John Amos dead: Actor who starred in Good Times and West Wing dies aged 84
LEGENDARY actor John Amos has died at the age of 84.
Amos starred as the father on the hit 1970s sitcom Good Times and earned an Emmy nomination for his role in the seminal 1977 miniseries Roots.
He also played Admiral Percy Fitzwallace in the first five seasons of hit US political show The West Wing.
Amos 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.
Amos left the show following disagreements on its portrayal of African Amerians in the later seasons.
He then landed the role of an adult Kunta Kinte, the centerpiece of Roots, based on Alex Haley’s novel set during and after the era of slavery in the US.
The miniseries was a critical and ratings blockbuster, and Amos earned one of its 37 Emmy nominations.
Amos, who also played Bruce Willis’ nemisis Grant in Die Hard 2, told Time: “I knew that it was a life-changing role for me, as an actor and just from a humanistic standpoint.
“It was the culmination of all of the misconceptions and stereotypical roles that I had lived and seen being offered to me.
“It was like a reward for having suffered those indignities.”