LOS ANGELES — John Amos, the prolific actor known for his work in the sitcoms "Good Times" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," the movie "Coming to America" and the miniseries "Roots," has died. He was 84. Amos' publicist, Belinda Foster, confirmed to The Times on Tuesday that the actor died of natural causes on Aug.
21. Additional details were not revealed. For three years and three seasons, Amos was adored by audiences around the country as the tough-loving patriarch of the Evans family on the 1970s sitcom "Good Times.
" Amos played James Evans, a hard-working Korean War veteran with a withering stare and sharp wit who did everything he could to provide for his family. Like any great TV dad, Amos loved all his TV children equally — which became a point of contention behind the scenes when the scripts started focusing more and more on the comedic antics of the eldest Evans child, J.J.
(Jimmie "JJ" Walker). In a 2014 interview with the Television Academy, Amos recalled expressing concerns about the show placing "too much emphasis ..
. on J.J.
and his chicken hat" while neglecting James Evans' "other two children." According to Amos, his creative differences with the "Good Times" producers — including the legendary Norman Lear — led to him being labeled a "disruptive factor" and getting fired from the show. Lear personally called Amos to deliver the news.
"I didn't curse or anything. I just hung up the phone," Amos told the Television Academy. "And he didn't call me back to.