’60s icon Berry starred in ‘F Troop,’ ‘Mayberry R.F.D’
Ken Berry, the boyish TV actor who played nice guys with affable attitudes and a wide range of IQs on three popular sitcoms between 1965 and 1990, died Saturday in Burbank, Calif. He was 85.
The death was confirmed by a spokeswoman at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center, the Associated Press reported.
Berry was a handsome, accident-prone 1860s Army captain who got along remarkably well with his Native American neighbors in the farcical “F Troop” (1965-67); a widowed North Carolina farmer with a small son and no housekeeping skills, replacing Andy Griffith when “The Andy Griffith Show” became “Mayberry R.F.D.” (1968-71); and a hapless Southern husband and son in “Mama’s Family” (1983-84, 1986 — 90), the successful spinoff of “The Carol Burnett Show.”
In a 2012 Archive of American Television interview, Berry said his time on “F Troop” was his most cherished, because it was his first starring TV role and because he was allowed to contribute to the character’s comic persona.
“To be entrusted with that on that level was a big treat for me,” he said.
Berry was born on Nov. 3, 1933, in Moline, Ill. He was the younger of two children of Daniel and Bernice Berry. Ken was 12 or 13, he recalled as an adult, when he saw children his own age performing at a carnival and decided on the spot to become a dancer when he grew up — or even before.
Berry’s Army service, after high school, turned out to be a helpful career move. Leonard Nimoy, the future “Star Trek” star, was his sergeant and made some Hollywood contacts, particularly agents, for him.
Berry also won two military talent competitions, which resulted in TV appearances in New York, including one on Ed Sullivan’s “Toast of the Town.”
He later appeared in half a dozen feature films, including the Disney comedy “Herbie Rides Again” (1974) and “The Cat From Outer Space” (1978).
His last screen acting role was on “Maggie Winters,” a 1998 -99 sitcom starring Faith Ford.
Berry said, in the 2012 interview, he wanted to be remembered as “a working actor who tried never to step on anybody’s lines or upstage anybody.”
Berry married Jackie Joseph, fellow “The Billy Barnes Revue” cast member, in 1960. They had two kids and divorced in 1976. His son, John, died of brain cancer in 2016.
Survivors include his partner, Susie Walsh, and daughter, Jennifer Kate Berry.
Music was his career priority, but he had words of wisdom for aspiring actors.
“Get on the stage,” he said in the 2012 interview. “You’ll learn more from that the first time out than you’ll ever learn from any class.”