John Amos, a former running back turned actor known for his roles in groundbreaking 1970s television shows like the sitcom Good Times and the epic miniseries Roots, passed away on August 21 in Los Angeles at the age of 84. His talent agency, Buchwald, announced his death but did not specify the cause.
After being cut by 13 professional and semi-professional football teams due to injuries in his 20s, Amos held various jobs, including ditch-digger, lumberjack, restaurant manager, social worker, and advertising copywriter. With a self-described short fuse and a knack for showmanship, he channeled his frustrations into writing jokes, which he performed in nightclubs. He later remarked that being onstage allowed him to “be other people without getting in trouble.”
Upon moving to Los Angeles, Amos initially tried to break into television by pitching comic sketches. He recounted how he faced skepticism when he walked into meetings as a Black man with a “19-inch neck,” often encountering disbelief about his comedic capabilities.
His big break came in 1969 when he became one of the first African Americans to write for a network program, CBS’s The Leslie Uggams Show. After impressing executives with his comedic timing, he soon transitioned to on-camera performances.
Amos is perhaps best remembered for his role in the 1988 Eddie Murphy comedy Coming to America, where he played the pompous owner of the fast-food restaurant McDowell’s, which claimed to be different from McDonald’s with its “Big Mick” sandwich and “Golden Arcs.” He also portrayed a brutal prison guard in Sylvester Stallone’s Lock Up (1989) and a rogue Special Forces officer in Bruce Willis’s action film Die Hard 2 (1990). However, it was his steady stream of television roles that defined his career.
Throughout his life, Amos was known for his tenacious personality, which he attributed to being raised by a single mother in New Jersey who taught him to stand up for himself while helping to integrate schools in the 1940s and 1950s. In Hollywood, he advocated for more diverse acting opportunities for Black performers, moving beyond the stereotypical roles of pimps and drug dealers.
In 1970, he landed a recurring role as Gordy the weatherman on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, an acclaimed CBS sitcom set in a Minneapolis TV station. Amos expressed gratitude that the writers didn’t typecast him as a sportscaster; instead, they portrayed him as a confident meteorologist who could think beyond sports.
His career further flourished in 1973 when producer Norman Lear cast him as the underemployed husband of Maude Findlay’s maid, played by Esther Rolle, on the sitcom Maude, which featured Bea Arthur in the title role.