Ken Berry

Kenneth Ronald "Ken" Berry (born November 3, 1933) is an American dancer, comedic actor, and singer. Like Buddy Ebsen and Dan Dailey, Berry began on stage as a dancer and later starred in 1960s television sitcoms.

Life and career

Berry was born in Moline, Illinois.^[1] He made his television debut on Arlene Francis' Soldier Parade, when he was serving in the United States Army during the Korean War. Winning the talent contest, he was invited to appear on Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town (which later evolved into The Ed Sullivan Show). Berry's army sergeant was Leonard Nimoy, who urged him to return to California after the war for television auditions. Following his discharge in 1955, Berry performed with the Billy Barnes Revues in the 1950s and early 1960s. In the late 1950s, Berry appeared as a hotel bellhop named "Woody" in CBS's The Ann Sothern Show. During the 1960-1961 season, he guest starred with Pat O'Brien on ABC's sicom, Harrigan and Son.

Cast as a semi-regular doctor on NBC's Dr. Kildare and as a choreographer on an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show Berry attracted the attention of Hollywood producers. He was chosen to portray Captain Wilton Parmenter on ABC's F Troop. He was primed as the future heir-apparent Sam Jones on the eighth and final season of The Andy Griffith Show, thus inheriting the spinoff series Mayberry R.F.D.. The actor's longest running role was as Vinton Harper on Mama's Family.

Berry's grace and agility allowed him to perform choreographed pratfalls over hitching posts, sabers, and trash cans as the accident-prone Captain Parmenter. As the new head resident of Mayberry RFD from 1969 to 1971, Berry successfully assumed the reins from Andy Griffith. In 1972, Berry co-starred with Carol Burnett in the CBS special "Once Upon A Mattress". The same year, he had his own summer replacement series, The Ken Berry 'Wow' Show. In 1973 Sherwood Schwartz wrote a Brady Bunch spin-off called Kelly's Kids, which featured Berry as the adoptive father of three diverse boys (white, black and Asian). The pilot failed to interest ABC, but the concept was revived later in Diff'rent Strokes and Webster. A favorite guest on The Carol Burnett Show in the 1970s, Berry was chosen to star in the spin-off Mama's Family, featuring the dysfunctional Harper family. Berry called his time on F Troop "two years of recess", and has referred to the idyllic Mayberry as "America's 'Brigadoon'".

Series writers used his "trouper" talents in stories around church revues and talent contests. On the 1970 Mayberry RFD installment "The Charity", he and co-star Paul Hartman did a soft shoe dance together. Berry would sometimes end an RFD show on the porch at dusk, serenading others with such as songs "Carolina Moon". On a Little House on the Prairie installment, Berry played a nimble clown and circus manager, in a story that dealt with Nels Oleson's shame of an obese sister. He appeared on The Golden Girls as Rose Nylund's (Betty White's) high school sweetheart, Thor Anderson. From the mid-1970s to the early 1980s Berry was a spokesman in commercials for Kinney Shoes, singing and dancing to the "Great American Shoe Store" jingle.

Berry's film credits include, "Wake Me Up When The War Is Over", Hello Down There and the Disney motion pictures Herbie Rides Again, and The Cat from Outer Space.

Off screen

After Mama's Family ended, Berry continued to perform/tour for a few more years in stage shows such as George M! and The Music Man. In 2002, actress Betty White (who played his sister Ellen on "Mama's Family") said: "I'm a great Ken Berry booster. He's one of the most versatile, and personable talents I've known".

Berry married actress Jackie Joseph on May 29, 1960. They had met when they both performed with Billy Barnes. Berry and his wife adopted two children, but divorced in 1977 in a very nasty divorce. One may contact Mr. Berry via his own website, which is maintained by his former "F-Troop" co-star Melody Patterson and her husband.

References

External links

• Ken Berry at the Internet Movie Database
• Ken Berry at Allmovie