(CNN) — John Amos, the actor best known for playing the family patriarch in the hit comedy “Good Times” and Kunta Kinte in the popular original miniseries “Roots,” has died at the age of 84, his longtime This has been confirmed by the publicist of Belinda Foster.
Foster told CNN by phone Tuesday that Amos died of natural causes on Aug. 21 in Los Angeles. He also shared a statement from Amos’s son, Kelly Christopher Amos, via email.
“It is with great sadness that I inform you that my father has passed away,” the statement said. “He was a man with a kind heart and a heart of gold (…) and he was loved all over the world.” Was. Many fans consider him their television father. He lived a good life. “His legacy will live on through his outstanding work in television and film as an actor.”
Born and raised in East Orange, New Jersey, Amos found his first passion in the sport after falling in love with football and playing at Colorado State University.
He graduated with a degree in social work while trying out for the Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos and the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League.
one in Video shared by chiefsAmos once said that he was “a little better than the average high school football player.”
“The only thing I ever wanted to do my whole life was play professional football,” Amos says in the video. “I thought this would be the best way out of the economic situation we seem to be in.”
Amos I’ll remember later Kansas City Chiefs coach Hank Stram told him during his time with the team: “You’re not a football player, you’re a young man who plays football.”
After working as a social worker and advertising copywriter in New York, Amos turned to acting and landed the role of meteorologist Gordon “Gordie” Howard on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”, beginning his rise in Hollywood. Happened.
Small roles followed on other hit TV shows of the 1970s, including “Love American Style,” “Sanford & Son” and “The New Dick Van Dyke Show.”
But his role as strict father James Evans Sr. in “Good Times” made Amos a star.
in one 2020 interviewAmos spoke of leaving the hit series after two years after a “dispute” with white writers over how the black family was being portrayed on the show.
Amos said at the time, “I felt like I knew more about what a black family should be like and how a black father should behave than our writers, none of whom were black.” “His idea of what a black family should be and what a black father should be was completely different from my idea of what a black family should be, and my idea was steeped in reality.”
Amos said that the show’s creator Norman Lear finally accepted his way of thinking after years. The two reportedly reconciled and publicly hugged during the 2019 “Good Times” live television reunion special.
Amos played Toby, the adult version of Ghulam Kunte Kinte, in the critically acclaimed 1977 miniseries “Roots”, which earned Amos an Emmy nomination.
“I knew this was a role that would change my life both as an actor and from a humanitarian perspective,” Told Time magazine in 2021“It was the culmination of all the misconceptions and stereotypical roles that I had experienced and that were offered to me. “It was like a reward for enduring those humiliations.”
The role in “Roots” reunited him with actress Leslie Uggams, for whom he had worked while writing on her short-lived CBS series in the late 1960s.
Amos has appeared in other well-known roles over the years, including fast-food restaurant owner Cleo McDowell in Eddie Murphy’s 1988 hit comedy “Coming to America” and its 2021 sequel.
Last year, Amos became embroiled in interpersonal family issues when family members accused him of elder abuse and speculated about his poor health.
“I want all of my followers to know that I’m OK,” Amos said at the time. “I am not in intensive care nor am I fighting for my life.”
