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| Canadian actor Donnelly Rhodes who appeared in everything from "Soap" to "Danger Bay", "DaVinci's Inquest", "Battlestar Galactica" and more. Source: https://pagesix.com/ NBC/courtesy Everett Collection (May be subject to copyright) |
That versatility was my first taste of actor Donnelly Rhodes who went on to have a long career, spanning more than 40 years. He played everything from an escaped convict to a marine biolgist, police detective, shady lawyer, futuristic doctor and much more.
The best part was he was Canadian, starring in almost as many roles in the United States as he did in Canada.
I was thinking about all that Donnelly Rhodes had done when I heard that he passed away awhile back.
Convict
After Chester Tate was convicted of the murder of Peter Campbell at the start of the second season of “Soap”, he found himself sharing a cell with Dutch Leitner. Soon after, they broke out. Much of the season they were on the lam, hiding out in the Tates’ basement. Dutch fell in love with Chester’s daughter Eunice, and eventually married her. It was not before he went back to jail, cut a deal to get out, broke up with Eunice after she cheated on him, and slept with her sister Corinne. After all that, they reunited and were married.
After Chester Tate was convicted of the murder of Peter Campbell at the start of the second season of “Soap”, he found himself sharing a cell with Dutch Leitner. Soon after, they broke out. Much of the season they were on the lam, hiding out in the Tates’ basement. Dutch fell in love with Chester’s daughter Eunice, and eventually married her. It was not before he went back to jail, cut a deal to get out, broke up with Eunice after she cheated on him, and slept with her sister Corinne. After all that, they reunited and were married.
Through it all, Donnelly Rhodes did a stellar job as Dutch.
Priest
His most memorable performance for me, was as Father Athol Pere Murray, in 1982 in a show called “The Winners”. He appeared in the hour-long opening episode of the show. It aired on CBC TV on Sunday afternoons at 5:30 p.m.
His most memorable performance for me, was as Father Athol Pere Murray, in 1982 in a show called “The Winners”. He appeared in the hour-long opening episode of the show. It aired on CBC TV on Sunday afternoons at 5:30 p.m.
This was my first exposure to Father Murray who is a Canadian icon. He was a priest who started Notre Dame school, for boys, on the wind and snow-blown Saskatchewan prairie in the 1930s. He took whatever families could offer for tuition, including sacks of grain. In one scene, he is visiting a farm and jumps into help the father who is cutting fire wood. He also encouraged hockey, and the Notre Dame Hounds were an excellent team. So poor, they could not even afford uniforms. In the show they are to face the mighty Regina Pats and everyone kind of looks down their nose at Notre Dame. Until they smoke them on the ice.
Father Murray was also know for his smoking and swearing, a product in part from his time in the military.
Donnelly Rhodes played Father Murray to perfection, and I can still see him in his suit and white collar, smoking and swearing and cutting firewood.
He brought a Canadian icon to life.
Guest star extraordinaire
Donnelly Rhodes was quite productive in the 1980s as a guest star in a variety of television comedies and dramas. He was in everything from “Cheers”, “The Facts of Life”, “Taxi”, “Gimme A Break!”, “Alice”, “The Golden Girls”, and “Empty Nest”, to “Hill Street Blues”, “Magnum P.I.”, and “Murder, She Wrote”.
Donnelly Rhodes was quite productive in the 1980s as a guest star in a variety of television comedies and dramas. He was in everything from “Cheers”, “The Facts of Life”, “Taxi”, “Gimme A Break!”, “Alice”, “The Golden Girls”, and “Empty Nest”, to “Hill Street Blues”, “Magnum P.I.”, and “Murder, She Wrote”.
Sitcom false starts
One of the frustrating things about being a TV fan as I was, but living on the farm in the peasant vision universe, was reading in “TV Guide” about all these series that were on cable, but I could never see.
One of the frustrating things about being a TV fan as I was, but living on the farm in the peasant vision universe, was reading in “TV Guide” about all these series that were on cable, but I could never see.
Many of them did not last more than a season if that, but they featured some actors who often went on to later success. Donnelly Rhodes was in a couple such series.
One was “Report to Murphy”, a 1982 series starring Michael Keaton as a parole officer. Rhodes played Charlie, one of the parolees, in six episodes of a show that only lasted six episodes.
Another was “Double Trouble”, where he played the father of identical twins who had very different personalities. The show lasted 23 episodes over two seasons in 1984 and 1985. Rhodes played the father for the eight-episode first season, before being replaced for the second season, which ran 15 episodes. The show is most notable for real-life twins Liz and Jean Sagal playing the lead characters. Their real-life older sister Katey Sagal went on to a prolific career in “Married, With Children”, “Eight Simple Rules”, “Sons of Anaarchy”, and currently “The Conners”.
Taking to the water
Rhodes finally found a series that took hold when he landed the role of Grant “Doc” Roberts on the CBC drama “Danger Bay”, which ran from 1985 to 1990, spanning a total of 123 episodes. “Doc” Roberts was a marine veterinarian raising his two children Nicole and Jonah, based around what was the Vancouver Aquarium.
Rhodes finally found a series that took hold when he landed the role of Grant “Doc” Roberts on the CBC drama “Danger Bay”, which ran from 1985 to 1990, spanning a total of 123 episodes. “Doc” Roberts was a marine veterinarian raising his two children Nicole and Jonah, based around what was the Vancouver Aquarium.
I started watching it, partly because I tried to support Canadian TV series, and partly because we only had three channels and there wasn’t much else on.
Interestingly, I lost track of the show, but my sister watched it religiously. I recall staying with her one summer, and we dropped everything to watch “Danger Bay”.
The years after
Donnelly Rhodes would continue to have memorable roles for years to come.
Donnelly Rhodes would continue to have memorable roles for years to come.
He returned to Canadian television, and the CBC, for 10 episodes in 1991-1992 in the legal drama “Street Legal”. He played R.J. Reynolds, a slick lawyer who ends up buying and abandoning the practice of the main characters.
Rhodes was back in 1998 as Detective Leo Shannon, one of the police officers attached to coroner Dominic Da Vinci in another CBC drama, “DaVinci’s Inquest”. By then, Rhodes was older, playing an old cop paired with a young detective played by Ian Tracey. They made a dynamic pair, mixing the old ways and new technology to solve cases. He was in 98 episodes from 1998 to 2005.
The other role I remember well was Rhodes’ turn as Doctor Sherman Cottle, chief medical officer on “Battlestar Galactica”. He was a tough talking, chain smoking foil for Commander William Adama, appearing in 36 episodes from 2004 to 2009.
He kept on working right up until 2016, appearing in “The X-Files”, “Young and the Restless”, “Supernatural”, “Psych”, “Smallville”, “Heartland”, “Arctic Air”, “The Flash”, and his final television appearance, on “Legends of Tomorrow”.
Parting thoughts
It was an accident that I even found that one-hour show on Father Athol Pere Murray. I was flipping channels one Sunday afternoon and Donnelly Rhodes caught my eye. What was Dutch from “Soap” playing a priest for.
It was an accident that I even found that one-hour show on Father Athol Pere Murray. I was flipping channels one Sunday afternoon and Donnelly Rhodes caught my eye. What was Dutch from “Soap” playing a priest for.
It was the first I had ever heard of Father Murray, but since then I have learned so much more about Notre Dame; the Hounds; Wilcox, Saskatchewan; and so much more. He was one of my favourite figures in Canadian history. It is even more so now, since I met people who went to and worked at Note Dame.
Those two roles, Dutch Leitner and Father Athol Murray, that stood out for me in the 1980s. As Donnelly Rhodes aged, so did the characters he played. It was a natural transition to Leo Shannon in “Da Vinci’s Inquest” and Doc Cottle in “Battlestar Galactica”.
Donnelly Rhodes put together a long career of memorable roles, and for me it all started with the convict and the priest.
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