Fred Berry Movies
His role as the fun loving Rerun on television's popular comedy What's Happening! made actor Fred Berry one of the most beloved small-screen characters of the 1970s. Though Berry continued to act as he battled severe drug and alcohol addictions throughout the '80s, his popularity never again reached the heights it did in the '70s, save for a role in the 1985 What's Happening! revival, What's Happening Now! A St. Louis, MO, native who danced with the Los Angeles-based dance troupe The Lockers, Berry, who was 25 at the time, burst onto the scene in 1976 as the scatterbrained Rerun. His other '70s roles included a guest appearance on the popular sitcom Alice and hosting a 1976 episode of Saturday Night Live. In addition to What's Happening Now! in the '80s, Berry also turned up as the Sugar Pimp in the 1982 thriller Vice Squad. By the mid-'80s Berry had overcome his drug addiction, dropped his weight by 100 pounds after being diagnosed as a diabetic, and found his calling as a Baptist minister in Atlanta. After returning to the screen in 1998 with In the Hood, Berry joined Rudy Ray Moore and Mick Foley for the Insane Clown Posse comedy Big Money Hustla$. Berry's final onscreen appearance came with a cameo in the 2003 David Spade comedy Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star. Married six times to four women, the popular actor could usually be recognized by fans on the street with his trademark beret and suspenders. Berry died of natural causes October 21, 2003, in Los Angeles. He was 52. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1999
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Everybody's favorite Faygo-swilling evil-clown rappers, Insane Clown Posse, invade your home entertainment center with their first feature-length motion picture. Big Baby Sweets (Violent J) is a notorious underworld kingpin who rules the streets of New York with the help of his loud-mouthed lieutenants Lil Poot (Monoxide Child) and Big Stank (Jamie Madrox). The NYPD have been unsuccessful in their attempts to bring down Big Baby Sweets, so the Chief of Police (Johnny Brennan) brings in the heavy artilery -- Sugar Bear (Shaggy 2 Dope), a hot-shot police detective who has cleaned up the mean streets of San Francisco. Along with Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope from ICP (and Monoxide Child and Jamie Madrox from their brother group Twiztid), Big Money Hustla$ also features appearances by wrestler Mick Foley, blaxplotation legend Rudy Ray Moore, punk rock pioneers the Misfits, and comic actor Harland Williams. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1984
It was perhaps inevitable that the breakdancing craze of the early 1980s would pervade even a traditionalist sitcom like Alice. In this episode, a group of talented breakdancers are hired to perform at an art festival held at Mel's Diner; unfortunately, Mel (Vic Tayback) mistakes the dancers for hoodlums and boots them out. Featured in this episode are professional dancers Steven "Sugar Pop" DeSilva and Jason "Elf" DeSilva), not to mention a veritable chorus line of familiar faces, among them What's Happening!!'s Fred "Rerun" Berry, Coach's Kenneth Kimmins, and singer-model Donovan Leitch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
When pimp Ramrod (Wings Hauser) is wanted by the police for murder, an undercover detective, Tom Walsh (Gary Swanson), enlists the aid of prostitute Princess (Season Hubley), a loving mother struggling to support her kid, to help capture the fiend. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Season Hubley, Gary Swanson, (more)
The third and final season of What's Happening!! finds former high schoolers Raj (Ernest Thomas) and Rerun (Fred Berry) sharing an apartment, with chubby Rerun hilariously pursuing a variety of odd jobs and get-rich-quick schemes while Raj and his longtime buddy Dwayne both attend college. Also still on hand are Raj's wisecracking little sister Dee (Danielle Spencer) and sassy waitress Shirley Wilson (Shirley Hemphill). Conspicuous by her absence this season is Raj's "Mama," Mabel Thomas. It seems that actress Mabel King had wanted Raj to have both a mother and a father, and had lobbied for the writers to bring her character of Mrs. Thomas back together with her ex-husband Bill. However, the powers-that-be elected to write Bill out of the series early in season two. Thus, in protest, Mabel King also ankled the project at the end of the same season. Newcomers to What's Happening!! during its terminal network season include Leland Smith as Raj's college chum "The Snake," a basketball champ; John Welsh as Raj and Rerun's neighbor, a police detective named Big Earl (whose last name changes from episode to episode, from Babcock to Barnett to Barrett); and Big Earl's son Little Earl (David Hollander), who develops a crush on Dee. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Berry
The second-season opener of What's Happening focuses on the series' most popular character, corpulent high schooler Freddie "Rerun" Tubbs (Fred Berry), who astonishes his pals Raj (Ernest Thomas) and Dwayne (Haywood Nelson) by announcing his plans to marry an illegal alien (played by future Fame star Irene Cara). Later episodes focus on Raj's mother Mabel (Mabel King), who, in "Mama, the School Girl," falls in love with a much-younger man while attending night school; and who, in "Bill Gets Married," fusses and fumes when her no-good former husband, Bill (Thalmus Rasulala), decides to remarry. Raj's sassy sister Dee (Danielle Spencer) is center of attention in such episodes as "It's All in Your Head, wherein she tries to help out a classmate by consulting a psychologist (Itim Reid). And wisecracking waitress Shirley (Shirley Hemphill) is spotlighted in such entries as "Nothing Personal," a study in reverse racism. The season's best episode, and one of the series' most memorable outings, is the two-part "Doobie or Not Doobie," featuring The Doobie Brothers. Season two draws to a close as Raj, Rerun, and Dwayne graduate from high school, whereupon Raj moves out of his house and into his apartment -- not that this prevents Mama from "casually" dropping in on her darling boy from time to time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Berry
The urban sitcom What's Happening!! was introduced in August of 1976, with a four-episode trial run. In the opener "The Runaway," Raj Thomas (Ernest Thomas) hires a babysitter for his kid sister Dee (Danielle Spencer) so he can attend a party with his pals Rerun (Fred Berry) and Dwayne (Haywood Nelson) -- only to risk the wrath of his Mama (Mabel King) when Dee disappears. Next up is "The Birthday Present," wherein Raj is falsely accused of shoplifting; this is followed by "When Daddy Comes Marching Home," marking the first series appearance of Raj's deadbeat dad Bill (Thalmus Rasulala); and "My Three Tons," in which Rerun is hired to join a dance group consisting of fat kids. The series' first season officially begins with the next episode, "Saturday's Hero," and ends 17 episodes later with "Puppy Love." In between, Shirley Hemphill is provided a showcase in her supporting role as waitress Shirley Wilson in the episode "Shirley's Date"; Mel Stewart appears as an embittered veteran of the Negro Baseball League in "The Hospital Story"; veteran character actress Alice Ghostley shows up as the employer of Raj's mother in "The Maid Did It"; and another familiar TV face, Dick Van Patten, plays a TV producer who hires Dee and Shirley for a TV commercial in "The Burger Queen." Footnote: most of the first-season episodes of What's Happening!! were directed by Mark Warren, formerly the chief helmsman of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and the only African-American director ever to win an Emmy award. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Berry
