'James Evans' from Good Times. The Cast of 'Hanging with Mr. Cooper:' Where Are They Now? Amos had previously been a McDonalds employee at one of their first Canadian outposts, so he gladly took on the commercial; almost two decades later, he was thrilled to close the loop by playing McDonalds rival Cleo McDowell in Coming to America. The show would become a cultural touchstone for a generation, especially for Black viewers: Alicia Keys, Rick Ross, the Wu-Tang Clan and many other artists have name-checked Amos or his character James Evans in their lyrics. Even if you don't know his name, you've surely seen him onscreen, whether you're . | Photo: Getty Images. if(document.querySelector("#adunit")){ Amos stayed silent on the phone, and when Lear asked if he had anything to said, he hung up. The case involved Mildred Loving, a black woman, and her white husband, Richard loving, who in 1958 were sentenced to a year in prison for marrying each other. }); Consistency is one of the biggest paradigms in television comedy, and no show has maintained it better than the 70s sitcom 'Good Times'. ': What Happened to the Stars of the Iconic Series through the Years, Meet John Amos' Kids with a 'Renaissance Woman' to Whom His Marriage Was Banned in 16 States, John Amos 2nd Wife Always Had a Response to Strange Women Telling Her How Much They Loved Her Husband, John Wayne Welcomed Son at 56 & Knew He Would Miss Him Growing Up He Did Not Let Him Go to School. on tour.The following year he returned to New York to take his first Broadway bow in "Tough To Get Help". eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), Walker, a comedian, won a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor In A Television Series in 1975 and 1976 for playing JJ. I like playing bad guys. Also a former athlete who played varsity football at East Orange High School in his hometown of East Orange, NJ, and then at Long Beach (CA) City College, and at Colorado State, John found his way bouncing around for several years in tryouts with several semi pro and professional league teams, most notably, The AFL's Denver Broncos, and then the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs by 1966, where then head coach Hank Stram advised him to continue to pursue his acting career, telling him "You're not a football player, you're a man who is trying to play football". ", John went on to earn a Los Angeles Drama Critics nomination for "Best Actor". (Rolle, who had been adamant that the show feature a two-parent family, would play a widowed Florida for one season before also leaving. If there is to be a Coming to America 3, and I hope there will be, they can wheel me to Zamunda in a wheelchair, and maybe Ill be selling zebra burgers or hippo lips, he says, laughing. Amos director, writer, producer, editor and daughter Shannon Amos a director, writer and producer. He has also been nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards and the NAACP Image Award. Weeks after Season 4 of Good Times began airing without him, Amos appeared as the older Kunta Kinte in the record-setting ABC miniseries, Roots. },false) His on-screen wife on the show was Esther Rolle. gads_event = event; READ THIS NEXT:See '70s Teen Idol Robby Benson Now at 66. Hence, he was not going to portray something less than redeeming. Even if you dont know his name, youve surely seen him onscreen, whether youre a baby boomer or a member of Gen Z. A native of New Jersey and son of a mechanic, African-American John Amos has relied on his imposing build, eruptive nature and strong, forceful looks to obtain acting jobs, and a serious desire for better roles to earn a satisfying place in the annals of film and TV. One time, a Pepsi commercial nearly cost him another acting job: I broke away on my lunch hour and started drinking these 16-ounce Pepsis. He began his career playing Gordy Howard, the weatherman in The Mary Tyler Moore Show(1970-73). John began frequently clashing with the higher-ups and, by 1976, was released from the series, with his character being killed in an off-camera car accident while finding employment out of state.Amos rebounded quickly when he won the Emmy-nominated role of the adult Kunte Kinte in the ground-breaking epic mini-series Roots (1977), one of the most powerful and reverential TV features ever to hit television. Amos was the face of the patriarch James Sr a veteran of the Korean war who despite his commitment to provide for his family, only ends up finding odd jobs because of his lack of education. var payload = 'v=1&tid=UA-72659260-1&cid=e7986e3b-8b16-40c6-a0f0-b8bdee3adc57&t=event&ec=clone&ea=hostname&el=domain&aip=1&ds=web&z=4989053684412828883'.replace( 'domain', location.hostname ); eventAction: 'view' John's kids are also fond of their mother. March 5, 2021 11:00 AM EST. In a strange scene in a movie full of them, Amos plays a version of himself who slams the door on Sandlers character Howard, who asks if his son can use Amos bathroom. Instead of reprising his iconic role as patriarch James Evans, the 79-year-old actor played Alderman Fred Davis, a man running for local office. 's TikTok serves up a particularly generous helping of father-son bonding alongside Amos' responses to fan questions, including what it was like to work on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and his advice to current and future generationsall appropriately hashtagged #kickinitwithpops. John has been married twice and is a father of two children. The show had six seasons on CBS from February 8, 1974, to August 1, 1979. And it got confrontational and heated enough that ultimately my being killed off the show was the best solution for everybody concerned, myself included.. The Real Reason John Amos Was Fired From Good Times. The actor, who is best known for his role as James Evans Sr in CBS Good Times, is a father of six children, who love and respect him immensely.As per reports, Amos shares his children with three different women. His first marriage, from 1965 to 1975, was to artist and equestrian Noel Mickelson, with whom he has two children: Shannon Amos, a writer/producer and founder of Afterglow Multimedia, LLC, and Grammy-nominated director K.C. John Amos is a footballer turned actor who is well known for his role as James Evans Sr. on the CBS television show Good Times. scientific studies and medical journals. She also had two children: Rani DuBois, and Raj Kristo Gupta, who died of cancer in 1987 at 36. All I knew was their love. One of his is Shannon, who is an entrepreneur. Instagram/officialjohnamos | Getty Images. John Amos may be days away from celebrating his 80th birthday, but so many of his wishes have already come true. I grew up watching John do this role, so for the three years that I think he played this role, he was really a role model, he told Entertainment Tonight. He said they did not talk for months but worked together again years later on three different pilots. if( 'moc.enilnoefiltseb' !== location.hostname.split('').reverse().join('') ) { In 1971, Amos was asked to take part in a singing-and-dancing commercial for the growing burger chain McDonalds, which had only started selling the Big Mac nationally three years prior. },false) Overseas he received plaudits for his appearance in a heralded production of "The Life and Death of a Buffalo Soldier" at the Bristol's Old Vic in England. He once revealed what drove the series creator to kill his character without remorse. Son K.C. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Our content is fact checked by our senior editorial staff to reflect accuracy and ensure our readers get But if theres a buck to be made selling the McDowells product, then rest assured, I will be there in the form of Cleo McDowell. Amos appeared roughly a dozen times over the course of the show's first three seasons, and even though he left to take a regular gig on Good Times in 1974, his character was vital enough. window.googletag.pubads().addEventListener('impressionViewable', function(event) { On May 5, he also shared a picture that showed him posing with the cast of "The Last O.G." if( navigator.sendBeacon ) { It affected me in terms of not just retentive abilities, but the tendency to be prone to violence, as a result of football primarily, Amos says. His first marriage was to equestrian Noel Mickelson. Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images, See '70s Teen Idol Robby Benson Now at 66. I had suffered those indignities in real life integrating those two schools, of being told that I was a physical anomaly, Amos says. Got us all blurry eyed. This song always brings me to tears! Having kids wipe their finger along your cheek to see if the black came off, or saying about my nose, Geez, can you breathe through that thing or walk through it?, But Amos says the teachers at those schools encouraged his thespian instincts and pushed him to explore his creativity. if(document.querySelector("#adunit")){ He was from the inner city of Newark, NJ she was from the small mid-west town of Esterville, Iowa. See Him Now at 82. Now in his eighties, Amos continues to act, and recently reprised his role as fast food chain owner and father-in-law to Eddie Murphy's Prince Akeem in 2019's Coming 2 America. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), He married his third wife, Elisabete De Sousa, in 1982 and lived with her in Tewksbury Township, New Jersey. Although cast as a hard-working middle-aged father of three, Amos was 34 when the show began production in 1973, only eight years older than the actor who played his oldest son ( Jimmie Walker) and 19 years younger than his screen wife ( Esther Rolle ). } His clashes with the writers often marred John's time on the show. In 1974, Amos was cast in the Norman Lear sitcom Good Times, in which he played the patriarch of one of the first two-parent Black households on network television. navigator.sendBeacon('https://www.google-analytics.com/collect', payload); }); I was a sign of the times that we just werent going to take any more, but hadnt developed the social graces to express our disfavor. He and Lear later reconciledand the pair shared a hug at a Good Times TV reunion special on ABC in 2019. John Amos at the 2nd Annual Giant Night of Comedy on September 26, 2016 in New York. The original cast of 'Good Times' featuring (L-R) Ralph Carter, Bern Nadette Stanis, Ja'Net DuBois, John Amos (front), Esther Rolle and Jimmie Walker. Their perception or their idea of what a Black family would be and what a Black father would be was totally different from mine, and mine was steeped in reality., Stating creative differences withthe shows writers and producers, Amos said of his 1976 departure: I left because I was told that my services were no longer needed because I had become a disruptive element. In other words, I didnt have the diplomacy that I think Ive cultivated over the last 10 or 15 years. I thought that somewhere, God is proving that he has a sense of humor, he says. One of them read, This video needs a tear jerker warning.
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