John Amos’ 2 Marriages: Look Back at the Late Actor’s Relationships With First Wife Noel “Noni” Mickelson and Actress Lillian Lehman

Mar. 15, 2025

John Amos with his first wife Noel “Noni” Mickelson.Photo:Shannon Amos/Instagram

Shannon Amos/Instagram

John Amosplayed a husband numerous times on-screen throughout his five-decade-long career, and he also exchanged wedding vows in real life.

Amos was married twice: He wed artist Noel “Noni” Mickelson in 1965, and they welcomed two children, daughter Shannon and son Kelly Christopher “K.C.”

After their divorce in 1975, Amos briefly married actress Lillian Lehman, though details about their relationship are private.

Amos died of natural causes at 84 on Aug. 21, his son K.C. confirmed to PEOPLE on Oct. 1. “It is with heartfelt sadnessthat I share with you that my father has transitioned,” he wrote. “He was a man with the kindest heart and a heart of gold… and he was loved the world over."

Amos was recognized for portraying Kunta Kinte in the originalRootslimited series and the patriarch of the first sitcom about a nuclear Black family,Good Times.

He also had roles on shows likeThe Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-AirandThe West Wing;and movies likeComing to America, Madea’s Witness ProtectionandUncut Gems.

Here’s everything to know about John Amos’s dating history.

Noel “Noni” Mickelson

John Amos. ; Noel “Noni” Mickelson.Ron Galella/Getty Images; K.C. Amos/Instagram

Ron Galella/Getty Images; K.C. Amos/Instagram

Amos and Mickelson met while attending college at Colorado State University and married in 1965, perThe Hollywood Reporter.

At the time of their marriage, Shannon wrote inthe caption of an Instagram photoof her parents on their wedding day, it was still illegal in over a dozen states for interracial couples to marry. She later shared that Mickelson was of"Danish & Ashkenazi Jewish" descent.

“For them, it was love at first sight,” she posted in June 2020. “However, it was a tumultuous time in the world around them. … In the midst of it all, their love would produce a child (me). I was born a year before my parents would be recognized as a legal couple in 16 states.”

Shannon added, “As a child I didn’t know my parents were different colors. I only saw them as my parents — the two people who loved me. All I knew was their love.”

After Amos and Mickelson wed, they moved to New Jersey, where the actor was originally from, according toThe Hollywood Reporter. Though they landed jobs as social workers, Mickelson supported Amos' dream to play professional football. “Being an artist herself, she understood my reluctance to accept the 9-to-5 world,” Amos told the outlet in November 2023.

John Amos attends the 2014 Doe Fund Benefit & Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City on October 30, 2014.Shahar Azran/WireImage/Getty Images

Shahar Azran/WireImage/Getty Images

After Amos and Mickelson divorced in 1975, little was known about her private life besides what her kids shared on social media. In August 2014,K.C. posted a photoof himself, Shannon, Amos and an ailing Mickelson. “Chillin w fam on mom’s b-day,” he wrote.

Other photosshow herconfined to a wheelchair. Shannon toldThe Hollywood Reporterthat Mickelson got remarried to a Disney special-effects engineer and was living on a California ranch when she experienced medical complications during a hysterectomy, which resulted in her becoming blind and a quadriplegic. After the 1996 incident, Mickelson’s second husband cared for her until his death about nine years later.

In January 2017, K.C. shared athrowback picture of his motherwith a horse and recalled her winning numerous riding awards. “Basically the best endurance rider you ever see this side of the Mississippi,” he wrote.

In June 2017, K.C. revealedon Instagramthat Mickelson had died. Shannon later toldThe Hollywood Reporterthat she had passed in 2016.

Since then, her children have continued to remember her. More recently, Shannon reflected on how Mickelson helped her acknowledge and experience grief.

My mother used to call it grief-letting, telling me, ‘Sweetheart, let your river of tears flow.’ 😰,” she wroteon Instagramin February 2024. “She was my rock, offering a safe space to be with my emotions. I miss the warmth of her embrace so much. ✨💗.”

Lillian Lehman

John Amos; Lillian Lehman.John Kisch Archive/Getty; Courtesy Everett

John Kisch Archive/Getty; Courtesy Everett

Amos and Lehman were briefly married in the late 1970s, perCalifornia State University, Northridge.

Best known for playing professional roles like doctors and judges, Lehman has starred on shows likeL.A. Law, Macgyver, General HospitalandThe Closer. She has also appeared in notable movies, includingSteve Carell’sEvan AlmightyandMadonna’sBody of Evidence.

“I’ve been told I express an authoritative presence, but also a sense of compassion,” Lehman told theMontgomery Advertiserin 1992. “I’ve tried out for parts like nurses and clerks, and been told ‘Sorry, Lillian, but you’re just not the nurse type. You’re the doctor type.’ Still, when you are an actor, you have to consider yourself blessed if you are thought of as anything that allows you to work consistently.”

In addition to her acting career, Lehman was a longtime drama professor at California State University Northridge. In scenes inL.A. Law,while she was on the bench rifling through papers, the actress was actually reviewing students' papers between takes.

“Sometimes it’s tough balancing the two professions,” she told the newspaper. “You’ll finally wrap up a shoot late at night, and everyone is going out to celebrate, and you can’t because you have grades due the next Friday.”

Lehman and Amos reunited in 1992’sNight Track, playing a married couple.

“It’s strange that I happen to be playing my ex-husband’s wife, but it really isn’t that hard because neither of us harbored any bad feelings after our marriage and we both respect each other as actors,” she explained,while the movie was filming in Mobile, Ala.

Lehman continued, “Still, it was especially strange because neither of us knew we’d be performing with each other until we got to Mobile to start filming. The person who cast us didn’t even realize that John and I had been married.”

source: people.com