John Amos

John Amos

1939-12-27 Newark, New Jersey, USA 61 Credits

Biography

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 "Com...

Known For

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Complete Filmography

The Last Rifleman

The Last Rifleman

2023

as Lincoln Jefferson Adams

6.6
Acting

A WWII veteran escapes his care home in Northern Ireland and embarks on an arduous but inspirational journey to France to attend the 75th anniversary ...

Me Time

Me Time

2022

as Gil

5.9
Acting

With his family away, a devoted stay-at-home dad enjoys his first me time in years by joining his hard-partying old friend on a wild birthday adventur...

Block Party

Block Party

2022

as Dennis

6.1
Acting

Recent Harvard grad Keke McQueen, 23, is eager to ditch her hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan for her dream job in Atlanta, but when Keke discovers t...

Christmas in Miami

Christmas in Miami

2021

as Chief Host

Acting

Akpos jets off with his family to the exotic city of Miami, Florida to represent Nigeria at the Intercontinental Christmas Fiesta, which is a unifying...

Because of Charley

Because of Charley

2021

as Grandpa

2.3
Acting

Two estranged stepfamilies reluctantly gather at a Central Florida home for an anniversary party, fully intending to keep the visit brief - but Hurric...

Coming 2 America

Coming 2 America

2021

as Cleo McDowell

6.4
Acting

Prince Akeem Joffer is set to become King of Zamunda when he discovers he has a son he never knew about in America – a street savvy Queens native name...

The Truth About Santa Claus

The Truth About Santa Claus

2020

as Bob

2.0
Acting

A man does not want children but after a “run-in” with Santa finds the true “gift” of Christmas.

The Beastmaster Chronicles

The Beastmaster Chronicles

2020

as Self

Acting

Documentary about the making of the film The Beastmaster.

Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times"

Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times"

2019

as Fred Davis

6.1
Acting

Live performances of classic holiday-themed episodes from Norman Lear's hit shows "All in the Family" and "Good Times."

Christmas Belles

Christmas Belles

2019

as Pop Pop

2.3
Acting

Despite being successful in their careers, two 30-something BFFs never stop hearing that they both need a man before it's too late. When a handsome pa...

Uncut Gems

Uncut Gems

2019

as Neighbor 33F

7.2
Acting

A charismatic New York City jeweler always on the lookout for the next big score makes a series of high-stakes bets that could lead to the windfall of...

Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You

Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You

2016

as Self

7.1
Acting

Arguably the most influential creator, writer, and producer in the history of television, Norman Lear brought primetime into step with the times. Usin...

Mary Tyler Moore: A Celebration

Mary Tyler Moore: A Celebration

2015

as Self / Gordy Howard (archive footage)

10.0
Acting

Not only did Mary Tyler Moore “turn the world on with her smile,” as her show’s theme song declared, she also influenced a generation of women to beco...

Tamales and Gumbo

Tamales and Gumbo

2015

as The Patron

Acting

A beautiful Latina and a lovable African-American try to survive the crazy cultural clashes between their families, as their wedding day nears.

Mercy for Angels

Mercy for Angels

2015

as God

Acting

Runaway Tracy is snatched from a dangerous L.A. neighborhood by sadistic thugs while searching for her homeless boyfriend. Her police detective mom ra...

Bad Asses on the Bayou

Bad Asses on the Bayou

2015

as Earl

6.0
Acting

The third installment in the successful Bad Ass action-comedy franchise. Bad Asses on the Bayou reunites the dynamic duo, Frank Vega (Danny Trejo) and...

Althea

Althea

2014

Executive Producer

7.0
Producing

Althea Gibson’s life and achievements transcend sports. A truant from the rough streets of Harlem, Althea emerged as a most unlikely queen of the high...

Act of Faith

Act of Faith

2014

as Mr. Brady

5.7
Acting

After the death of his beloved wife, Mr. Brady struggles to maintain a neighborhood diner in Atlanta Georgia. His few faithful waitresses have become ...

American Lowrider

American Lowrider

2013

as Slick

5.0
Acting

Lefty-a hard working, light hearted man is looking to make a decent buck. But when a simple bet goes horribly wrong, Lefty is stuck between a rock and...

Madea's Witness Protection

Madea's Witness Protection

2012

as Pastor Nelson

6.1
Acting

For years, mild-mannered Wall Street banker George Needleman has meandered through life oblivious to his family's dysfunction and his company's malfea...

Zombie Hamlet

Zombie Hamlet

2012

as Edgar Mortimer

5.5
Acting

Desperate filmmaker Osric Taylor dreams of making his civil war Hamlet but when production funding dries up, he agrees to take southern matron Hester ...

All Over Again

2007

as Coach Zeller

5.0
Acting

About to finish high school, budding inventor Z.T. dreams of escaping both his sleepy town and his gloomy, widowed Dad, Cole. But his ambitions get a ...

Ascension Day

Ascension Day

2007

as Henry

Acting

A drama focused on Nat Turner and the 1831 slave rebellion in Virginia.

Voodoo Moon

Voodoo Moon

2006

as Dutch

3.9
Acting

Voodoo Moon takes place in the mid-west United States, where a demonic figure murders the entire population of a small town, save for one young boy an...

Dr. Dolittle 3

Dr. Dolittle 3

2006

as Jud

5.1
Acting

Lisa Dolittle sends her daughter to 'Durango', a Dude Ranch, to find herself. While there, she uses her talent to talk to the animals in order to save...

Shadowboxing

Shadowboxing

2005

as Хилл

5.4
Acting

Artem Kolchin was one of many, but he wanted glory. And he has chosen the way: he became the boxer. Now Artem the applicant for a champion title, figh...

Countdown

Countdown

2004

as Admiral Melory

5.7
Acting

A terrorist organization known as "Ansar Allah" is preparing to turn the city of Rome into a City of the Dead. But the heroism of Smolin, the professi...

My Baby's Daddy

My Baby's Daddy

2004

as Uncle Virgil

4.6
Acting

A trio of young men are forced to grow up quick when their girlfriends all become pregnant around the same time.

TV in Black: The First Fifty Years

TV in Black: The First Fifty Years

2004

as (archive footage)

4.0
Acting

Discover how television has reflected the African American experience in this retrospective of the medium's first half-century. Actors, writers and hi...

The Watermelon Heist

The Watermelon Heist

2003

as Old Man Amos

1.0
Acting

To make money fast the Browns come up with a plan to win a contest for "Watermelon Juice Afro Sheen," awarding $10,000 to whoever can find the juicies...

Disappearing Acts

Disappearing Acts

2000

as Mr. Swift

6.2
Acting

A struggling construction worker and an aspiring musician find themselves falling in love.

Something to Sing About

Something to Sing About

2000

as Rev. Washington

6.1
Acting

Tommy is a troubled young man with a history of crime. When he meets Memaw, an elderly lady, the two form a special bond with Memaw encouraging Charli...

The Players Club

The Players Club

1998

as Freeman

6.3
Acting

Single mother Diana struggles to provide for her child and pay for her college education. When she meets two dancers from a nearby gentlemen's club, D...

The Rockford Files: Shoot-Out at the Golden Pagoda

The Rockford Files: Shoot-Out at the Golden Pagoda

1997

as Booker Hutch

5.8
Acting

After a quiet fishing trip, Rockford is tricked into taking over a fellow PI's case involving alleged Police misconduct, which lands him in the hospit...

Hologram Man

Hologram Man

1995

as Wes Strickland

4.2
Acting

Five years after the mad terrorist Slash Galagher was sentenced to holographic stasis, he is given a parole hearing. But an equipment failure engineer...

For Better or Worse

For Better or Worse

1995

as Gray

4.0
Acting

A comic love triangle wherein a loser falls in love with his recently-married brother's wife.

Night Trap

Night Trap

1993

as Capt. Hodges

3.8
Acting

A New Orleans cop tries to track down and stop a vicious and demonic killer whom has sold his soul to the devil for invulnerability and immortality.

Mac

Mac

1992

as Nat

5.7
Acting

Niccolo "Mac" Vitelli is the eldest of three brothers in 1950s Queens. Mac is a construction builder, a trade he learned from his late father, and hel...

Ricochet

Ricochet

1991

as Reverend Styles

6.1
Acting

An attorney is terrorized by the criminal he put away years ago when he was a cop.

Die Hard 2

Die Hard 2

1990

as Major Grant

7.0
Acting

One year after his heroics in Los Angeles, John McClane is an off-duty cop who is the wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. On a snowy Chris...

Two Evil Eyes

Two Evil Eyes

1990

as Det. Legrand

6.1
Acting

A duo of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations about a greedy wife's attempt to embezzle her dying husband's fortune, and a sleazy reporter's adoption of a stra...

Lock Up

Lock Up

1989

as Captain Meissner

6.8
Acting

Frank Leone is nearing the end of his prison term for a relatively minor crime. Just before he is paroled, however, Warden Drumgoole takes charge. Dru...

Coming to America

Coming to America

1988

as Cleo McDowell

6.9
Acting

An African prince decides it’s time for him to find a princess... and his mission leads him and his most loyal friend to Queens, New York. In disguise...

Bonanza: The Next Generation

Bonanza: The Next Generation

1988

as Mr. Mack

7.5
Acting

This is the continuing saga of the Cartwrights, only none of the original Cartwrights are here anymore but their sons. Ben and Hoss have passed on, an...

Shark's Paradise

Shark's Paradise

1986

as Taxi Driver

6.0
Acting

A mad man threatens to lure hundreds of sharks to the beach at Surfers Paradise Australia at the start of the tourist season, his price to hold off th...

American Flyers

American Flyers

1985

as Dr. Conrad

6.2
Acting

When Dr. Marcus Sommers realizes that he and his troubled, estranged brother David may be prone a fatal brain disease that runs in their family, he de...

Dance of the Dwarfs

Dance of the Dwarfs

1983

as Esteban

3.6
Acting

An anthropologist and an alcoholic helicopter pilot discover a race of predatory reptile men in the jungles of South America.

The Beastmaster

The Beastmaster

1982

as Seth

6.3
Acting

Dar, is the son of a king, who's hunted by a priest after his birth and grows up in another family. When he becomes a grown man, his new father is mur...

Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story

Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story

1980

as Bumpy Johnson

4.5
Acting

Filmed on location at Alcatraz Island, this two-part "whole story" actually concentrates on a handful of the denizens behind the cold grey walls of "T...

Touched by Love

Touched by Love

1980

as Tony

4.6
Acting

A teenager with cerebral palsy attempts to become pen pals with her idol, Elvis Presley.

Willa

Willa

1979

as Virgil

3.0
Acting

A truck-stop waitress, determined to make a better life for her young children after being abandoned by her husband, leaves hash-slinging behind her t...

Cops and Robin

Cops and Robin

1978

as Officer Bill Bundy

6.0
Acting

A veteran street cop and his partner, a robot programmed to be the perfect policeman, are assigned to protect the five-year-old daughter of the widow ...

Future Cop

Future Cop

1976

as Officer Bill Bundy

5.0
Acting

A veteran street cop is assigned a new partner. The partner is not exactly what he seems to be, though--he is an experimental android who has been pro...

Let's Do It Again

Let's Do It Again

1975

as Kansas City Mack

6.9
Acting

Clyde Williams and Billy Foster are a couple of blue-collar workers in Atlanta who have promised to raise funds for their fraternal order, the Brother...

The President's Plane Is Missing

The President's Plane Is Missing

1973

as Marine Corporal

6.2
Acting

When the President's plane mysteriously disappears with him on board, it is left to the seemingly weak Vice President to try to avert a nuclear exchan...

The World's Greatest Athlete

The World's Greatest Athlete

1973

as Coach Sam Archer

5.3
Acting

Stuck with a feeble sports department, college coach Sam Archer (John Amos) faces the ax unless he can reverse the school's athletic fortunes. An Afri...

Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song

Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song

1971

as Biker

5.2
Acting

After saving a Black Panther from some racist cops, a black male prostitute goes on the run from "the man" with the help of the ghetto community and s...

Vanishing Point

Vanishing Point

1971

as Super Soul's Engineer

7.1
Acting

Kowalski works for a car delivery service, and takes delivery of a 1970 Dodge Challenger to drive from Colorado to San Francisco. Shortly after pickup...

Devotion

Devotion

N/A

as Roger

Acting

A pastor bumps into an old trainer and begins boxing after his wife retires from MMA fighting.

Future Cop: Cops and Robin

N/A

as Officer Bundy

Acting

To protect his former partner's widow, a veteran cop teams up with an android to keep her safe.

John Amos: Roots of an American Legend

N/A

as Self

Acting

An intimate look at the life, diversity, challenges, and accomplishments of John Amos. He would go on to become the most memorable and respected Afric...