John Amos, 'Good Times' and 'Roots' Actor, Passes Away at 84: Publicist

John Amos, the actor known for his role as the family patriarch on the hit sitcom “Good Times” and the adult Kunta Kinte in the famed original miniseries “Roots”, has died, according to a his longtime publicist Belinda Foster. He was 84.

Foster told CNN on the phone on Tuesday that Amos died in Los Angeles of natural causes on August 21. She also shared a statement from Amos’ son, Kelly Christopher Amos, via email.

“It is with heartfelt sadness that I share with you that my father has transitioned,” the statement read. “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.”

Born and raised in East Orange, New Jersey, Amos found his first passion in sports after he fell in love with football and played at Colorado State University.

While he graduated with a degree in social work, he scored tryouts with the Kansas City Chiefs, the Denver Broncos and the Canadian Football League’s British Columbia Lions.

In a video shared by the Chiefs, Amos once said he was a “slightly better than average high school football player.”

“All I ever wanted to do all my life was to play pro football,” Amos said in the clip. “I figured that was going to be the best way for me to escape the economic strata we seemed to be locked into.”

Amos would later recall that Kansas City Chiefs coach Hank Stram told him while cutting the future actor from his brief time with the team, “You are not a football player, you are a young man who happens to be playing football.”

Following stints as a social worker and copywriter in New York, Amos turned to acting, scoring the role of weatherman Gordon “Gordy” Howard on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”, which would begin his ascent in Hollywood.

Bit parts on other hit 1970s television shows including “Love American Style”, “Sanford and Son” and “The New Dick Van Dyke Show” would follow.

But it was his role as James Evan Sr., the stern father on “Good Times”, which would make Amos a star.

In a 2020 interview, Amos discussed leaving the hit series after two years following “contention” with the white writers over how the Black family at the centre of the show was being portrayed.

“I felt like I knew more about what a Black family should be and how a Black father would act than our writers, none of whom were Black,” Amos said at the time. “Their idea of what a Black family should be and what a Black father would be was totally different from mine, and mine was steeped in reality.”