John Amos
John Amos |
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John Amos (born December 27, 1939) is an American actor and former football player.
Biography
Early life
Amos was born John Amos Jr. in Newark, New Jersey to Annabelle P. and John A. Amos Sr, an auto mechanic.[1] He attended Colorado State University.[2] Amos was a Golden Gloves boxing champion. In 1967, he had a tryout with the American Football League's Kansas City Chiefs (he was released in training camp, though he did play semi-pro football).
Career
Good Times
He 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 chronically unemployed father on the 1970s sitcom Good Times from 1974 to 1976. In reality, Amos is only eight years older than Jimmie Walker, despite portraying Walker's father on Good Times. Unhappy with the scripts and tension with the producers, he was fired from the show after the third season. Many critics contend that the series "jumped the shark" at that time, and that it was never the same again. 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. Rolle herself left for the fifth season (but returned for the sixth and final season with reservations) for similar reasons.
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 has 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 Strong (Tommy's Dad). He was a frequent guest on The West Wing, portraying Admiral Percy Fitzwallace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is currently playing a pilot in a remote Alaskan town, Buzz Washington, 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 also costarred with Anthony Anderson in a TV series called All About the Andersons in 2003.
Film roles
Amos has had roles in several films, such as Coming to America, 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 played Prison Capt. Meissner, co-starring with Sly Stallone in the 1989 movie "Lock Up".
Personal life
Amos is currently married to Elisabete De Sousa-Amos.[3]
He is a veteran of the 50th Armored Division of the New Jersey National Guard and Honorary Master Chief of the U.S. Coast Guard. [4]
References
External links
- John Amos at the Internet Broadway Database
- John Amos (I) at IMDb