“Forgotten Hollywood”- Remembering Ken Berry…
Manny P. here…
“`Ken Berry was a likable actor, best known for starring roles in F-Troop, Mayberry R. F. D., and Mama’s Family. His live stage dance routines were rousing, and he was often compared to Donald O’Connor and Gene Kelly.
“`Berry’s career began when he caught the attention of big band leader Horace Heidt, who asked the teen to join his traveling performance ensemble. Ken eventually joined the army and was under the command of Leonard Nimoy, who formed a military entertainment tour. This led to an appearance on Ed Sullivan’s Toast of the Town just before he left the army.
“`Traveling to Hollywood, Berry caught the interest of Twentieth Century Fox and Universal Pictures. At the latter studio, Berry took full advantage of the talent development program, and later, under the G. I. Bill of Rights, he took jazz dance, ballet, vocal and additional acting classes.
“`In 1956, after being released from Universal, Berry traveled to Las Vegas where he opened for Abbott and Costello in a stage act. A year later, he won the Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts contest. Ken had early success with a recurring role on Dr. Kildare. KEN BERRY –>
“`Carole Burnett and Lucille Ball friendship helped Berry guest-star in many television shows, including Burke’s Law, The Ann Southern Show, The Lucy Show, Hazel, Combat!, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In, Medical Center, Fantasy Island, CHiPs, The Brady Bunch, The Love Boat, and The Golden Girls. He was a frequent guest on many variety programs and game shows. His cinematic career was brief with notable parts in Two for the Seesaw and Herbie Rides Again. Ken lost a chance to play opposite Francis the Talking Mule to Mickey Rooney.
“`Ken Berry was eighty-five.
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“`The Forgotten Hollywood Book Series has a new home at Broadway Video. It is located at 3401 East Broadway in Long Beach, CA. I invite you to pick up copies of my entire series of paperbacks.
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Sunday, December 2nd, 2018 at 1:51 am and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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