'Good Times' star John Amos dead at 84
John Amos, the Emmy-nominated actor known for his roles in "Roots," "Good Times," "The West Wing" and "Coming to America," has died. He was 84 years old.
John Amos, who played the father on "Good Times," has died. He was 84 years old.
Amos’ publicist, Belinda Foster, confirmed the news of his death Tuesday to The Associated Press. No other details were immediately available.
One of Amos’ first prominent roles was as the WJM-TV weatherman on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." He was also frequently on "The Tim Conway Comedy Hour," which ran in 1970, before he landed "Good Times" in 1974.
Amos received an Emmy nomination for his role in the 1977 miniseries "Roots."
Amos' son K.C. said in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday, "It is with heartfelt sadness that I share with you that my father has transitioned. 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 as an actor."
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Amos played James Evans Sr. on the Norman Lear-produced sitcom "Good Times," which ran from 1974 until 1979.
"That show was the closest depiction in reality to life as an African American family living in those circumstances as it could be," Amos told Time magazine in 2021 of the groundbreaking sitcom, which was the first to depict a Black two-parent family on TV.
But, Amos told Time that he sometimes grew frustrated over the show's story lines, which were developed by White writers.
"It was tooth and nail over what we felt was right. And our convictions were predicated on the experience. Me, the experience of working and living at the time as an African American. And some of his writers, who theorized what my reactions or the character’s reactions would be, predicated on a Beverly Hills point of view for the most part," he said.
He also admitted that he had anger management issues that he said came from his days playing football. Amos briefly had a contract with the Denver Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs before his acting career took off, but an injury ended his football dreams.
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"I found early on in my acting career that I couldn’t resort to the same release of pressure valves: to haul off and hit a writer, who had given me some bad material, with a forearm smash," he told Time.
He was fired after three seasons on "Good Times."
"There were several examples where I said, ‘No, you don’t do these things. It’s anathema to Black society. I’ll be the expert on that, if you don’t mind,'" he said at the time. "And it got confrontational and heated enough that ultimately my being killed off the show was the best solution for everybody concerned, myself included."
After leaving "Good Times," Amos played the adult version of the main character in "Roots."
"I knew that it was a life-changing role for me, as an actor and just from a humanistic standpoint," he told Time. "It was the culmination of all of the misconceptions and stereotypical roles that I had lived and seen being offered to me. It was like a reward for having suffered those indignities."
After "Roots," Amos continued to work in TV on shows like "The Love Boat," "The A-Team," "Murder, She Wrote" and "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air."
He was also in 1988's "Coming to America" and 1990's "Die Hard 2."
On "The West Wing," he played Adm. Percy Fitzwallace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for 22 episodes.
Amos continued to act until just before his death, most recently playing himself on the upcoming "Suits" spinoff, "Suits: LA."
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He was in Pierce Brosnon's "The Last Rifleman" in 2023 and Adam Sandler's "Uncut Gems" in 2019. He also reprised his role in the "Coming to America" sequel in 2021.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
