Famous Amos Has Crumbled His Last Cookie (1936-2024)

August 14, 2024 3:44 PM

Wally Amos, best known to most Americans for his company Famous Amos Cookies (now owned by Ferrero) passed away on August 13th at home in Hawaii at the age of 88

Amos was born in Tallahassee, FL before moving to New York and then, after a stint in the US Air Force, headed for Hollywood where he started as a mail clerk for the William Morris Agency. He worked his way up to be their first black talent agent and head of WM's Rock and Roll department. He represented acts like Simon & Garfunkel, Sam Cooke, and The Temptations.

Part of his appeal to acts was sending home baked cookies with his invitations to chat business. He opened his first Famous Amos store in Hollywood with a loan from Marvin Gaye and Helen Reddy.

After losing his eponymous company, he went on to found multiple companies (such as Uncle Wally's Muffins and The Cookie Kahuna) and funding adult literacy efforts.

And if you want to bake something close to the original Famous Amos cookie - this recipe gets all the best reviews I've seen

posted by drewbage1847 (35 comments total)

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posted by torokunai at 3:49 PM on August 14 [7 favorites]

What a great life. I thought the cookies were just fair, but apparently I was in the minority.
posted by Czjewel at 4:02 PM on August 14 [1 favorite]

The stuff I used to occasionally buy in bulk from Costco was pretty sawdusty (and cookie-esque), but I have fond memories of the Famous Amos bags I'd buy from 7/11 when I was a college kid in LA with just a bike and not much else.
posted by torokunai at 4:05 PM on August 14 [3 favorites]

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posted by hydra77 at 4:18 PM on August 14 [1 favorite]

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I remember eating some Uncle Noname Cookies and hearing about how he'd lost/was cheated out of the trademark to his own name when he sold Famous Amos. I'm glad he kept baking.
posted by ectabo at 4:20 PM on August 14 [2 favorites]

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posted by GenjiandProust at 4:23 PM on August 14 [1 favorite]

...a loan from Marvin Gaye and Helen Reddy.

What a great story. I went through a phase where I devoured his cookies (I liked the ones with nuts). Haven't had them in years but I will keep an eye open for them next time I'm in the grocery store. RIP.
posted by SoberHighland at 4:25 PM on August 14 [3 favorites]

Here's a charming interview he did with Honolulu Magazine in 2014.

"You diminish the taste of the cookie when you put any beverage in your mouth at the same time that you put the cookies in there. A cookie doesn’t want to be dunked in milk. How would you like your head to be dunked in milk?"

"I don't want to be called Cookie Kahuna. I am Wally Amos. I have a company called The Cookie Kahuna. Once I started a company called Famous Amos. But I’m not that anymore, and I have not been that for a long time. I’m not even who I was yesterday. Life constantly changes."

One of my fondest memories of taking a ride on the ill-fated, short-lived Hawaiʻi Superferry was Wally Amos walking up and down the aisles, passing out free cookies with a huge carved wooden paddle/spoon thing. He really was a ray of sunshine.
posted by flod at 4:28 PM on August 14 [18 favorites]

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posted by HearHere at 4:30 PM on August 14 [1 favorite]

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posted by Frayed Knot at 5:10 PM on August 14

Thank you for the sweetest addiction .
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:10 PM on August 14

Well, that is the way the cookie crumbles...
posted by Sphinx at 5:26 PM on August 14

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posted by robbyrobs at 5:30 PM on August 14

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posted by May Kasahara at 5:31 PM on August 14

I’m just old enough to remember going to his original shop, back when he was at the counter. Those were some delicious cookies. 🍪
posted by BlahLaLa at 6:16 PM on August 14 [7 favorites]

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posted by jim in austin at 6:53 PM on August 14

I remember eating some Uncle Noname Cookies and hearing about how he'd lost/was cheated out of the trademark to his own name when he sold Famous Amos. I'm glad he kept baking."

You'd think someone who worked in the music industry (cf. The Turtles, Creedence Clearwater Revival, etc) would know not to let someone else trademark his name.
posted by klangklangston at 7:08 PM on August 14 [2 favorites]

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posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 8:02 PM on August 14

I had no idea he was a real person, or that there were cookies stores that sold these. Just thought they were something that showed up in vending machines. I'm so used to "famous such and such" not being famous or even real I had never even thought to investigate further. Really interesting life and story and seemed like a swell guy.
posted by GoblinHoney at 8:34 PM on August 14 [1 favorite]

I liked the vending-machine bags of Famous Amos.

Then for a while, they switched to mostly selling Famous Amos Belgian Chocolate in stores. I was initially disappointed that they weren't the vending machine recipe, but they quickly became my favorite store-bought cookie.

But a month or so ago, they dropped those and switched back to only selling the original recipe everywhere. Sigh. Set not your heart on food made by multinational corporations.
posted by straight at 8:50 PM on August 14 [1 favorite]

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posted by KillaSeal at 9:22 PM on August 14

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posted by ovenmitt at 11:25 PM on August 14

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posted by JustSayNoDawg at 11:38 PM on August 14

Thank you, Mr. Amos.
posted by pmaxwell at 2:10 AM on August 15

One of the last great late-twentieth century cookie magnates.
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 3:09 AM on August 15 [2 favorites]

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posted by oozy rat in a sanitary zoo at 5:12 AM on August 15

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posted by mikelieman at 5:14 AM on August 15

You gest, but Mrs. Fields is real.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Fields
posted by bq at 8:12 AM on August 15

But what about the lady that Neiman Marcus charged $250 for their cookie recipe? You telling me she wasn't real?

And the actual recipe
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:09 AM on August 15

"In response to the chain letter, a sign attributed to Debbi was posted in Mrs. Fields stores:

Mrs. Fields recipe has never been sold. There is a rumor circulating that the recipe was sold to a woman at a cost of $250. A chocolate-chip cookie recipe was attached to the story. I would like to tell all my customers that this story is not true, this is not my recipe and I have not sold the recipe to anyone. Mrs. Fields recipe is a delicious trade secret."
posted by bq at 9:18 AM on August 15

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I never had his real cookies, the kind that got the brand worth selling. But if I’m ever hungry and stuck near a vending machine, I know that the Famous Amos is gonna have a lot of chocolate chips and a decent cookie portion, considering.
posted by Countess Elena at 9:28 AM on August 15 [1 favorite]

Thank you Amos for selling crisp, delicious crunchy and true cookies, not the half-cooked, soft-baked dough-blobs labeled 'cookies' so often foisted upon me.
posted by Rash at 5:25 PM on August 15

I was not jesting. There just happened to be a bunch of people who made baked-goods conglomerates in the latter half of the 20th century. Entenmanns (sp?) too. Little Debbie, of course. Orville Reo. Etc
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 2:35 AM on August 16 [1 favorite]

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posted by filtergik at 10:25 AM on August 16

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Jan Harold Brunvand wrote in Curses! Broiled Again! that variations of being charged an exorbitant amount for a sweet recipe have been circulating since at least 1948
posted by brujita at 5:50 PM on August 17 [1 favorite]