Former footballer and coast guardsman John Amos was everywhere on television in the 1970s and 1980s.
The adult Kunta Kinte in Roots (1977).
Left: Levar Burton played the young Kunta Kinte.
Gordy the Weatherman on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-77).
The sword-and-sorcery fighter Seth in Beastmaster (1982)
Plus guest shots on Sanford and Son, Maude, Police Story, Love Boat, The A-Team...you name it, he was in it.
I didn't see much of him during the 80s and 90s -- not on screen, anyway. We went to the same gym in West Hollywood.
John was always gracious to his flirtatious gay fans, leading us to speculate that he was gay in real life -- he's been married to women twice, and has two children, but you never know.
We never became friends, but we developed a nodding acquaintance. And I saw him naked in the locker room once or twice.
Naked after the break