“James” was once flirting with the beloved “Willona” in real life. A video has resurfaced from a few years ago, when John Amos (James), the late Ja’net Dubois (Willona), and the rest of the Good Times cast announced their prior plans to create a movie about their experiences on the hit ’70s sitcom.
At that time, they’d released a Kickstarter campaign to raise funding for the movie. What cracked us up is that during their video announcement, John Amos started flirting with Ja’net Dubois. Though we were super excited to hear that Good Times was making a comeback (which has now been shelved), we couldn’t stop laughing at how “James” was trying to push up on “Willona” and playfully rub up on her thighs. [Scroll down for the video]
Watch the video of Ja’net Dubois (Willona), John Amos (James), Bern Nadette Stanis (Thelma), Ralph Carter (Michael Evans), and Jimmie Walker (J.J.) below, and around the 1:59 mark is where you’ll see “James” try to get with “Willona.” Her reaction was too funny:
Though the Good Times project reportedly fell through, the concept behind it was pretty cool. So here’s what they shared about it at that time:
“Back in the 70’s this entire cast of actors came together in a project called Good Times, written by Eric Monty, a native Chicagoan who knew what he was writing about. It was supposed to be autobiographical…he wrote about a family living in the Cabrini Green projects…a family that was beset by economic problems, social problems, etc.- that’s who this family was and that’s who this family is. Now we’re here today to tell you how you could become a part of this family and help this family and others to enjoy the wok we tried to do back in the day and the wok we’re doing today.
I had the pleasure of playing the role of the father of this family, ONLY because the late Esther Rolle was strong enough, when the show was offered to her, to insist that she have a husband. She did NOT want to perpetuate the image of a matriarchal family and for that, she will always be a part of our spirit. Now we ask you to join this family and be a part of it and be just as supportive as we have been of each other over the years in trying to bring this project to you.”
Beautiful memories indeed. May the late, great Ja’Net Dubois continue to rest in peace and power.
