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June 26, 2004
Hey dude, like, aren't you dead?
by Brad Schmitt
Tennessean.com
Actor John Amos is in town, and he reports that he's scaring people.
You see, in addition to being J.J.'s dad in the 1970s series Good Times, John plays Adm. Percy Fitzwallace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on The West Wing. Or rather, John played the role.
His character was killed during an overseas mission at the end of this season. And when people see him, they sometimes feel like they're seeing a ghost. This has happened several times at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center.
''I have to reassure people that I'm all right and they're all right,'' he said yesterday, laughing.
John also said there was no ceremony to the end of his five-year run on The West Wing. He said he was on some steps reading a newspaper and eating a breakfast burrito when one of the show's directors approached him.
''He said, 'Hey John, how's the burrito? Oh, hey, did I tell you we're killing Fitzwallace?' It was just like that,'' John said.
''I said, 'Why's that?' 'We wanted to create a cliffhanger,' '' John said.
''Well, I don't know about that. Cliffhanger. I'm sure my creditors and ex-wife are going to have a cliffhanger wondering if they're going to get the next checks.''
So why is John here …?
Amos might bring celestial show to town
Did you know that John Amos (The West Wing, Good Times, The Mary Tyler Moore Show) used to be a social worker?
John has a foundation that helps keep arts education in public schools, and that mission brought him to town this week. Of all the wacky worlds-collide things, John, through a series of mutual friends, knows the manager for young Russian country act Bering Strait.
And it seems that John and that manager, one Mike Kinnamon, share a love of kids, so they'll be working together on some fund raising.
Among the ideas: John wants to bring his one-man show for kids, Haley's Comet, to Nashville. In the show, John plays an 80-something man who will have seen Haley's Comet twice in his life, describing how life has changed between comet sightings. Might he combine that with some musical numbers from Bering Strait?
''Now that would be incredible. The musicianship of those kids. They're extraordinary.''
I'll keep you posted.
Posted by Jo at June 26, 2004 08:23 AM