He was a biker, a boater, and one hell of a nice person! Oh, yeah, he could act!
John Amos (December 27, 1939 – August 21, 2024) Was a long time friend, live-aboard boater and Harley Rider. You might say we had a lot in common. The last time I saw him was during a filming of Two And A Half Men when Jody & I were invited to the set with him for lunch. He was best known for his role as the adult Kunte Kinta in the landmark mini series Roots and for portraying James Evans Sr. on tGood Times. His other television work includesThe Mary Tylor Mo0re Show, a recurring role in the West Wing and the role of Mayor Ethan Baker in the seriesThe Distric. Amos was nominated for aEmmy Award. On film, he played numerous supporting roles in movies such asThe Beastmaster, Coming To America, lock-Up, Die Hard 2 and Coming 2 America.
Amos was a veteran of the 50th Armored Division of the National Guard and Honorary Master Chief in the US Coast Guard. He was married twice. His first marriage, from 1965 to 1975, was to artist and equestrian Noel Mickelson and they had two children: Shannon Amos, a writer/producer and founder of Afterglow Multimedia, LLC, and Grammy-nominated director K.C. Amos. His second marriage, in 1978–79, was to actress Lillian Lehman.
Amos died of congestive heart failure at a hospital in Inglewood, California a on August 21, 2024, at the age of 84. His daughter, Shannon, was unaware that he had died until it was reported by the media. His remains were cremated nine days after his death.
Awards
In addition to receiving an Emmy nomination for Roots, Amos was nominated for a CableACE award, an NAACP Image Award, and a DVD Exclusive Award. He won three TV Land Awards for his roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Good Times and the TV miniseries Roots.
In 2020, Amos was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.
Among Amos’ film credits were “Let’s Do It Again” with Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier, “Coming to America” with Eddie Murphy and its 2021 sequel, “Die Hard 2,” “Madea’s Witness Protection” and “Uncut Gems” with Adam Sandler. He was in Ice Cube and Dr. Dre’s 1994 video “Natural Born Killaz.”
Amos’ “Good Times” character, along with wife Florida, played by Esther Rolle, originated on another Lear show, “Maude.” James Evans often worked two manual labor jobs to support his family that included three children, with Jimmie Walker becoming a breakout star as oldest son J.J.
Such was the show’s impact that Alicia Keys, Rick Ross, the Wu-Tang Clan are among the musicians who name-checked Amos or his character in their lyrics.
“Many fans consider him their TV father,” his son Kelly Christopher Amos said in a statement. “He lived a good life. His legacy will live on in his outstanding works in television and film as an actor. My father loved working as an actor throughout his entire life He was my dad, my best friend, and my hero.”
The elder Amos and Rolle were eager to portray a positive image of a Black family, struggling against the odds in a public housing project in Chicago. But they grew frustrated at seeing Walker’s character being made foolish and his role expanded.
“The fact is that Esther’s criticism, and also that of John and others — some of it very pointed and personal — seriously damaged my appeal in the Black community,” Walker wrote in his 2012 memoir “Dyn-O-Mite! Good Times, Bad Times, Our Times.”
After three seasons of critical acclaim and high ratings, Amos was fired. He had become critical of the show’s white writing staff creating storylines that he felt were inauthentic to the Black characters.
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 told Time magazine. “And it got confrontational and heated enough that ultimately my being killed off the show was the best solution for everybody concerned, myself included.”
Amos’ character was killed in a car accident. Walker lamented the situation. “If the decision had been up to me, I would have preferred that John stay and the show remain more of an ensemble,” he wrote in his memoir. “Nobody wanted me up front all the time, including me.”
Amos and Lear later reconciled and they shared a hug at a “Good Times” live TV reunion special in 2019.
Amos quickly bounced back, landing the role of an adult Kunta Kinte, the centerpiece of “Roots,” based on Alex Haley’s novel set during and after the era of slavery in the U.S. The miniseries was a critical and ratings blockbuster, and Amos earned one of its 37 Emmy nominations.
“I knew that it was a life-changing role for me, as an actor and just from a humanistic standpoint,” he told Time magazine. “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.”
Born John Allen Amos Jr. on Dec. 27, 1939, in Newark, New Jersey, he was the son of an auto mechanic. He graduated from Colorado State University with a sociology degree and played on the school’s football team.
