Last night (10/22/03) Fred "Re-Run" Berry passed away at age 53. I happened to catch the story on my local FOX news channel.
I happened to meet Mr. Berry on April 4th,1994 while working at my local grocery store. It was about 9AM on Monday,usually one of the dullest days,and it was time for my first 10 min. break.
Our store had a Cinnabon on site so I took my break there. I looked over to the counter and saw this man sitting there...in an almost Emerald Green suit with gold rings on his fingers!
Here it is very early in the AM,on one of the quietest sides of Phoenix and here he is dressed like someone out of ,"The Wiz"! I knew he had to be somebody important so I asked him (boy does this sound lame now) "are you famous by chance?" I guess he decided to mess with me because he replied,"Yes,but who do you think I am?" I looked at him for a couple of moments and I got it! "Your Fred Berry from What's Happening!"
I was right and he gave me an autograph on the back of my pay-stub (still in my bus book from the weekend)a and he thanked me for addressing him with his real name and for watching the show! He also explained that he was in AZ because the day before he had been the Grand Marshall of a parade in one of the smaller towns.(He said which one but it's been nearly 10 years!) After that I went back to work and he left for the airport! I'll never forget it! It was so bizzare!
Of course as most of us know (but if you don't) he was the co-star (if not the star sometimes) of ABC-TV's,"What's Happening"!! The show ran from 1976 to 1979 asd was about three afro-american high school friends in Oakland,CA. It was loosly based on the movie,"Cooley High". I watched the show when I was 8 to 11 years old and I'll never forget the show where Re-Run is made fun of by some guys who think they're great dancers and laugh at his dancing because he's overweight. He and Roger and Dwayne pull a fast one on them and Roger comes in dressed like Re-Run making them think he's lost weight and he out-dances them all!
Of course there's also my favorite one where they meet the Doobie Brothers (in fact I think that's everyone's fave!) 10 years later they returned with "What's Happening Now" but it only lasted 2 years. SO,RIP Fred,thanks for the laughs,the conversation and the autograph. I'll look for the "Re-Runs"!
Last edited by Borderstone; 06-24-2008 at 07:37 PM.
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I know! Haven't missed any of either decade yet. I'm not one to correct people but he was on the 70's one. He was most recently in,"Dickie Roberts:Child Star" with David Spade and several other child stars plus a very funny music video where he's joined by his pals from the show a lot of other child stars of the past,singing about how sick they are of people calling them by their character name,calling out their catch phrases and other annoying things that people do. That video seems almost appropriate for Fred since he was never able to leave Re-Run in the past,then again,no one would let him. Since he was a celebrity I actually met,this has reminded me of when Wolfman Jack passed on in '95. From him,I got an autographed picture in 1983. Well it's been me,later!...and thanks! 
