Erik Rhodes (actor)

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For other persons of the same name, see Erik Rhodes.
Erik Rhodes

Born Ernest Sharpe
February 10, 1906(1906-02-10)
El Reno, Oklahoma Territory, USA
Died February 17, 1990 (aged 84)
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA

Erik Rhodes (February 10, 1906 – February 17, 1990) He was an American film and Broadway singer and actor. He is most well known today for two Hollywood films he made with stars Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, The Gay Divorcee (1934) and in Top Hat (1935).

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[edit] Biography

Born Ernest Sharpe at El Reno, in the Indian Territory, in what was to become the state of Oklahoma, Rhodes started performing on the Broadway stage in A Most Immoral Lady (1928) using his birth name Ernest Sharpe. This was followed by two musicals The Little Show and Hey Nonny Nonny! He first used the name Erik Rhodes when he appeared on Broadway in Gay Divorce (1932) and then in London in 1933. The making of the 1934 film version, The Gay Divorcee, brought him to Hollywood.

His last film in the pre-war years was On Your Toes (1939). By the end of the war, he was very socially active in New York City often seen with Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, his onetime companion, and the Nordstrom Sisters at popular watering holes such as the Stork Club and 21 Club.[citation needed]

Between 1947 and 1964, he was back on Broadway in The Great Campaign, Dance Me a Song, Collector's Item, Can-Can, Shinbone Alley, Jamaica, How to Make a Man, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

Married his wife Emala in 1972 and they lived in New York City until the early 1980s.[citation needed] He died of pneumonia in Oklahoma City at age 84 and is interred with his wife in the El Reno Cemetery in El Reno, Oklahoma.

[edit] Filmography

  • The Gay Divorcee (1934)
  • Give Her a Ring (1934)
  • Top Hat (1935)
  • Another Face (1935)
  • Old Man Rhythm (1935)
  • The Nitwits (1935)
  • A Night at the Ritz (1935)
  • Charlie Chan In Paris (1935)
  • Smartest Girl in Town (1936)
  • Second Wife (1936)
  • One Rainy Afternoon (1936)
  • Special Investigator (1936)
  • Chatterbox (1936)
  • Two in the Dark (1936)
  • Beg, Borrow, or Steal (1937)
  • Fight for Your Lady (1937)
  • Music for Madame (1937)
  • Woman Chases Man (1937)
  • Criminal Lawyer (1937)
  • Dramatic School (1938)
  • Say It in French (1938)
  • Mysterious Mr. Moto (1938)
  • Meet the Girls (1938)
  • The Canary Comes Across (1938)
  • On Your Toes (1939)
  • Hollywood The Golden Years: The RKO Story (1987)

[edit] Television

  • The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre "Mirage in Manhattan" (1948)
  • Appointment with Adventure "Escape from Vienna" (1955)
  • Perry Mason "The Case of the Violent Vest" (1961)

[edit] Broadway

[edit] External links