John Amos, the famous actor known for his job in the shows” Great Times” and” The Mary Tyler Moore Show”, the video” Coming to America” and the movie” Roots”, has died. He was 84.
Amos ‘ journalist,  , Belinda Foster, confirmed to The Times on Tuesday that the artist died of natural causes on , Aug. 21. More details were never revealed.
Amos was adored by viewers all over the country for three times and three times on the 1970s show” Great Times” as the tough-loving father of the Evans home. Amos played , James Evans, a hard-working Korean War former with a terrible gaze and sharpened wit who did everything he could to provide for his family.
Amos loved all of his TV children similarly, like any great Television father, which turned into a source of conflict as the scripts began to concentrate more and more on the humorous antics of the youngest Evans kid, J. J. ( Jimmie “JJ” Walker ). In , a 2014 interview with the , Television Academy, Amos recalled expressing worries about the present placing” too little attention … on J. J. and his meat hat” while neglecting , James Evans ‘ , “other two kids”.
According to Amos, his creative differences with the” Great Times” manufacturers — including the legendary , Norman Lear , — led to him being labeled a “disruptive issue” and getting fired from the present. Lear privately called Amos to deliver the news.
” I did n’t curse or anything. I only hung up the phone”, Amos told the , Television Academy.
” And he did n’t call me back to check if I might have something to say.” I have n’t heard from him in a while.
Amos bounced up from cancellation hastily and joyfully, landing an Emmy nomination in 1977 for his strong representation of adult , Kunta Kinte , in” Roots”, the groundbreaking movie about slavery based on , Alex Haley ‘s , tale of the same title.
Before he was cast as the show’s main character ( along with , LeVar Burton, who played young , Kunta Kinte ), Amos auditioned for two other parts. When he was suddenly invited to study for the “once-in-a-lifetime part” of Kinte, Amos “almost fainted”.
” I could n’t believe it” , , he told the , TV Academy , in 2014. ” It was like I’d strike the raffle”.
Amos was aware of how greatly moved people were by Kinte’s innovative story by his performance and” Roots.”
” I was on the freeway and this big brother pulls up next to me in this piece of ancient , Detroit , steel”, Amos recalled in an interview with The Times 40 years after” Roots” premiered.
” He said,’ Man, take through!’ I then halted the vehicle. He said,’ Hey, man, I watched that” Roots “on Screen next day, man. Man, it truly affected me. I was halfway through it when I went to get my .38 and shot the Television! That was the funniest thing that happened. I’m hoping he was n’t looking for me to get reimbursed.
Amos was born , Dec. 27, 1939, in , Newark, New Jersey. He attended , East Orange High School, where he played football at the same time singer , Dionne Warwick , was a cheer, according to the , New York Times.
For a while, Amos stayed on the sport track. He was a running again at Colorado State before trying out repeatedly for the , Denver Broncos , and getting cut from the , Kansas City Chiefs , after tearing his Achilles tendon — a season-ending damage. Amos credited past Chiefs coach , Hank Stram , with helping him know his true love.
” Young gentleman, you are not a sport person”, Stram told him. You are a young person who just happens to be a football player.
While grieving the inevitable loss of his sports career, Amos wrote , a poem , that Stram permitted him to read aloud for his friends. The staff gave him a standing ovation.
” When]Stram ] saw the team’s reaction to the poem he said,’ I think you have another calling,'” Amos recalled in 2012.
After leaving the NFL, Amos switched to advertising and began working as a comedy writer for smaller screens. He launched his entertainment career as a staff writer for the 1969 , CBS  , musical variety series” The Leslie Uggams Show”.
After some writers who were instantly writing for “Uggams” and” Mary Tyler Moore,” Amos decided he may be perfect for the piece and booked his second major speaking role as Gordy the meteorologist for” The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”
” Quite frankly I always looked up after that”, Amos told the , Los Angeles Times , in 2012.
Amos went on to appear in lots of sperm TV series, including” Great Times”,” Roots”,” The Fresh Prince of , Bel-Air”,” Sanford and Son”,” Hunter” and” The West Wing”, in which he portrayed defense Commander-in-Chief , Percy” Fitz” Fitzwallace.
Admiral Fitzwallace frequently served as the voice of reason that may order a room as efficiently as Amos could control the screen in the high-stakes political episode of the groundbreaking show about a mythical president and his staff.
” That part of Admiral Percy Fitzwallace … is one I would have paid them to accomplish”, Amos told the , TV Academy.
” The standard in itself was one point, all that salad dressing — fruit salads, we’d call it — his trophies. I became the commander in chief when I put on that coat.
When a TV poet himself, Amos never missed an opportunity to give props to the authors — even Hamlet, who eventually reunited with the ousted” Good Times” sun for “704 Hauser”. The short-lived set starred Amos as the liberal parents of a young liberal activist living in , Archie Bunker ‘s , old apartment in Queens.
” I matured to the point if I had imaginative differences, I had state’ Norman, can I talk to you?’ instead of threatening to do bodily harm”, Amos joked in a 2012 interview with The Times.
The actor was married twice: First to , Noel J. Mickelson, the mother of his two children, from 1965 to 1975, then briefly to actor , Lillian Lehman , in the late 1970s. Mickelson died in 2016.
More recently, Amos denied reports made in 2023 by his daughter, Shannon, accusing her brother , Kelly” K. C”. Amos , of neglect and not providing proper care for their father. The older Amos was admitted to a hospital in 2023, but he recovered after receiving treatment for fluid accumulation in his lower body.
” I will say this for now: This story about neglect is false and unmerited”, Amos said in a statement in March after the , LAPD , opened an investigation into the allegations. You will soon hear the real truth, and I will tell you it. Believe it”.
In addition to his extensive work on the small screen, Amos appeared in a number of films, such as” Coming to America”. He portrayed , Cleo McDowell, restaurateur and father of , Eddie Murphy ‘s , love interest, in the classic 1988 comedy.
Even after his acting career took off, Amos did n’t stop writing. For decades, he traveled around  , the United States , performing a one-man show he had penned about an 87-year-old man awaiting the return of Halley’s comet.
Amos told the , Television Academy , in 2014 that he wanted to be remembered as” a guy that made people laugh” and “made people think”.
He said,” I just want to be remembered as someone they enjoyed watching and having homes.”
” That’s a good feeling, to know that some stranger sitting in some remote town somewhere laughed to the point that he forgot his ongoing miseries or problems and said to his family,’ Hey,  , John Amos , is on. Come in here! Let’s get a laugh.’ I mean, is there anything better than that”?
Amos had continued working well into the years preceding his death, appearing in in several films including” The Last Rifleman” in 2023 and , HBO ‘s ,” The Righteous Gemstones” in 2022. Months before his death, Amos was set to guest star in , NBC ‘s ,” Suits: L. A. “, a spinoff series to , USA Network ‘s ,” Suits”.
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