Roots, Good Times and The West Wing actor remembered

Tributes have been paid to actor John Amos, who made his mark on US TV within the vastly widespread landmark collection Roots, and Good Instances.

Amos, who was 84, performed stern however loving patriarch James Evans in Good Instances, one of many first sitcoms a couple of black household, from 1974.

However he was fired after three seasons following heated and long-running arguments about how the present’s white writers depicted its characters.

He went on to play the older Kunta Kinte in Roots, a milestone drama about an African man who’s shipped to America as a slave.

Amos additionally had roles in movies like Die Arduous 2, Coming To America and Uncut Gems.

His different TV credit included The Mary Tyler Moore Present, The West Wing, The Contemporary Prince of Bel-Air, 30 Rock and Two and a Half Males.

His ultimate function will likely be seen within the forthcoming collection Fits LA.

Paying tribute, fellow actor Martin Lawrence wrote on social media: “This one hits completely different. My condolences exit to the household of a real legend, John Amos.”

His Good Instances co-star Jimmie Walker informed Folks: “John was a terrific actor and my condolences exit to his whole household, buddies and his many, many followers.”

Asserting Amos’s dying, his son Kelly Christopher stated: “He was a person with the kindest coronary heart and a coronary heart of gold… and he was cherished the world over.

“Many followers contemplate him their TV father. He lived life. His legacy will dwell on in his excellent works in tv and movie as an actor.”

Veteran climate presenter Al Roker posted that Amos at all times “introduced dignity, grace and honesty to his roles”.

He wrote: “I keep in mind him as Gordy The Weatherman at WJM [in The Mary Tyler Moore Show] once we was simply beginning as a TV climate man in 1974 and seeing him as a task mannequin.

“And when he stop Good Instances, individuals revered him for his stand. He will likely be missed.”

Amos began out as an American soccer participant earlier than breaking into performing in comedies The Leslie Uggams Present and Maude.

His character in Maude – alongside together with his on-screen spouse, performed by Esther Rolle – then bought a spin-off within the form of Good Instances, set in a high-rise housing challenge in Chicago.

“That present was the closest depiction in actuality to life as an African American household residing in these circumstances because it might be,” Amos informed Time journal in 2021.

However it was usually not shut sufficient for the actor, who clashed with creator Norman Lear and requested to make modifications to the writing workforce’s scripts.

“They’d go on about their credit,” he informed SiriusXM radio.

He stated he would reply: “Nicely, how lengthy have you ever been black? That simply does not occur locally. We do not suppose that means. We do not act that means. We do not let our youngsters do this.”

He significantly objected to the growing prominence of the character of his son JJ, performed by Walker, who had the catchphrase “dyn-o-mite”.

“I felt an excessive amount of emphasis was being placed on JJ in his hen hat, saying ‘dy-no-mite!’ each third web page,” Amos recalled.

“I felt simply as a lot emphasis and mileage may have been gotten out of my different two kids, one in all whom aspired to turn into a Supreme Court docket justice, performed by Ralph Carter, and the opposite, [played by] BernNadette Stanis, who aspired to turn into a surgeon.

“However I wasn’t essentially the most diplomatic man in these days, and [the producers] bought bored with having their lives threatened over jokes.

“So that they stated, ‘Inform you what, why don’t we kill him off? We are able to get on with our lives!’

“That taught me a lesson – I wasn’t as vital as I assumed I used to be to the present or to Norman Lear’s plans.”

Good Instances was tailored within the UK in 1976 as The Fosters, the primary British sitcom with an all-black forged.

Norman Beaton performed the daddy, with Lenny Henry in one in all his early roles as one in all his sons.

And earlier this yr, Good Instances was rebooted as an animated collection by Netflix, which described it as a “religious sequel” to the unique sitcom.

In 1977, Amos moved on to Roots, which the US Library of Congress stated was watched not less than partially by 85% of all US households.

Primarily based on Alex Haley’s novel, the mini-series “elevated the American consciousness” in regards to the historical past of slavery and its modern-day affect, Amos informed New York channel NY1 in 2022.

“I knew that it was a life-changing function for me, as an actor and simply from a humanistic standpoint,” he informed Time.

“It was the end result of all the misconceptions and stereotypical roles that I had lived and seen being supplied to me. It was like a reward for having suffered these indignities.”