John Amos, best known for his roles in the 1977 miniseries Roots and Die Hard 2, has died at the age of 84.
He died on 21 August of natural causes according to a statement from his publicist Belinda Foster, but the news was only released on Tuesday.
Amos also played James Evans Sr on Good Times which featured one of television’s first Black two-parent families.
“That show was the closest depiction in reality to life as an African American family living in those circumstances as it could be,” Amos told Time magazine in 2021.
Among Amos’ film credits were Let’s Do It Again with Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier, Coming To America with Eddie Murphy and Die Hard 2.
Such was the impact of Good Times that musicians Alicia Keys, Rick Ross, and the Wu-Tang Clan all name-checked Amos or his character in their lyrics.
“Many fans consider him their TV father,” his son Kelly Christopher Amos said in a statement.
“He lived a good life. His legacy will live on in his outstanding works in television and film as an actor.
“My father loved working as an actor throughout his entire life. He was my dad, my best friend, and my hero.”
The original cast of Roots – Sandy Duncan, from left, John Amos, Ben Vereen, Louis Gossett Jr., Leslie Uggams, Georg Stanford Brown and Lynne Moody. Pic: Amy Sussman/Invision/AP
Amos was fired from Good Times after becoming critical of the show’s white writing staff creating storylines that he felt were inauthentic to the Black characters.
“There were several examples where I said, ‘No, you don’t do these things. It’s anathema to Black society. I’ll be the expert on that, if you don’t mind’,” he told Time magazine.
Pic: AP Photo/Nick Ut
“And it got confrontational and heated enough that ultimately my being killed off the show was the best solution for everybody concerned, myself included.”
Amos’ character was killed in a car accident.
His co-star Jimmie Walker said of the row: “If the decision had been up to me, I would have preferred that John stay and the show remain more of an ensemble.
“Nobody wanted me up front all the time, including me.”
Amos was born on 27 December 1939, in Newark, New Jersey, and was the son of a mechanic.
He graduated from Colorado State University with a sociology degree and played on the school’s football team.
Before pursuing acting, he moved to New York and was a social worker at the Vera Institute of Justice, working with defendants at the Brooklyn House of Detention.
He had a brief professional football career, playing in various minor leagues.