John Amos - Acting Career

Acting Career

Amos is perhaps best known for playing characters Gordy Howard (the weatherman on The Mary Tyler Moore Show) from 1970 until 1973 and James Evans, Sr. the husband of Florida Evans appearing three times on the sitcom Maude before continuing the role in 61 episodes of Good Times from 1974 to 1976. While playing an under-educated but hard-working middle-aged father of three on the show, in real life Amos was only 34 when the show began, only eight years older than the actor who played his oldest son (Jimmie Walker) and nearly 19 years younger than his screen wife (Esther Rolle). Amos, much like series' co-star Rolle, wanted to portray a positive image of an African American family, struggling against the odds in the ghetto of Chicago, but saw the premise slighted by lower comedy, and expressed dissatisfaction. Unhappy with the scripts and tension with producers, he was fired from the show after the third season. His character James Evans died in a car accident in the first episode of the fourth season, and the series continued for two-and-a-half more seasons without him. Norman Lear said Amos had become a disruption and Amos agrees saying he wasn't very diplomatic about the direction of the show. Amos disagreed about the writers staying with J.J.'s phrases, funny walk and "pigeon hats". His other screen children, Thelma, wanted to be a surgeon and Michael a Supreme Court Justice. Amos could see the comedy that could be generated from that but the writers wanted to stay with the J.J. bits.