TV’s ‘Rerun’ dead at 52

Fred Berry – the bulb-shaped, beret-wearing comic best known for his bit as Rerun on the 1970s sitcom “What’s Happening!” – died at his home in Los Angeles. He was 52.
The county coroner was investigating the cause of death, but friends said Berry suffered from diabetes and had recently suffered a stroke.

The past few years, he had been doing comedy at his club and played himself in an episode of NBC’s “Scrubs.” He also played himself in the David Spade comedy “Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star.”

Berry was 25 and a member of the pioneering break dance troupe the Lockers when “What’s Happening!” cast him as the red beret-wearing, suspender-clad high schooler Rerun. After the 1976-79 series, Berry briefly reprised the role in the ’80s.

Berry, who in recent years was 100 pounds lighter than in his prime-time heyday, said life after Rerun was a struggle.

“The stress of success got to me. The fat jokes got to me. And I got heavily into drugs and alcohol. I was empty inside,” he told an interviewer in 1996.