Ken Berry

Kenneth Ronald Berry, born November 3, 1933, in Moline, Illinois, was an American actor, comedian, dancer, and singer of Swedish and English descent. The son of accountant Darrell Berry and his wife Bernice, née Larson, Berry grew up as one of two children and developed an early ambition to perform after watching a children's dance recital during a school assembly at age 12. He began taking tap dance classes and, at 15, won a local talent competition sponsored by big band leader Horace Heidt. Heidt invited Berry to join his traveling ensemble, the Horace Heidt Youth Opportunity Program, with which Berry spent 15 months touring the United States and Europe, performing at venues and at post–World War II United States Air Force bases. Among the lasting connections Berry made during that period was with Heidt's son, Horace Jr., who later pursued his own big band and radio career.

After graduating from Moline High School, Berry volunteered for the United States Army and was assigned to Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina. His first year was spent in the artillery, where he entered a post talent contest whose winner would appear on Arlene Francis's television program Soldier Parade in New York City. Berry, who kept his tap shoes with him at all times, won the contest and made his television debut on the program. His second and final year of service was with Special Services, where he worked under Sergeant Leonard Nimoy. Nimoy encouraged Berry to pursue an acting career in Hollywood and, as part of Special Services, Berry toured Army posts, officers' clubs, and colleges. A subsequent All Army Talent Competition selected service personnel to appear on Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town; Berry placed third in the Specialty Act category performing the song "There'll Be Some Changes Made," earning another trip to New York and another television appearance.

Nimoy sent telegrams to studios and talent agents urging them to watch Berry's Sullivan appearance, which led to an offer from 20th Century Fox and a screen test at Universal Studios. Berry signed with an agent upon arriving in Hollywood and accepted Universal's offer, beginning as a contract player. He was briefly considered to take over for Donald O'Connor in the Francis the Talking Mule film series, though Mickey Rooney ultimately received the role. At Universal, Berry made use of the studio's talent development program and later studied jazz dance, ballet, vocals, and acting under the G.I. Bill. After his release from Universal in 1956, Berry went to Las Vegas, where he opened for and performed alongside Abbott and Costello in their stage act at the Sahara Hotel and Casino. In 1957, vaudeville performer Ken Murray invited Berry to join his stage variety show, The Ken Murray Blackouts, for which Berry choreographed and performed the opening number during its engagement at the Riviera hotel and casino.

Berry's path to Broadway began when actress Dee Arlen referred him for a role in a production at the Cabaret Concert Theatre in Los Angeles, where he met composer and impresario Billy Barnes. Barnes brought Berry into The Billy Barnes Revue ensemble, and Berry performed in numerous Barnes productions in the years that followed. Fellow cast members included his future wife Jackie Joseph, Joyce Jameson, Bert Convy, Patti Regan, Ann Morgan Guilbert, and Lennie Weinrib, with sketch writing and direction by Bob Rodgers. Several cast albums were recorded. Berry's Broadway career ran from 1959 to 1961 and encompassed two productions: the revue The Billy Barnes People and the musical Billy Barnes Revue. The Broadway run of the latter production was disrupted in November 1959 when the original cast was replaced two weeks into the engagement following a legal dispute with producers over a canceled performance; the cast had missed a flight from Chicago after a promotional appearance on Playboy's Penthouse, necessitating ticket refunds.

The Billy Barnes Revue attracted significant industry attention in Hollywood. Carol Burnett saw Berry perform in the show during an evening in Los Angeles while she was appearing on The Garry Moore Show in New York, and she persuaded that program's producers to sign Berry as a guest star. Burnett became a consistent professional ally, featuring Berry on her own special, which evolved into CBS's The Carol Burnett Show, where he became one of her most frequent guest stars alongside Jim Nabors and Steve Lawrence. In 1972, Berry and Burnett appeared together in a color television remake of her Broadway hit Once Upon a Mattress for CBS. Their collaboration extended to a 1993 theatrical production of From the Top in Long Beach, California. Berry also appeared in the 1982 television movie Eunice, based on The Carol Burnett Show sketch The Family, playing Phillip, Eunice's brother. The show served as something of a pilot for Mama's Family, on which Berry was later cast as Vinton, a different brother. The Billy Barnes Revue also brought Berry to the attention of Lucille Ball.

On television, Berry won Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts in 1957 and was subsequently invited back for six additional weeks on Godfrey's morning program, traveling with Godfrey for remote broadcasts at locations including an Omaha stockyard, a Seattle lumber camp, the Boeing aircraft plant, and the San Diego Zoo. He starred in the television series F Troop from 1965 to 1967, Mayberry R.F.D. from 1968 to 1971, and Mama's Family from 1983 to 1990. He also provided comic relief on the medical drama Dr. Kildare alongside Richard Chamberlain in the 1960s. Among his film credits, Berry starred in the 1969 musical comedy Hello Down There as Mel Cheever opposite Tony Randall and Janet Leigh, and in the 1969 television film Wake Me When the War Is Over with Eva Gabor and Werner Klemperer. He appeared in the 1974 Disney film Herbie Rides Again with Helen Hayes and Stefanie Powers, The Cat from Outer Space in 1978 with Sandy Duncan and McLean Stevenson, and the 1976 film Guardian of the Wilderness with Denver Pyle. Berry also returned to Las Vegas in the 1970s at the invitation of Andy Griffith, performing song and dance numbers at Caesars Palace alongside Griffith and Jerry Van Dyke. Kenneth Ronald Berry died on December 1, 2018.