John Amos

1941—

Actor, producer, director

Actor John Amos will forever be associated with the miniseries Roots, in which he portrayed a proud African man sold into slavery and subjected to unspeakable cruelties. However, Amos is just as comfortable with comedy, and his powerful build and stern but wry expression suit him for a variety of character roles. Amos's break into stardom came with the Mary Tyler Moore Show in the early 1970s, and for most of that decade he worked in a string of situation comedies, including the highly popular Good Times. After nearly a decade focusing on film and theater work, Amos returned to the small screen in the 1990s, taking both starring and supporting roles in such series as 704 Hauser Street, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The West Wing, and Men in Trees.

Though Amos's fame comes from his work in television, he has also had a diverse career away from the small screen. Amos has played both dramatic and comedic roles in a string of feature films. Since 1990, Amos has been performing, producing, directing, and acting in his one-man show, Halley's Comet. He founded a film production studio, Colored Wind Productions, to give his son the opportunity to direct his first film, The Watermelon Heist, in 2003. Perhaps most meaningfully, in 1999 Amos founded the Halley's Comet Foundation, a charitable organization that "is committed to making a positive and long-lasting impact on today's youth by exposing them to learning the challenges and culture of the sea," according to its mission statement.

Avoided Youthful Troubles

Amos was born in 1941 and raised in Newark, New Jersey, the only son of an auto mechanic. He was a rebellious youngster, especially after his parents divorced. "I got in a lot of trouble as a kid and as a young man," he recalled in the Washington Post. "I never hurt another human being, but I took things that didn't belong to me. I was a candidate for prison, a very good candidate." More than once, Amos's mother—who had sole responsibility for him and his sister—was forced to bail her son out of jail. She finally informed Amos that she would no longer be humiliated by his behavior—he was on his own. "I straightened up," the actor said. "The idea of losing your last safety net, it scared the hell out of me more than any incarceration in any institution ever could."

Scrapes with the law behind him, Amos plunged into sports. In high school, he worked on his skills as a football player and was good enough to earn an athletic scholarship to Colorado State University. There he studied social work in preparation for a career helping others in the black community. After leaving Colorado State he returned east to New York City, where he served briefly as a public defender trying to get bail reductions for people who were incarcerated while awaiting trial. That job proved terribly disillusioning; Amos became convinced that the criminal justice system in New York was biased against black males. A different sort of work beckoned him, and he decided to give it a try.

Though many young boys dream of playing professional football, few ever achieve that goal. Amos was invited to try out for the Kansas City Chiefs, who signed and then cut him. When the Denver Broncos did the same thing, Amos enrolled in a training program that would prepare him to manage a McDonald's franchise. He then heard from several semi-pro football teams as well as the Canadian Football League. He spent three years in the American, Continental, and Canadian football leagues, including a brief stint with the British Columbia Lions. When the Lions also dropped him, Amos gave up on football. "I said to myself, ‘John, you're getting a little long in the tooth to be going to [football] tryouts,’" the actor remarked in the Washington Post. "My daughter was then about a year and a half old, and I knew I was going to have to make a life's decision."

Turned to Show Business

Having performed as a stand-up comic in British Columbia, Amos decided to take a chance on a career in show business, figuring he could at least write for other people if he could not break in himself. Hollywood proved a tough arena for the former football player. "I'd go in when I first started in the business, trying to get a job as a writer, and they'd see a black guy with a 19-inch neck," Amos told Newsday. Once, he was informed that he could not possibly know anything about comedy. Amos refused to give up, though, and in the late 1960s he was hired as a writer-performer for the Lohman and Barkley Show, a cult classic in Los Angeles that also launched the career of director Barry Levinson.

The big break for Amos came in 1970, when he was cast as weatherman Gordy Howard on the Mary Tyler Moore Show. The role was small and intermittent, but it gave Amos the kind of exposure he needed to secure other, more meaningful parts elsewhere. He made his stage debut in 1971, in Norman, Is That You?, a drama that earned him a best actor nomination from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle. He also found better stand-up work as a regular on the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) series The Funny Side. The "black guy with a 19-inch neck" was well on his way to stardom.

At a Glance …

Born on December 27, 1941 (some sources say 1939), in Newark, NJ; son of John A. (a mechanic) and Annabelle P. Amos; married Noel J. Mickelson (divorced); married Lillian Lehman (divorced); married Elisabete De Sousa; children: Shannon Patrice (daughter), K. C. (son). Education: Attended Colorado State University and Long Beach City College.

Career : Professional football player, 1962-65; actor, producer, director, writer, c. 1965-.

Awards : Los Angeles Drama Critics Award nomination, 1971, for Norman, Is That You?; Emmy Award nomination for best actor, 1977, for Roots; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Image Award nomination for best actor, 1985, for Split Second; Image Award for supporting actor in a comedy series, 1996, for In the House; TV Land Impact Award, 2006, for Good Times.

Addresses: Office—Step and One Half Productions, P.O. Box 587, Califon, NJ 07830. Agent—c/o Michael Mesnick and Assoc., 11300 Olympic Blvd., Suite 610, Los Angeles, CA 90064. Web—www.thehalleyscometfoundation.org.

In 1973 Amos took a small part on another CBS sitcom. On Maude, a spinoff from the highly popular All in the Family, Amos played Henry Evans, husband to Maude's maid, Florida. The Henry and Florida characters proved so popular that CBS created another show exclusively for them, Good Times, which debuted in 1974. The sometimes controversial show profiled a fictitious black family living in public housing and trying to make a better life for themselves. Originally conceived as a comedy that would explore the social concerns of poor families, Good Times gradually became a vehicle for comedian Jimmie Walker, whose ebullient personality and trademark quip "Dyn-o-MITE!" began dominating the show. Amos objected strenuously to the changes. "There was too much emphasis on wearing chicken hats and ‘dyn-o-mite,’ and no equal representation of the other side, which is the world of academia, the young black guy who's not grabbing his crotch or wearing his hat sideways, but who aspires to a good life through the old traditional values," Amos opined in Newsday. "While we shouldn't have been doing [educational and cultural programming that appears on] PBS every week we certainly should have been putting more emphasis on a more positive role model."

Amos eventually quarreled with Norman Lear, the producer of Good Times, and when their exchange grew heated, Lear terminated Amos's contract. The Henry Evans character was "killed off" by a heart attack, and Good Times continued for several more seasons without Amos. The abrupt end to his sitcom work was hardly devastating for Amos, however. He had accepted a major dramatic role in a miniseries that would ingrain itself in American culture.

Starred in Roots

The miniseries Roots was based on the story of writer Alex Haley, who had traced his ancestry back to an enslaved African man named Kunta Kinte. In several installments, the show follows Kunta Kinte's life from his youth on the African savannah to his old age as a brutalized but still proud plantation slave. Amos was cast as the adult Kunta Kinte—a man determined to preserve his African heritage for future generations. In one of Roots's most memorable moments, Amos holds a child toward the night sky and says: "Behold! The only thing greater than yourself!" Chicago Tribune correspondent Allan Johnson referred to that scene as "surely one of the most significant moments in a drama filled with significant moments." Johnson further noted that Amos's work in Roots "sparked an awareness in African Americans of their heritage." The actor was nominated for an Emmy Award for his portrayal of Kunta Kinte.

At the time of its first broadcast in 1977, Roots drew the highest ratings of any television show in history. The miniseries has since been rerun many times, and Amos has become closely associated with his role in the drama. In the wake of Roots's success the actor concentrated on theater and film work. He wrote his own one-man show called Halley's Comet and traveled across country performing it. He also took cameo roles—a villain here, a hero there—in such films as Die Hard 2, Lock Up, Coming to America, and The Beastmaster.

Middle age and the responsibility of caring for two growing children brought a gradual shift in Amos's political views. Once a "superliberal," as he described himself in the Washington Post, he has come to be more supportive of the conservative cause. This has not eroded Amos's social consciousness, however. Having moved back to New Jersey after years of living in California, he helped to open the first movie theater in downtown Newark since the 1960s and has worked with youngsters there who want to pursue theatrical careers. "I don't want to be blasé about it, but I go where the work is, and then I come home," Amos told Newsday, referring to his decision to live in New Jersey. "Cause this is my home—because of the theater, and because of my involvement with various organizations in the state."

Steady Work in Supporting Roles

In an ironic twist, Amos's return to regular TV work came about through his work with Norman Lear—the man he had clashed with over race roles in the early 1970s. The 1994 television pilot 704 Hauser Street teamed Amos with Norman once again in telling the story of Ernie Cumberbatch (played by Amos), a Vietnam War veteran and former civil rights activist who abhors Republican politics. The show effectively turns the old All in the Family formula upside down, featuring a liberal father and a conservative son living in the former home of the bumbling bigot and main character of All in the Family, Archie Bunker. While 704 Hauser Street is filmed on the former set of All in the Family, the new comedy has taken care to present all of its characters as intelligent and well read, able to argue their points on an intellectual level as well as an emotional one. Newsday reporter Diane Werts pointed out that various episodes "get to the crux of contrasting views on discrimination, virginity, and other issues. Sometimes Amos seems right; sometimes his son seems right. All the time, they compel each other to ponder why they believe what they do."

Amos and Lear buried whatever differences they may have had in the past and worked together in harmony to create the new show. "We've both changed, obviously for the better," Amos observed in USA Today. "We have a great relationship now." Though the show was not on the air for long, it helped remind television producers what a fine actor Amos was, and other roles followed. Amos grabbed the role of Fred Wilkes for four episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1994-95, then joined the cast of In the House for 11 episodes between 1995 and 1997. Amos's most notable role came in 1999 when he was cast in the recurring part of Admiral Percy Fitzwallace, a no-nonsense advisor to the president in the popular series The West Wing. In the autumn of 2006, Amos was cast in the role of Buzz in the Ann Heche comedy Men in Trees. In each of these series, Amos earned critical acclaim for his polished acting skills in supporting roles.

Led Active Life Offscreen

Supporting TV roles were probably best for Amos, who was quite busy pursuing other interesting projects beginning in the 1990s and 2000s. In 1990, Amos penned his own one-man play called Halley's Comet. The play tells the story of an 87-year-old man who relates his memories of life, beginning with his first sighting of the famous comet 76 years earlier. The play is "the love of my life, because I wrote the piece," Amos told Tavis Smiley. "Years ago, I realized that at any point as an actor, you're the extension of someone's ego. And unless your face is right on the top of that 8×10 pile, or whatever it is they select you from, you don't exist. So I said I'd better use the skills and the gifts that God has given me and write something for myself." Touring intermittently but consistently since 1990, the play has taken Amos to more than 400 cities.

Amos has also found real meaning through his work with the Halley's Comet Foundation. Amos started the foundation in 1999 when he purchased a 68-foot boat designed to look like a pirate ship. Amos hosts at-risk youth aboard the ship, where they master the techniques to keep the large boat on course while learning important lessons about success in life. Amos's passion for this work comes from the pleasure he takes in being a father and grandfather. Amos has two children: his daughter, Shannon, is a physical therapist, and his son, K.C., is a filmmaker. Amos takes great joy in his children's accomplishments and was able to work alongside K.C. in the early 2000s when he produced his son's first film, The Watermelon Heist. The pair plan another film based on Amos's early days as a football player. But Amos told Blackfilm: "Theatre is my first love, and whenever I am not involved in a TV or movie project and if I am not on an absolute vacation or doing some writing, I am probably involved in a theatrical production of some kind."

Selected works

Films

The World's Greatest Athlete, 1973.

Let's Do It Again, 1975.

The Beastmaster, 1983.

American Flyers, 1984.

Coming to America, 1988.

Lock Up, 1989.

Die Hard 2, 1990.

For Better or Worse, 1996.

Dr. Dolittle 3, 2006.

Ascension Day, 2007.

Television

Mary Tyler Moore Show, 1970-73, 1977.

Maude, 1973-74.

Good Times, 1974-76.

Roots (miniseries), 1977.

Future Cop, 1977-78.

Hunter, 1984.

704 Hauser Street, 1994.

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, 1994-95.

In the House, 1995-97.

The West Wing, 1999-04.

The District, 2000-01.

Men in Trees, 2006-07.

Plays

Actor, writer, director, and producer, Halley's Comet, toured 1990-.

Appeared in Norman, Is That You?; The Emperor Jones; Master Harold…and the Boys; Split Second; and And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little.

Sources

Books

Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television, Vol. 4, Gale, 1987.

Periodicals

Back Stage West, July 17, 2003, p. 4.

Chicago Tribune, March 2, 1993, p. 14.

Huntsville (Alabama) Times, June 30, 2007.

Newsday, April 10, 1994, p. 20; April 11, 1994, p. B-25.

USA Today, April 27, 1994, p. D-3.

Washington Post, May 8, 1994, p. TV-6.

On-line

The Halley's Comet Foundation,www.thehalleyscometfoundation.org (July 23, 2007).

"John Amos: The First Dad of Black Life Telling It Like It Is," Blackfilm,http://blackfilm.com/0205/features/i-johnamos.shtml (July 23, 2007).

"John Amos' Unlikey, Oceanic Passion," NPR,http://216.35.221.77/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10821424 (July 23, 2007).

Other

Interviewed on The Tavis Smiley Show, May 4, 2006; transcript available at Tavis Smiley,www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/200605/20060504_amos.html (July 23, 2007).