John Amos

John Amos (December 27, 1939 – August 21, 2024) was an American actor and retired football player. He is best known for his role as the adult Kunta Kinte in the landmark miniseries "Roots" and for portraying James Evans Sr. on the CBS television series "Good Times." He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and an NAACP Image Award. On film, he played numerous supporting roles in movies such as "The Beastmaster" (1982), "Coming to America" (1988), "Lock Up" (1989), "Die Hard 2" (1990) and "Coming 2 America" (2021). Prior to acting, he played on the Colorado State Rams football team and in 1964, he signed a free agent contract with the American Football League's Denver Broncos and in 1967 signed a free agent contract with the American Football League's Kansas City Chiefs. Both of these contracts did not land him a spot on the teams and played a final season in the Continental Football League with the Victoria Steelers before pursuing acting.

Known For: Acting

Born: Newark, New Jersey, USA, 1939-12-27

Died: 2024-08-21

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1971	Vanishing Point	Super Soul's Engineer	71
2	1971	Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song	Biker	52
3	1973	The World's Greatest Athlete	Coach Sam Archer	53
4	1973	The President's Plane Is Missing	Marine Corporal	62
5	1975	Let's Do It Again	Kansas City Mack	69
6	1976	Future Cop	Officer Bill Bundy	50
7	1978	Cops and Robin	Officer Bill Bundy	60
8	1979	Willa	Virgil	30
9	1980	Touched by Love	Tony	46
10	1980	Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story	Bumpy Johnson	45
11	1982	The Beastmaster	Seth	63
12	1983	Dance of the Dwarfs	Esteban	36
13	1985	American Flyers	Dr. Conrad	62
14	1986	Shark's Paradise	Taxi Driver	60
15	1988	Bonanza: The Next Generation	Mr. Mack	75
16	1988	Coming to America	Cleo McDowell	69
17	1989	Lock Up	Captain Meissner	68
18	1990	Two Evil Eyes	Det. Legrand	61
19	1990	Die Hard 2	Major Grant	70
20	1991	Ricochet	Reverend Styles	61
21	1992	Mac	Nat	57
22	1993	Night Trap	Capt. Hodges	38
23	1995	For Better or Worse	Gray	40
24	1995	Hologram Man	Wes Strickland	42
25	1997	The Rockford Files: Shoot-Out at the Golden Pagoda	Booker Hutch	58
26	1998	The Players Club	Freeman	63
27	2000	Something to Sing About	Rev. Washington	61
28	2000	Disappearing Acts	Mr. Swift	62
29	2003	The Watermelon Heist	Old Man Amos	10
30	2004	TV in Black: The First Fifty Years	(archive footage)	40
31	2004	My Baby's Daddy	Uncle Virgil	46
32	2004	Countdown	Admiral Melory	57
33	2005	Shadowboxing	Хилл	54
34	2006	Dr. Dolittle 3	Jud	51
35	2006	Voodoo Moon	Dutch	39
36	2007	Ascension Day	Henry	0
37	2007	All Over Again	Coach Zeller	50
38	2012	Zombie Hamlet	Edgar Mortimer	55
39	2012	Madea's Witness Protection	Pastor Nelson	61
40	2014	Act of Faith	Mr. Brady	57
41	2015	Bad Asses on the Bayou	Earl	60
42	2015	Tamales and Gumbo	The Patron	0
43	2019	Christmas Belles	Pop Pop	23
44	2020	The Truth About Santa Claus	Bob	20
45		Devotion	Roger	0
46	2013	American Lowrider	Slick	50
47	2015	Mercy for Angels	God	0
48	2015	Mary Tyler Moore: A Celebration	Self / Gordy Howard (archive footage)	100
49	2016	Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You	Self	71
50	2019	Uncut Gems	Neighbor 33F	72
51	2019	Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times"	Fred Davis	61
52	2020	The Beastmaster Chronicles	Self	0
53	2021	Coming 2 America	Cleo McDowell	64
54	2021	Because of Charley	Grandpa	23
55	2021	Christmas in Miami	Chief Host	0
56	2022	Block Party	Dennis	61
57	2022	Me Time	Gil	59
58	2023	The Last Rifleman	Lincoln Jefferson Adams	66
59		Future Cop: Cops and Robin	Officer Bundy	0
60		John Amos: Roots of an American Legend	Self	0

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1961	The Mike Douglas Show	Self	54
2	1962	The Merv Griffin Show	Self	58
3	1962	The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson	Self	75
4	1969	Love, American Style	Bell Captain	61
5	1969	Love, American Style		61
6	1970	The Mary Tyler Moore Show	Gordy Howard	75
7	1971	The Funny Side	Minority Husband	0
8	1971	The New Dick Van Dyke Show	Mark Cooper	40
9	1972	Sanford and Son		74
10	1973	Police Story		69
11	1974	Good Times	James Evans Sr.	80
12	1974	Dinah!	Self	67
13	1977	Roots	Toby	74
14	1977	Roots	Older Kunta Kinte	74
15	1977	Future Cop	Bill Bundy	72
16	1977	The Love Boat	Duke Taylor	63
17	1980	Here's Boomer		53
18	1980	Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story	Bumpy Johnson	50
19	1983	The A-Team	Rev. Taylor	75
20	1983	Hardcastle and McCormick	Albie Meadows	64
21	1984	Hunter	Capt. Dolan (uncredited)	72
22	1984	The Cosby Show	Dr. Herbert	70
23	1984	Murder, She Wrote	Doc Penrose	75
24	1990	The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air	Fred Wilkes	79
25	1992	Martin	Sgt. Strawn	76
26	1993	Walker, Texas Ranger	Pastor Roscoe Jones	70
27	1994	704 Hauser	Ernie Cumberbatch	0
28	1994	Touched by an Angel	Sheriff James Mackey	72
29	1995	The Outer Limits	Peter 'Yas' Yastrzemski	77
30	1995	In the House		74
31	1997	King of the Hill	Glen Johnson (voice)	74
32	1997	The Chris Rock Show	Self	44
33	1999	The West Wing	Percy Fitzwallace	83
34	2000	The District	Mayor Ethan Baker	68
35	2003	All About the Andersons	Joe Anderson	85
36	2003	Two and a Half Men	Ed	75
37	2005	My Name Is Earl	Joe	77
38	2006	Psych	Uncle Burton	79
39	2006	Men in Trees	Buzz	68
40	2006	30 Rock	John Amos	75
41	2009	Lie to Me	Jim Weaver	79
42	2009	Royal Pains	Harrison Phillips	67
43	2012	NYC 22	Pappy Science	62
44	2015	Ballers	Deacon Eller	68
45	2016	The Ranch	Ed	74
46	2018	The Last O.G.	Uncle D	63
47	2019	The Movies That Made Us	Self	72
48	2025	Suits LA	John Amos	71

John Amos

Film

Television