John Amos died on August 21 in Los Angeles of natural causes, his representative confirmed on Tuesday. He was 84.
“With a career spanning over five decades, Amos leaves behind a legacy of groundbreaking work in both television and film, along with a commitment to positive African American representation in media,” the statement read.
The late actor is best known for his role as James Evans Sr. on Good Times, where he portrayed a hardworking father striving to provide for his family in a challenging environment. However, his character was written out in Season 4 and killed off in an automobile accident.
Here’s everything you need to know about how that decision came to be.
Was John Amos Fired from Good Times?
Good Times accrued high ratings and was lauded for making television history as one of the first sitcoms with an all-Black cast, preceding Norman Lear’s The Jeffersons (1975-85). However, both Amos and Esther Rolle, who played his wife, Florida Evans, felt that there were still inroads to be made by Black members of the production. They urged Lear to allow them to modify the scripts, which had largely been drafted by white writers.
Chronicling the trials and tribulations of a Black working-class family living in the Chicago projects, Good Times (1974-79), which aired on CBS, never shied away from the gritty realities of life in public housing. The show tackled topics like racial bigotry, drug abuse, and poverty, all while maintaining a sense of humor.
Despite its critical success, Amos felt that the show was leaning too heavily into comedy. At one point, reminiscing with a childhood friend about his roots, his character James recalls being so poor that while other children had patches on their clothes, he had “patches on my patches!”
“I had a way of voicing my differences with the script that weren’t acceptable to the creative staff,” Amos explained.
Amos’s outspokenness, which was initially welcomed, eventually led to his dismissal in 1976 for being deemed a “disruptive element,” as he mentioned in an interview with the SiriusXM program Sway in the Morning. He was written out of Season 4 and his character was killed off in an automobile accident.
“I wasn’t the most diplomatic guy in those days, and [the show’s producers] got tired of having their lives threatened over jokes,” he continued. “So they said, ‘Tell you what, why don’t we kill him off? We can get on with our lives!’ That taught me a lesson — I wasn’t as important as I thought I was to the show or to Norman Lear’s plans.”