R.I.P. John Amos, prolific TV actor and star of Good Times

Amos also had roles in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Roots, and more

By Emma Keates  |  October 1, 2024 | 3:57pm
Photo: Bobby Bank/WireImage (Getty)
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R.I.P. John Amos, prolific TV actor and star of Good Times
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John Amos, the beloved TV dad best known for his roles on Good Times and Roots, died in his home in Los Angeles on August 21 of natural causes. His son, Kelly Christopher Amos confirmed the news in a statement shared with Variety. “He was a man with the kindest heart and a heart of gold… and he was loved the world over. Many fans consider him their TV father. He lived a good life. His legacy will live on in his outstanding works in television and film,” he said. “He was my dad, my best friend, and my hero. Thank you for your prayers and support at this time.” Amos was 84.

Born in Newark, New Jersey in 1939, Amos had a brief football career before landing his first major acting role as affable weatherman Gordy Howard on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He appeared in about a dozen episodes from 1970 until the show’s conclusion in 1977. In that time, he also appeared in other series like Maude and The New Dick Van Dyke Show, a few films including Vanishing Point and Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, and a well-known McDonald’s commercial with Anson Williams, which he said helped him put his kids through college, per The Hollywood Reporter.

It was in 1974 that Amos got his true big break, when he was asked to audition for the part of James Evans Sr., the patriarch of a three-child family, for a new CBS show. Good Times, a Norman Lear-developed spinoff of Maude, which was itself a spinoff of All In The Family, was the first sitcom ever to center around a Black family. Amos starred in the show for three seasons before ideological differences around some of the show’s more stereotypical storylines compelled the writers to kill off his character in 1976. In a 2014 interview with the TV Academy Foundation, Amos said he and Lear “had a number of differences.” Amos thought too much emphasis was being placed on one of his fictional sons, J.J., who wore a “chicken hat, saying “Dy-no-mite!” every third page,” while the show could get more mileage out of the other two children, “one of whom aspired to become a Supreme Court Justice… and the other… who aspired to become a surgeon.”

“But I wasn’t the most diplomatic guy in those days, and they got tired of having their lives threatened over jokes,” he admitted. “That taught me a lesson — I wasn’t as important as I thought I was to the show or to Norman Lear’s plans.”

It didn’t keep him down, though. A year after his Good Times character was killed off, Amos was again approached to star as the older version of Kunta Kinte on the acclaimed miniseries Roots. “It was just what I needed,” the actor said of the role in the same 2014 interview. “It took the bad taste of Good Times out of my mouth… Roots was a vindication. There was a tremendous feeling of satisfaction.”

Amos continued to have a tremendous career, with nearly 100 film and television credits combined. Some other notable roles included Fred Wilkes in The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, Admiral Percy Fitzwallace in The West Wing, Deacon Eller in Ballers, and Buddy Lissons in The Righteous Gemstones. More recently, he and his son produced a documentary about his life called America’s Dad.

In his interview, the Television Academy Foundation asked Amos how he would like to be remembered. His response: “As a guy who made people laugh, who made people think a little bit and who didn’t hold himself up to be some philosopher—a guy who had a wonderful ride through life[.] As someone people enjoyed watching and enjoyed having in their homes.”

 
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