Alvin Childress

Alvin Childress
Alvin Childress as Amos, 1951.
Born	(1907-09-15)September 15, 1907 Meridian, Mississippi, U.S.
Died	April 19, 1986(1986-04-19) (aged 78) Inglewood, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1931–1982
Spouse(s)	Alice Herndon (1934-1957) Sophie (?-1986)

Alvin Childress (September 15, 1907 – April 19, 1986) was a black American actor who is best known for playing the cabdriver Amos Jones in the 1950s television comedy series Amos 'n Andy.

Alvin Childress was born in Meridian, Mississippi. He was educated at Rust College, from which he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology. When he initially entered college, Childress intended to become a doctor, enrolling in typical pre-med courses. He had no thoughts of becoming involved in acting, but became involved in theater outside of classes. Childress moved to New York City and became an actor with Harlem's Lafayette Players, a troupe of stock players associated with the Lafayette Theatre. Soon, he was engaged as an actor in the Federal Theater Project, the American Negro Theater, and in all-black race film productions such as Keep Punching (1939). His greatest success on the stage was his performance as Noah in the popular comedy, Anna Lucasta, which ran for 957 performances. He also worked at Teachers College of Columbia University. Childress also operated his own radio and record store in New York City. When he learned about casting for the Amos 'n Andy television series, Childress decided to audition for a role. He was hired a year before the show went on the air.

In 1951, he was cast as the level-headed, hard-working and honest Amos Jones in the popular television series, The Amos 'n Andy Show, which ran for two years on CBS and made a star of the old-time vaudeville comedian, Tim Moore. Childress originally tried out for the role of The Kingfish, but Charles Correll and Freeman Gosden cast him as Amos. Since he had been hired a year before the show began, Gosden and Correll turned the search for an actor to play "The Kingfish" over to Childress. In a 1979 interview, Childress shared information about some of the candidates. Cab Calloway was considered but found wanting by Gosden because of his straight hair. Childress said there were many famous men, with and without actual acting experience, who wanted to play the role.