Donnelly Rhodes

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Donnelly Rhodes
Born Donnelly Rhodes Henry
(1937-12-04) December 4, 1937 (age 86)
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Occupation Actor
Years active 1956-present
Spouse(s) Diane Dewey (1978-19??; divorced)
Diane Pine (1975-1977; divorced)
Virginia Haxall Harrison (1966-70; divorced)
Martha Henry (1962-19??; divorced)

Donnelly Rhodes (born December 4, 1937) is a Canadian actor. He starred as Doctor Cottle ("Doc") on the Sci Fi Channel television program Battlestar Galactica (2004). A character actor with many American television and film credits, Rhodes is probably best known to American audiences as the hapless escaped convict Dutch Leitner on the ABC soap opera spoof Soap.

Life and career

Born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Rhodes, is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada. Between 1998 and 2005 he played the role of detective Leo Shannon in the popular Canadian television series, Da Vinci's Inquest. From 1985 to 1990, he played Dr. Grant Roberts in the family adventure series Danger Bay. He also starred as ruthless corporate lawyer R.J. Williams during the 1991-92 season of the Canadian legal drama Street Legal.

A large portion of Rhodes' career consists of guest starring roles in American television. He appeared twice on the NBC western series, Laredo: in 1965, he played Bob Jamison in Rendezvous at Arillo. The next year, he was cast in The Would-Be Gentleman of Laredo as Don Carlos; in the story line, three swindlers used character Reese Bennett (Neville Brand) as a dupe in a land fraud scheme by which they claim ownership of most of Laredo.[1]

In 1966, Rhodes appeared as the Indian Red Eagle in the episode "Pariah" of NBC's western series, The Road West starring Barry Sullivan. In 1967, he appeared as another Indian, War Cloud, on the ABC military-western series Custer starring Wayne Maunder. That same year, he guest starred on the CBS western, Dundee and the Culhane.

Rhodes appeared in the Season 4 episode "The Mastermind" of Mission: Impossible on CBS in 1969. In 1973, Rhodes co-starred in an episode of the sci-fi drama The Starlost (Episode 12, 'The Implant People'). He played Phillip Chancellor II in The Young and the Restless from 1974 to 1975 and from 1978 to 1981 he played escaped convict Dutch Leitner on Soap. In 1980, Donnelly played a Franciscan priest in the concluding episode, "The Siren Song", of the CBS western miniseries The Chisholms. In 1982, he played Leo, a bar patron on Cheers. In 1984, he had a supporting role as the beleaguered father, Art Foster, in the short-lived TV series Double Trouble. In 1987, he made a guest appearance on The Golden Girls as Jake Smollens, the handsome but rough-around-the edges caterer for Blanche's (Rue McClanahan) hospital charity banquet. In 1988, he guest starred on Empty Nest as Leonard, an old friend of the main character, Dr. Harry Weston (played by fellow Soap alumnus, Richard Mulligan), who dates Harry's daughter, Carol (played by Soap alumna Dinah Manoff). In 1991 he played the "Prodigal Father" in an episode of Murder She Wrote. In 1993, Donnelly played Jim Parker in "Shapes" (Season 1, episode 19) of The X-Files. He played the character Milash in an episode of Smallville in 2008.

In February 2009, the Union of British Columbia Performers honoured Rhodes with the Sam Payne Award for Lifetime Achievement.[2]

Radio work

Rhodes provides the voice of the American president at the start of each episode of the CBC Radio One space opera/comedy series Canadia: 2056.

References

  1. Billy Hathorn, "Roy Bean, Temple Houston, Bill Longley, Ranald Mackenzie, Buffalo Bill, Jr., and the Texas Rangers: Depictions of West Texans in Series Television, 1955 to 1967", West Texas Historical Review, Vol. 89 (2013), p. 115
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]

External links