Ken Berry
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| Ken Berry | |
|---|---|
| Born | Kenneth Ronald Berry November 3, 1933 Moline, Illinois |
| Spouse(s) | Jackie Joseph (1960-1977) |
| Official website | |
Kenneth Ronald "Ken" Berry (born November 3, 1933 in Moline, Illinois) is an American dancer, and comedic actor. Berry, like Dan Dailey ("The Governor and J.J.") and Buddy Ebsen (The Beverly Hillbillies), began his career as a dancer and went on to star in 1960s sitcoms.
[edit] Biography
While in the Army, Berry made his television debut on Arlene Francis' Soldier Parade. Winning the all-army talent contest led to a spot 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 the performer to return to California for television auditions. After leaving the service, Berry got a career boost performing with the Billy Barnes Revues in the 1950s and early 1960s, where he met his future wife, Jackie Joseph. In the late 1950s, Berry appeared as a hotel bellhop named "Woody" in CBS's Ann Sothern series.
Being cast as a semi-regular doctor on NBC's Dr. Kildare and as a choreographer on an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show (Ann Morgan Guilbert, who played Millie Helper was also a Billy Barnes Revue alum), gave him the visibility he needed with Hollywood producers. Berry then went on to portray the television characters of Captain Wilton Parmenter on F Troop, Sam Jones on the final season of The Andy Griffith Show and spinoff series Mayberry R.F.D. and Vinton Harper on Mama's Family.
Berry's grace and agility allowed him to do choreographed pratfalls over hitching posts, swords and trash cans while playing the accident-prone Captain Parmenter. From 1968 to 1971, he was the head resident of Mayberry RFD, having taken over for Andy Griffith. In 1972, Berry co-stared with future TV sister Carol Burnett in the CBS special "Once Upon A Mattress". That same year, he had his own summer replacement series, The Ken Berry 'Wow' Show. In 1973 Sherwood Schwartz wrote a Brady Bunch spin-off (Kelly's Kids), featuring Berry as the adoptive dad of three diverse boys (white, black and Asian). While the pilot failed to excite ABC network brass, the concept was revisited years later in Diff'rent Strokes and Webster. As a favorite guest on The Carol Burnett Show in the 1970s, Berry was chosen to star in the series spin-off of Mama's Family, featuring the dysfunctional Harper family. Berry called his stint on F-Troop "two years of recess" and has referred to the idyllic Mayberry as "America's 'Brigadoon'".
Series writers would showcase his "trouper" talents in storylines that involved church revues and community talent shows. On the 1970 Mayberry RFD installment "The Charity", he and RFD co-star Paul Hartman shared the stage in a soft shoe dance routine. Not unlike Andy Griffith, Berry would sometimes end an epilogue on the porch at dusk, serenading others with tunes such as "Carolina Moon". He was also center stage at the Bigger Jigger Pub episode, "Amateur Night" on Mama's Family. On a Little House on the Prairie installment, Berry played a sympathetic circus clown/manager in a storyline that dealt with Nels Oleson's shame of an obese sister. On The Golden Girls, he appeared as Rose Nylund's (Betty White's) old high school sweetheart, Thor Anderson.
His film credits include 1969's Hello Down There and the Disney motion pictures Herbie Rides Again and The Cat from Outer Space.
[edit] Family
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. He was married to actress Jackie Joseph from May 29, 1960 until 1977, with whom he adopted two children. From the mid-1970s to the early 1980s Berry was a spokesperson in TV commercials for Kinney Shoes mostly singing and dancing to the "Great American Shoe Store" jingle.
[edit] External links
- Ken Berry at the Internet Movie Database
- Ken Berry at Allmovie
