You're Right! He started the original Famous Amos Cookie Co. with $25,000 from singers Marvin Gaye and Helen Reddy, celebrity friends from his days as a talent agent. By 1982, revenues reached $12 million. But Amos knew little about business basics and failed to hire managers who did. By 1985, the year before America's free-market president hailed him as a hero, his company lost $300,000 as revenue slipped to $10 million. Wally Amos had long ago lost control of Famous Amos, the cookie company he founded in 1975, and even the right to use his name or his likeness. He was reduced to calling his own cookie line ''Uncle Noname,'' and the business was struggling. Then in March 1999, Keebler Co., Famous Amos' new owner, offered Amos a two-year contract to promote his old brand. And Keebler was willing to let him use his name for his own business.