They killed my character off and as God would have it, just when they told me I would never work again, I got cast in a little program called Roots, and as they would say, the rest is history.

Meaning of the quote

The actor John Amos was told he would never work again, but then he got a role in the show Roots. Even though his character was killed off in another show, he still found success and his career continued after the role in Roots.