Berry Kroeger

Early years

Kroeger was born in San Antonio, Texas.

Career

Kroeger got his acting start on radio as an announcer on Suspense and as an actor, playing for a time The Falcon in the radio series Also on radio, he portrayed Dr. Reed Bannister on Big Sister, narrated Salute to Youth,^:293 and was a regular as Sam Williams on Young Doctor Malone.

Kroger debuted on Broadway in The World's Full of Girls (1943) and went on to appear in Reclining Figure (1954), Julius Caesar (1950), and The Tempest (1944). He portrayed the High Lama in the 1956 musical adaptation of Lost Horizon titled Shangri-La.

Kroger was discovered by filmmaker William Wellman while performing on Broadway and began appearing in films in 1948 with his role in The Iron Curtain. He specialized in playing slimy bad guys in films like Act of Violence (1948) and The Iron Curtain (1948), a crooked lawyer in Cry of the City (1948) and a heavy in Joseph H. Lewis' cult crime classic, Gun Crazy (1949). His flair for decadent leering and evil scowls often led to his being cast in "schlock fare", like 1966's Chamber of Horrors and 1971's The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant. He appeared in a small role as a village elder in Young Frankenstein (1974).

He appeared in dozens of television programs. He guest starred on seven episodes of Perry Mason, including murderer Edgar Whitehead in the 1961 episode, "The Case of the Blind Man's Bluff", murder victim Kirk Cameron in the 1964 episode, "The Case of the Illicit Illusion" and Rexford Wyler in the 1964 episode "The Case of the Wooden Nickels." He also appeared in shows such as Hawaiian Eye, Get Smart (as a character spoofing actor Sydney Greenstreet) and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. His last major film role was in 1977's The Demon Seed.

Death

On January 4, 1991, Berry Kroeger died of kidney failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 78. He was survived by his wife and a sister.