Illinois has produced an array of Hollywood actors, singers and personalities. One is Ken Berry, a Moline native who was one of Hollywood’s bigger stars for more than 25 years.
Berry is best known for his roles on “Mayberry R.F.D.,” a spinoff of the wildly popular “Andy Griffith Show,” as well as the 1980s hit sitcom “Mama’s Family.”
Berry was born in Moline on Nov. 3, 1933. His father was an accountant and his mother was a homemaker. Berry recalled that he grew up on a dead-end street near many of his maternal relatives in Moline. His home was near a field, a garden and wooded area, where he spent much time with friends. Berry later said his neighborhood “was very much like (Mayberry) and the people were very much like that.”
He is one of an array of television stars who hail from the Quad Cities area, a list that includes Rock Island native and Oscar nominee Eddie Albert of “Green Acres” fame.
As a junior high student, Berry attended a local carnival where other youths were singing and tap-dancing. Inspired, he enrolled in a dance school and left home at age 15 to perform on the road for a year. Berry, who spoke well of Moline, then returned home before leaving for Los Angeles for good.
He eventually spent two years in the military, first in the artillery before serving in the Special Services Corps, the entertainment section of the Army. There, he was under the command of Sgt. Leonard Nimoy, of “Star Trek” fame.
Berry later appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show” after participating in an Army talent contest; he also was on Arlene Francis’ “Talent Patrol” in 1953.
After his Army hitch, Berry studied acting on the GI Bill and later opened for the legendary comedy duo of Abbott and Costello in Las Vegas in 1956-57. While in Vegas, he met actress Dee Arlen, who later offered Berry a spot at the Cabaret Concert Theatre, a Los Angeles nightclub. That helped Berry secure a spot in “The Billy Barnes Revue,” a musical comedy that later ran both on- and off-Broadway.
In the revue, he met Jackie Joseph, a cast member whom he married in 1960. The couple had two children and divorced in 1976.
In 1959, Berry began landing television spots and had recurring roles on the CBS series “The Ann Sothern Show,” produced by Lucille Ball’s Desilu studios, as well as the NBC comedy “Ensign O’Toole.” From 1961 to 1964, he appeared in 25 episodes of “Dr. Kildare” and also made guest appearances on such hits as “Rawhide,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and “Hazel.”
Berry’s first regular starring role was in the ABC slapstick comedy “F-Troop” from 1965 to 1967. Late in the 1968 season, Berry appeared as widower Sam Jones on four episodes of “The Andy Griffith Show,” which led to another big break. He continued the role of Sam in the spinoff “Mayberry R.F.D.,” which ran from 1968 to 1971.
The show was a ratings winner, ranking fourth in the Nielsens in each of its first two seasons. Though the series still was 15th in the ratings in 1970-71, it was canceled as part of the network’s move away from rural-themed programming.
An expert tap-dancer who appeared in commercials for Kinney Shoes, Berry then hosted “The Ken Berry ‘Wow’ Show,” a variety series of five episodes on ABC in summer 1972. That same year, he appeared with Carol Burnett in a CBS television adaptation of “Once Upon a Mattress,” which had opened on Broadway in 1959 with Burnett in the lead role. The musical was scored by Mary Rodgers, daughter of famed Broadway composer Richard Rodgers.
The duo of Berry and Burnett was a familiar one. He was one of the most frequent guest stars on Burnett’s smash CBS variety show, appearing 19 times between 1968 and 1978.
A frequent guest on such 1970s game shows as “Tattletales” and “Hollywood Squares,” Berry also appeared on four episodes of “The Andy Williams Show” from 1969 to 1971, one of many variety and talk shows to feature him. He released a solo album in 1970.
Meanwhile, Berry also appeared in such movies as “Lil’ Abner” (1971) and “Herbie Rides Again” (1974). He continued to land many guest spots in the 1970s and 1980s, including on “Love American Style,” “Grizzly Adams” and “Fantasy Island.”
In 1983, Berry was cast as one of Vicki Lawrence’s sons in “Mama’s Family,” a spinoff of a recurring skit on “The Carol Burnett Show” that featured Lawrence’s acid-tongued, iconoclast character. The show ran for one season, aired in reruns through 1985, then returned as a syndicated series from 1986 to 1990. Berry was in a total of 130 episodes.
He then returned to stage work, touring the country in such favorites as “Sugar,” “The Music Man” and “I Do! I Do!” Berry last appeared on television in a guest role on “Maggie Winters” in 1999.
Known for his courteous manner, Berry died in December 2018 in Burbank, California.
Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or [email protected].