John Amos: From “Good Times” to “Roots” to “Coming to America” and more

John Amos in "Coming to America" in 1988.

Source: https://screenrant.com/coming-america-2-john-amos-returning-cleo-mcdowell/

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One minute he was the hard-working father of an African-American family in a groundbreaking sitcom, the next he was an American slave trying to survive, and the minute after that he was the owner of a hamburger restaurant who unknowingly hired a foreign prince in love with his daughter.

I was sad to hear John Amos recently passed away. It brought back memories of “Good Times”, “Roots”, “Coming to America”, and so many other roles.

Back story
John Amos got his start acting in 1971, according to Wikipedia, appearing in a McDonald’s commercial with Anson Williams, of “Happy Days” fame. This would become rather ironic 17 years later.

That same year, he had a small part in the movie “Vanishing Point”. He would also play a coach in the 1973 Disney movie “The World’s Greatest Athlete”, starring a young Jan-Michael Vincent; and “Let’s Do it Again”, a 1975 movie starring Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier.

His first major, recurring role was as Weatherman Gordy Howard on the “Mary Tyler Moore Show”, where he was in 13 episodes from 1970 to 1977. He also appeared in episodes of “The Funny Side”; “Love, American Style”; “The New Dick Van Dyke Show”; and “Sanford and Son”.

In 1973-1974 he guest-starred in three episodes of the Norman Lear sitcom “Maude”, as Henry Evans, a firefighter and husband to Maude’s housekeeper Florida Evans. They would be spun off into their own show in 1974 called “Good Times”. Amos played a man, renamed James Evans, working various jobs to help support his wife, who worked as a housekeeper, and three children living in a housing project in inner-city Chicago.

“Good Times” would break ground as television’s first African-American two-parent family sitcom.

Amos was fired after the third season over disagreements with Norman Lear and the writing staff. Amos appeared in 61 episodes of “Good Times”. I vaguely remember him no longer being on the show, his absence explained away as James dying.

However, John Amos kept on working, appearing in an episode of “Police Story” and seven episodes of “Future Cop”.

In 1977, he participated in another groundbreaking project. The miniseries “Roots” chronicled the life of an American family of slaves over several generations, beginning with Kunta Kinte, an African teenager captured by slave traders and brought to the United States. The young Kunta Kinte was played by a young LeVar Burton.

John Amos played Kunta Kinte as an older man, renamed Toby Reynolds by his owners, although he never accepted the name. Amos garnered an Emmy nomination for the role.

As the 1980s began, John Amos had established himself as an actor, but there would be much more to come.

TV times
John Amos worked quite a bit in television, starting with the miniseries “Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story” in 1980. He then appeared in episodes of “Here’s Boomer”; “The Love Boat”; “The A-Team”; “Trapper John, M.D.”; “Hardcastle and McCormick”; “Murder, She Wrote”; “Stingray”; “Beauty and the Beast”; “The Cosby Show”; “Gideon Oliver’; and the television movie “Bonanza: The Next Generation.”

I remember him on “Hunter”. He played Dolan, the title character’s police captain. This was at a time when there were still not a lot of African-American actors portraying figures in authority.

Movie magic
Amos was also in quite a number of movies in the 1980s including “Touched by Love”in 1980; “The Beastmaster” in 1982; “Dance of the Dwarfs” in 1983; “American Flyers” in 1985; and “Lock Up”, with Sylvester Stallone, in 1989.

By far, the movie I remember John Amos in the best is “Coming to America’ in 1988. Eddie Murphy plays an African prince who comes to America seeking true love, and fleeing an arranged marriage. He gets a job in a hamburger place called “McDowell’s” owned by Cleo McDowell, played by John Amos, and falls in love with the owner’s daughter. When Cleo is training him he says his restaurant is nothing like McDonald’s. For example, they have the Big Mac, while Cleo has the Big Mick.

It was a great movie.

One of the coolest contrasts was when Cleo meets King Joffer, played by James Earl Jones. Sadly, Jones too died a few weeks ago. A picture came across my social media recently of the two of them in “Coming to America”, with the caption, “How things have changed”.

They sure have.

The years after
John Amos kept on appearing in movies, such as “Die Hard 2”; “Ricochet”, with Denzel Washington; “Mac”; “Night Trap”; “For Better or Worse”; “The Players Club”; “Dr. Dolittle 3”; “Coming 2 America 2”; and much more. His final role was in 2023 in “The Last Rifleman”.

He was in a lot of TV too, starting with “704 Hauser” in 1994. It had a really interesting premise. Amos stars as Ernie Cumberbatch, who has purchased the house Archie Bunker lived in. This time, the family is all Black, with the father being a liberal and the son being an arch-conservative. The show was also created by Norman Lear, but lasted just six episodes.

Amos was also in “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”; “In the House” for 12 episodes; “Touched by an Angel”; “Martin”; “Walker, Texas Ranger”; “The Outer Limits”; 10 episodes of “The District”; 16 episodes of “All About the Andersons”; “Psych”; “My Name is Earl”; three episodes of “Two and a Half Men”; “Royal Pains”; “30 Rock”; “Lie to Me”; “The Ranch”; “Ballers”; several TV movies; and much more.

There are two roles I recall with fondness. In 22 episodes of “The West Wing” from 1999 to 2004, Amos played the American President’s top military advisor General Percy Fitzwallace. He was a tough, no-nonsense military man who exuded class and respect, and a deadpan sense of humour.

He was also in 27 episodes of “Men in Trees” from 2006 to 2008. He played Buzz Washington, pilot of one of the only planes in and out of the small Alaskan community where the show is set.

Amos’ last role was in 2022 in an episode of “The Righteous Gemstones”.

He died on August 21, 2024 in Inglewood, California of congestive heart failure. However, his death was not announced until October 1.

He was 84.

Parting thoughts
John Amos was an engaging, versatile actor, who I liked very much. He was excellent in comedy, most notably for me in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “Coming to America”. He was just as good in drama, especially as General Fitzwallace in “The West Wing”. He was absolutely perfect if he had to be lethal when called upon, but sensitive and pragmatic when the situation called for that.

He also appeared in a lot of productions where he blazed the trail for African-American actors to follow.

He was a talented actor, but also a leader and role model.