Alvin Childress

Alvin Childress (September 15, 1907 – April 19, 1986) was an American actor born in Meridian, Mississippi, who built a career spanning Broadway, film, and television across five decades. He is best known for portraying cabdriver Amos Jones in the CBS television comedy series Amos 'n' Andy in the early 1950s.

Childress pursued his education at Rust College, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology. He had originally enrolled with the intention of becoming a doctor, taking pre-med coursework, but his involvement in theater outside the classroom redirected his ambitions. After relocating to New York City, he joined the Lafayette Players, a stock company associated with Harlem's Lafayette Theatre. He subsequently worked with the Federal Theater Project and the American Negro Theater, and appeared in all-black race film productions, including Keep Punching in 1939. He also worked at Teachers College of Columbia University and operated a radio and record store in New York City.

His Broadway career ran from 1931 to 1944 and included five productions. His first credit was Savage Rhythm in 1931, followed by Brown Sugar in 1937, Haiti in 1938, and Two on an Island. His most significant stage achievement was Anna Lucasta, in which he played the role of Noah. The production ran for 957 performances and stands as the highlight of his theatrical work.

When Childress learned that casting was underway for the Amos 'n' Andy television series, he auditioned for the role of the Kingfish. Producers Charles Correll and Freeman Gosden instead cast him as Amos Jones, hiring him a year before the show began airing. With Childress secured in that role, Gosden and Correll delegated the search for an actor to play the Kingfish to him. In a 1979 interview, Childress recalled that Cab Calloway had been considered for the part but was passed over by Gosden due to his straight hair, and that many well-known figures with and without acting experience had sought the role. Veteran vaudeville comedian Tim Moore was ultimately cast as the Kingfish. The Amos 'n' Andy Show premiered in 1951 on CBS and ran for two years, with Childress playing Amos Jones as a level-headed, hardworking, and honest character.

Following the series, Childress and fellow cast members Tim Moore, Spencer Williams, and Lillian Randolph, along with her choir, launched a 1956 tour billed as "The TV Stars of Amos 'n' Andy." CBS halted the tour, asserting that it constituted an infringement of the network's rights to the program and its characters. Despite that outcome, Childress, Moore, Williams, and Johnny Lee performed one night in Windsor, Ontario in 1957, apparently without legal consequence. Plans announced in 1953 to adapt the show into a vaudeville act, with the same cast reprising their television roles, did not result in any confirmed performances. After the series ended, Childress found himself typecast as Amos Jones and struggled to secure acting work, at one point parking cars at an upscale Beverly Hills restaurant.

Childress continued to appear in television and film in subsequent years. His television credits included Perry Mason, Sanford and Son, Good Times, and The Jeffersons. A 1972 episode of Sanford and Son reunited him with former Anna Lucasta cast member Lance Taylor Jr. and Amos 'n' Andy colleague Lillian Randolph. His film appearances included Thunderbolt and Lightfoot in 1974 and The Day of the Locust in 1975. From 1961 to 1973, he worked as an unemployment interviewer for the Los Angeles Department of Personnel and with the Civil Service Commission of Los Angeles County.

Childress's first marriage was to Alice Herndon, who later established herself as a writer and actress under the name Alice Childress. The couple married in 1934, had a daughter named Jean Rosa, and divorced in 1957. Childress suffered from diabetes and other ailments in his later years. He died on April 19, 1986, in Inglewood, California, at the age of 78, and was buried at National Memorial Harmony Park in Landover, Maryland.