Donnelly Rhodes Henry (December 4, 1937 – January 8, 2018) was a Canadian actor. He was known to Canadian audiences as Sgt. Nick Raitt on CBC TV's Sidestreet (1975–78), Grant "Doc" Roberts on Danger Bay (1984–90), and Det. Leo Shannon on Da Vinci's Inquest (1998–2005). He also had many American television and film credits, notably as the hapless escaped convict Dutch Leitner on the soap opera spoof Soap (1978–81), Phillip Chancellor II on the daytime soap The Young and the Restless (1974–75, 1978–81), and Doctor Cottle ("Doc") on Battlestar Galactica (2004–09).
Rhodes won a Gemini Award for Best Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role for his performance on Da Vinci's Inquest, with three additional nominations. He received the Earle Grey Award in 2006.
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Early life and education
Rhodes was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, either in 1936 or in 1937. His mother, Ann Henry, was a playwright. He served in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a mechanic, and studied at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre and the National Theatre School of Canada. After graduating in 1963, he joined the Stratford Festival.
Career
A large portion of Rhodes' career consists of guest-starring roles in American television. He appeared twice on Laredo: in 1965, he played Bob Jamison in "Rendezvous at Arillo" and played a lead role in "The Trap", an episode on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. The next year, Rhodes was cast in "The Would-Be Gentleman of Laredo" as Don Carlos.
In 1966, Rhodes appeared as Red Eagle in the episode "Pariah" of the Universal Television series The Road West. The same year, he guest-starred on Dundee and the Culhane. He appeared in three episodes of the original Mission: Impossible (1966-1973 TV series), in the Season 3 episode, "The Freeze" (1968), in the Season 4 episode, "Mastermind" (1969), and in the Season 7 episode, "Ultimatum" (1972). He also played the main card player, Macon, who threatens the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) in the opening scene of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (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, Rhodes played a priest in the miniseries The Chisholms. In 1982, he played Leo, a bar patron on Cheers. In 1983 he appeared as Wilson Arthur MacLeish on Magnum P.I. on the episode "Of Sound Mind". In 1984, he had a supporting role as the beleaguered father in the short-lived TV series Double Trouble and appeared as Arland D. Williams Jr. in the television movie Flight 90: Disaster on the Potomac. From 1985 to 1990, he played Dr. Grant Roberts in the series Danger Bay. In 1987, he made a guest appearance on The Golden Girls as Jake Smollens, a handsome, rough-around-the-edges caterer.
In 1988, Rhodes guest-starred on Empty Nest as Leonard, an old friend of the main character. In 1991 he played the "Prodigal Father" in an episode of Murder, She Wrote. He starred as ruthless corporate lawyer R.J. Williams during the 1991-92 season of the drama Street Legal. In 1993, Rhodes played Jim Parker in "Shapes" (Season 1, episode 19) of The X-Files. He would later return to the series in 1996 in a different role for Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man (Season 4, episode 7).
For seven years (1998-2005), he played the role of Detective Leo Shannon on the acclaimed CBC television series, Da Vinci's Inquest.
Radio work
Rhodes provided the voice of the US president at the start of each episode of the CBC Radio One space opera/comedy series Canadia: 2056.
Death
Rhodes died of cancer at the Baillie House Hospice in Maple Ridge, British Columbia at the age of 80.