An improved method of complex amplitude modulation (CAM) is proposed for color holographic display with a wide viewing angle. Bandlimited random initial phase is introduced to the CAM method, which overcomes the drawbacks brought by a constant initial phase and maintains the advantages of CAM. Modifications in CAM for color display are also explained. Both simulation and experimental results verify that the proposed method can reconstruct color 3D scenes successfully without the time-consuming process for encoding the computer-generated holograms. Compared with the display via traditional CAM, the results exhibit that the proposed method can reconstruct color 3D scenes with a better viewing effect. Because of the display effect improvement and the high calculation speed, this method can be applied to high performance holographic display.