from the firing, earning an Emmy nomination in 1977 for his powerful performance as the adult Kunta Kinte in “Roots,” the groundbreaking miniseries about slavery based on Alex Haley's novel of the same name.

Before being cast as the series' main character (along with LeVar Burton, who played the young Kunta Kinte), Amos auditioned for two other roles. When he was finally invited to read for the “unique role” of Kinte, Amos “almost fainted.”

“I couldn’t believe it,” he told the TV Academy in 2014. “It was like I had won the lottery.”

Amos was aware of the impact his performance and “Roots” had on the audience, letting him know in real time how deeply they were touched by Kinte’s revolutionary story.

“I was on the highway and this big brother pulls up next to me in this piece of old Detroit steel,” Amos recalled in an interview with The Times 40 years after “Roots” premiered.

“He said, 'Man, stop!' So I stopped the car. He said, “Hey, Man, I saw “Roots” on TV last night, man. Man, it really touched me… I was halfway there, got my .38 and turned on the TV!' That was the funniest thing that happened. I hope he didn’t want me to reimburse him.”

Amos was born on December 27, 1939 in Newark, New Jersey. He attended East Orange High School, where he played football, while singer Dionne Warwick was a cheerleader, according to the New York Times.

Amos stayed in athletics for a while. He was a running back at Colorado State before an unsuccessful stint with the Denver Broncos and was cut by the Kansas City Chiefs after tearing his Achilles tendon, a season-ending injury. Amos credited former Chiefs coach Hank Stram with helping him realize his true passion.

“Young man, you are not a football player,” Stram told him. “You are a young man who happens to play football.”

While grieving the impending loss of his football career, Amos wrote a poem that Stram had him read for his teammates. The team gave him a standing ovation.

“When (Stram) saw the team's reaction to the poem, he said, 'I think you have a different calling,'” Amos recalled in 2012.

After retiring from the NFL, Amos turned to writing before moonlighting as a comedy writer for the small screen. He began his entertainment career as a staff writer for the 1969 CBS musical variety series “The Leslie Uggams Show.”

In 1970, Amos landed his first major acting role as Gordy the Weatherman on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” after some writers working on “Uggams” and “Mary Tyler Moore” at the same time decided he was perfect for the film role would be suitable.

“Honestly, I never looked back after that,” Amos told the Los Angeles Times in 2012.

Amos went on to appear in dozens of groundbreaking television series, including “Good Times,” “Roots,” “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “Sanford and Son,” “Hunter” and “The West Wing.” He portrayed military commander-in-chief Percy “Fitz” Fitzwallace.

Amid the high-stakes political drama of the groundbreaking series about a fictional president and his staff, Admiral Fitzwallace was often the voice of reason, able to command a room as effectively as Amos did the screen.

“For that role of Admiral Percy Fitzwallace… I would have paid her,” Amos told the TV Academy.

“The uniform itself was one thing, all the salad dressing – fruit salad we would call it – his medals. As soon as I put on that jacket, I became commander in chief.”

Amos was once a TV writer himself and never missed an opportunity to praise the creators – even Lear, who eventually reunited with the ousted “Good Times” star for “704 Hauser.” In the short-lived series, Amos played the liberal father of a young conservative activist who lives in Archie Bunker's old house in Queens.

“I've matured to the point where if I had creative differences, I would say, 'Norman, can I talk to you?' rather than threatening physical harm,” Amos joked in a 2012 interview with The Times.

The actor was married twice: first to Noel J. Mickelson, the mother of his children, from 1965 to 1975, then briefly to actress Lillian Lehman in the late 1970s.

More recently, Amos denied reports from his daughter Shannon in 2023 in which she accused her brother Kelly “KC” Amos of neglecting their father and failing to properly care for him. The elder Amos was hospitalized in 2023 but recovered after treatment for fluid buildup in his lower body.

“I will say this for now: This story of neglect is false and undeserved,” Amos said in a statement in March after the LAPD launched an investigation into the allegations. “The real truth will soon come out and you will hear it from me. Believe it.”

In addition to his extensive work on the small screen, Amos appeared in a number of films, such as Coming to America. In the classic 1988 comedy, he played Cleo McDowell, restaurateur and father of Eddie Murphy's love interest.

Even after his acting career took off, Amos didn't stop writing. For decades he traveled around the United States performing a one-man show he wrote about an 87-year-old man waiting for Halley's Comet to return.

Amos told the Television Academy in 2014 that he wanted to be remembered as “a guy who made people laugh” and “made people think.”

“I just want to be remembered as someone who was fun to watch and enjoyed having his home,” he said.

“It's a good feeling to know that a stranger sitting somewhere in a remote town is laughing so hard that he forgets his ongoing misery or problems and says to his family, 'Hey, it's John Amos.' Come in here! Let's laugh.' I mean, is there anything better than that?”

Former staff writer Susan King and the Associated Press contributed to this report.