John Amos, father of groundbreaking sitcom Good Times, dies at 84 | US television

John Amos, who played the stoic father in “Good Times” and played the elderly Kunta Kinte in Alex Haley's groundbreaking miniseries “Roots,” has died at the age of 84.

His son Kelly Christopher Amos announced that Amos died of natural causes in Los Angeles on August 21.

“It is with deep sadness that I inform you that my father has made the transition,” he said in a statement. “He was a man with the kindest heart and a heart of gold… and he was loved around the world. Many fans consider him to be their TV father. He lived a good life. His legacy will live on in his outstanding work as an actor on television and film.”

Amos initially pursued a career in football after playing at Colorado State University and trying out for the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League. His entertainment career took off when he was cast as WJN-TV weatherman Gordy Howard on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

After four seasons as a genius star in the early 1970s comedy, Amos was asked to audition for the role of James Evans Sr., husband of Esther Rolle's Florida Evans and father of three, on the CBS series Good Times. The show, which ran from 1974 to 1979, was created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans along with All in the Family creator Norman Lear. Good Times, a spin-off of Maude, itself a descendant of the groundbreaking series All in the Family, was the first sitcom to center on a black American family.

Amos starred for three seasons in the series, which is set in downtown Chicago. But the stereotypical storylines for the Evans' eldest son, JJ, played by comedian Jimmie Walker, annoyed him. Amos was eliminated from the show when he went public with his criticism.

“We had a number of differences,” Amos said of Lear in a 2014 interview for the TV Academy Foundation. “I felt there was too much emphasis on JJ with his chicken hat and 'Dy-no-mite!' said. every third page. I felt that just as much emphasis and success could have been given to my other two children, one of whom, played by Ralph Carter, wanted to be a Supreme Court Justice and the other, Bern Nadette Stanis, wanted to be a surgeon.

“But I wasn't the most diplomatic guy at the time, and (the show's producers) were tired of their lives being threatened over jokes. So they said, 'Tell you what, why don't we kill him?' We can move on with our lives!' That taught me a lesson: I wasn’t as important to the show or Norman Lear’s plans as I thought.”

Amos' character was killed in a car accident in a two-part episode that kicked off the show's fourth season in September 1976.

In the same 2014 interview, Amos became emotional as he recalled how “young men in their 30s and 40s of every ethnicity imaginable would come up to me and say, 'You are the father I never had'.”

After his time on Good Times, Lear's company hired him to play a congressman in the pilot of a series called Onward and Upward, which he also eventually dropped out of. Shortly thereafter, he was asked to star in Roots, the acclaimed 1977 ABC miniseries.

“It was exactly what I needed,” he said. “It took away the bad taste of Good Times – not that Good Times was bad through and through, but the circumstances in which I left and the bitterness between Norman Lear and I… I realize that I have a lot of things “I caused it myself.” I wasn't exactly easy to get along with or direct. I challenged everyone.”

Roots is “a vindication, an enormous feeling of satisfaction.”

Amos' other television credits include recurring roles on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, in which he plays Will Smith's stepfather, as well as Hunter, The District, Men in Trees, All About the Andersons ” and the Netflix drama “The Ranch.” He appeared in films such as The World's Greatest Athlete, Die Hard 2 and Coming to America 2.