John Amos

John Amos
Amos at the Coast Guard Activity in New York, July 2000
Occupation(s)	Actor, Athlete
Years active	1970 - present
Spouse(s)	Noel J. Mickelson (1965-1975) (divorced) Lillian Lehman (1978-1979) (divorced) Elisabete De Sousa-Amos (?-present)

John Amos (born December 27, 1939) is an American actor and former football player who has received nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and NAACP Image Award. Best known for his TV roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Good Times, his Emmy-nominated turn in the miniseries Roots, and a recurring role in The West Wing, he has also appeared on Broadway and in numerous motion pictures in a career that spans four decades.

Early life

Amos was born John Amos, Jr. in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Annabelle P. and John A. Amos, Sr., who was an auto mechanic. He graduated from East Orange (NJ) High School in 1958. He enrolled at Long Beach City College in 1958 and later attended Colorado State University. Amos was a Golden Gloves boxing champion. In 1964, he signed a free agent contract with the American Football League's Denver Broncos. He was released before the season and played with Joliet Explorers of the United Football League. In 1965 he played with the Norfolk Neptunes and Wheeling Ironmen of the Continental Football League. In 1966 he played with the Jersey City Jets and Waterbury Orbits of the Atlantic Coast Football League. In 1967, he had signed a free agent contract with the American Football League's Kansas City Chiefs. He was released in training camp and played that year with the Victoria Steelers of the Continental Football League.

Career

Amos is perhaps best known for playing the characters of Gordy Howard, the weatherman on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, from 1970 until 1973 and James Evans, Sr., the role of the sporadically-unemployed husband of Florida Evans, first appearing three times on the sitcom Maude, and then recreated the role in 57 episodes of Good Times from 1974 to 1976. Although he played the part of the chronically unemployed father of three on the show, in real life Amos is only eight years older than the actor who played his oldest son: Jimmie Walker, and nearly 19 years younger than his screen wife, Esther Rolle. Amos, much like the series' co-star Esther Rolle, wanted to portray a positive image of an African American family, struggling against the odds in the ghetto of Chicago, but saw the premise slighted by lighter comedy, and expressed his dissatisfaction. Unhappy with the scripts and tension with the producers, he was fired from the show after the third season. His character James Evans died in a work related mining accident in the first episode of the fourth season, and the series continued without him.

Other television roles

Amos was part of the Emmy award winning cast on the miniseries Roots, playing the adult Kunta Kinte in 1977. He also portrayed Captain Dolan on television show Hunter from 1984 to 1985. He co-starred in the CBS police drama The District, and guest-starred on a number of other television programs including The Cosby Show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, In the House, The A-Team, and Martin as Sgt. Hamilton Strawn (Tommy's father). He was a frequent guest on The West Wing, portraying Admiral Percy Fitzwallace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He played a pilot, Buzz Washington, in a remote Alaskan town in the ABC series, Men in Trees. He also appeared in a Season 1 episode of "Touched by An Angel," although he was credited as Jon (not John) Amos. Most recently, he guest starred on USA Network's original drama/comedy Psych. Amos costarred with Anthony Anderson in the TV series All About the Andersons in 2003 and made an appearance on My Name Is Earl in September 2008.

Stage
Amos is the writer and producer of Halley's Comet, a critically acclaimed one-man play that he performs around the world.

Projects In Development
Back In Shape With John Amos and T and Gangs At Sea.

Film roles

Amos has had roles in several films, such as Coming to America, Vanishing Point, The Beastmaster and Die Hard 2. He also starred in Let's Do It Again (1975) as Kansas City Mack with Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier. Amos was also featured in the movie The World's Greatest Athlete with Tim Conway and Jan-Michael Vincent. He was also in Ice Cube's and Dr. Dre's video for Natural Born Killaz and played a police officer in The Players Club. Amos also co-starred with Sylvester Stallone in the 1989 movie Lock Up. In 2006 he played Jud in Dr. Dolittle 3.

Awards

Amos has the distinction of winning more TV Land Awards than anyone, taking home trophies for his roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Good Times and the TV miniseries Roots.

Accolades

Howard Stern, while interviewing Amos on the Howard Stern Radio Show, referred to Amos as the best actor that he had ever met. Stern gave Amos this accolade due to the fact that Amos, while portraying James Evans, Sr. on Good Times, was constantly able on the show to refer to Esther Rolle's character Florida Evans as "beautiful" without cracking up or throwing up. According to Stern, this was acting at its finest, especially when the script called for Amos to kiss Rolle.

Personal life

John Amos is a veteran of the 50th Armored Division of the New Jersey National Guard and Honorary Master Chief of the U.S. Coast Guard. He is father to daughter Shannon and son KC, and grandfather to Quiera and Jhazz.

External links

• John Amos at IMDb
• John Amos at the Internet Broadway Database
• John Amos at AllMovie
• Template:Tvtome person

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