Top 63 Quotes & Sayings by Ken Berry

Explore popular quotes and sayings by Ken Berry.
Last updated on September 17, 2024.
Ken Berry

Kenneth Ronald Berry was an American actor, dancer, and singer. Berry starred on the television series F Troop, The Andy Griffith Show, Mayberry R.F.D. and Mama's Family. He also appeared on Broadway in The Billy Barnes Revue, headlined as George M. Cohan in the musical George M! and provided comic relief for the medical drama Dr. Kildare with Richard Chamberlain in the 1960s.

It used to be my ambition to emulate Fred Astaire on the stage and in motion picture musicals.
There's not much call for hoofers, and that's basically what I am.
Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor - those were my idols. All I ever wanted to be was a motion picture song-and-dance man. I kind of fell into other things. Did walk-ons and bits for years and worked in little theater at night.
I like getting up when everyone else does and going home when everyone else does. — © Ken Berry
I like getting up when everyone else does and going home when everyone else does.
I never had a hobby in my whole life until I wag 35. Then I discovered motorcycles, and they've now become almost a passion.
I saw a song and dance act at the carnival and decided that's what I wanted to do. I worked on my mother first, she convinced my dad, and I started taking dance lessons at the Maureen Bennett Studio.
I could rob a bank and no one would notice me, but Rock Hudson! He's a movie star.
I lost a lot of jobs because I looked too much like Tom Selleck... or Robert Redford.
Some of the best shows on television are produced by news departments.
I wish I owned a bunch of farm land. I'd love to have fields full of grain.
Over the years, my goals have changed somewhat.
I used to see movies where they'd put on a play in a barn, but I've never played one.
I guess you could say I'm a home boy at heart.
It was just a series of accidents that I became an actor. My first job was when a friend called and said he was putting together a song and dance group for the 'Gale Storm Show.' The role also involved a few lines. Then a man's wife, who had seen me in that, recommended me for a job she was doing.
To be able to sit in your living room, watch a speech live by the president, and be able to look into his eyes, and make your own decision - that's television. — © Ken Berry
To be able to sit in your living room, watch a speech live by the president, and be able to look into his eyes, and make your own decision - that's television.
I've always called myself 'Mr. Dull Guy.'
True, I drive an Italian sports car around Hollywood, but the radio is tuned to a country-and-Western station.
One time I attended a big Hollywood party, and everybody was there Groucho Marx, Jack Benny, George Burns, Barbra Streisand. I walked around with my mouth hanging open, just thrilled that I had been invited!
Some people think a series like 'Mayberry' is a snap, but nothing in this world is a snap, unless you want it to be.
A lot of times I'll be playing roles for which I'm too long in the tooth, but people who go see musicals don't seem to worry too much about that.
I get less secure every year.
There's something about a fall that tickles people. I can't explain why.
It's very difficult for me to explain myself. I used to park blocks away from NBC when I went to work there so I wouldn't have to tell the gate-man who I was. He'd always repeat 'Who?' And I'd have to go through who I was again and where I was working. So I'd just park on the street and find a fence I could climb over.
There's no way I can tell if a rock group is good or not!
I'm the last of the song and dance men.
It really doesn't matter if I work a lot, because most of everything I earn goes to pay alimony.
I came to Hollywood to be a movie song-and-dance man just at the time those films were going out of style.
I spent every summer as a child at my uncle's farm in Illinois so I know all about gathering eggs and how the hens will peck at you.
When 'Mama's Family' was canceled, I was stunned that the phone didn't ring anymore.
I love TV series work almost to the exclusion of anything else.
I like to read the classified ads every morning. Just the cars for sale. Love to look at cars for sale, Don't buy them, of course. Just look. But I don't like to talk to people.
I no longer have aspirations to be a superstar or a famous dancer. In fact, I've got a rehearsal hall down in the basement of my house and I never even go down there to practice my dancing at all.
There's not much to tell about me, and in five minutes I'll probably be repeating myself.
I like to sit in front of the fire at night, sip a beer and think.
Sure, if I had a choice I'd really prefer Jackie at home, waiting for me with a hot meal on the table. But I married a show business gal - we met when we were working in the old 'Billy Barnes Revue' and I went into that marriage with my eyes open.
It took me two years to realize I had a good solid hit with 'F Troop'... two years to be convinced I was going to stay on, and then they canceled.
I had found my niche working in a trade I love with reasonable hours.
You know, I started my theater career in Los Angeles as a song-and-dance man.
I hate live audiences! — © Ken Berry
I hate live audiences!
Everybody likes to see a good soft-shoe dance and a song to go with It, but how often do you see It? It's a lost art, just plain hoofing, and I've never heard of anybody who didnt enjoy doing it or watching it.
I like to get up in the morning, work during the day and go home at night.
There is more to a fall than just flopping or stumbling. You can get hurt unless you know what you're doing.
I was so happy doing 'F Troop,' I would have been happy if it had run 20 years.
Mv wife opened a gift shop and I had a cleaning plant. We both lost money on them. I guess we'll stick to acting.
I hooked up with Warner Bros, and I was dying to play Ensign Pulver in the 'Mr. Roberts' series, and I didn't get the part. Instead they cast the with Forrest Tucker and Larry Storch in 'F Troop.'
It's harder and harder to find a spot within a day's drive of Los Angeles with enough vacant grass or even sand or dirt to stake a tent on.
If I try to impress a room-ful of guests by calling my answering service to see if there are any messages, they never understand my name. They think I am saying Kim Barry, and I have to repeat my name over and over.
It's hard to get past the fact that I'm working with Donald O'Connor and becoming friends with him.
I hate to work with another performer who reads cards. The most guilty are the people who do only a few specials a year. You'd think with so few shows they could leam the lines.
It was scary. I went into that with great apprehension. All you hope is that you don't hurt it. I had nothing to do with the success of 'The Andy Griffith Show.' I just hoped I wouldn't do anything wrong.
I grew up loving movie musicals and Idolizing Fred Astalre. I never worked with Fred but I met him once at a pool hall in Van Nuys. — © Ken Berry
I grew up loving movie musicals and Idolizing Fred Astalre. I never worked with Fred but I met him once at a pool hall in Van Nuys.
The thing about hoofing is that It's much more intricate than people realize. Occasionally you see some good hoofing on TV. Bob Hope is very good at the old slide steps. George Burns does a good, old-fashioned sand dance from Vaudeville!
I love diving and motorcycling!
We don't play bridge, golf or tennis. And I guess just about the only thing I'm interested in is reading about, talking about and looking at cars.
I've never seen a production of 'No, No Nanette' but it is sure a fun show to do.
What I'd like is to act on film. I'd really like to act.
It's hard to get someone, particularly agents, to tell you the truth.
I have to admit, if I had my druthers, I'd prefer one camera TV. That's what 'Mayberry R.F.D.' and 'F Troop' were. You make mistakes, you do it over again. Both of those companies were just a great lot of fun to be with.
I put a lot of money in a coin-operated dry-cleaning place and it keeps losing money and I can't get anybody to buy it. So I keep pouring more money Into it, and into the laundry next door which'my father owns.
I hate variety shows.
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