John Amos Biography

Fast Facts

• Played football in college, then had tryouts with the Kansas City Chiefs, the Denver Broncos and the CFL's British Columbia Lions
• Worked as a social worker in New York City and as a copywriter at an L
• A
• ad agency
• Did stand-up in Vancouver and Greenwich Village
• Was a writer for Leslie Uggams' short-lived 1969 CBS variety series
• Left Good Times after two seasons because of his complaints about scripts, but later starred in another Norman Lear show, the short-lived 1994 sitcom 704 Hauser
• An avid sailor, he founded the Halley's Comet Foundation (named after his boat—and the 1990 one-man play he wrote and appeared in) to expose inner-city children to maritime activities