NEW YORK — Johnny Brown, known for his role as the housing project superintendent Nathan Bookman on the TV show "Good Times", has died, his family says.
Daughter and actress Sharon Catherine Brown announced her father's death on social media. She said he died on Wednesday at 84. Other details on Brown's death were not immediately available.
Sharon Brown said the family is still processing the "devastating" loss.
"This is my mom’s husband for sixty one years, mine and JJ’s dad, Elijah and Levi’s Pop Pop, older brother to George and brother in law to Pat and extended family to Chris, Hihat, Damian and Derell," she said. "It’s too terrible. It will never not be. It’s a shock. He was literally snatched out of our lives."
She said there will be more to say later.
"Dad was the absolute best," she said. "We love him so very much."
Brown's long career includes music, television and Broadway. He was a frequent ensemble member for "Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In" — a contract that kept him from taking the role of Redd Foxx’s son on "Sanford and Son."
He played the role of Ronnie on "Golden Boy" on Broadway, a musical that lasted for more than 500 performances.
Deadline reports that his other credits include "Julia", "Maude", "The Rookies", "Lotsa Luck!", "The Jeffersons", "Archie Bunker’s Place", "Family Matters", "Sister, Sister", "Moonlighting" and "Martin". He was in films including "The Wiz" (1978), "Poitier’s Hanky Panky" (1982), "Life" (1999) and "Town & Country" (2001).
Brown was born on June 11, 1937 in St. Petersburg, Florida and was raised in Harlem.