With his slicked back hair and thin moustache Erik Rhodes arrived in Hollywood to recreate his stage role of Rudolfo Tonetti (which he had performed first on Broadway and then in London, 1932-1933) for the filming of The Gay Divorcee (1934), starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Contrary to his screen image, Erik was born in Oklahoma and ...
El Reno, Indian Territory, USA [now Oklahoma, USA]
Height
5' 10" (1.78 m)
Weight
137.4 kg
Profession
Actor, Soundtrack
Awards
NWA World Heavyweight Championship
Star Sign
Aquarius
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Quote
1
[In a 1987 interview in retirement in Oklahoma City) I am completely alone, but very comfortably so.
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Fact
1
Rhodes' screen debut was in the British low-budgeter "Give Her a Ring" in 1933 although it did not receive a U.S. release until three years later.
2
Rhodes idolized Douglas Fairbanks.
3
Majored in Modern Languages at Oklahoma University and was fluent in Italian, German, Spanish, and French.
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During World War II he served as a captain in U.S. Air Force Intelligence, but despite his proficiency in European languages he was assigned to the Pacific Theater.
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Died of pneumonia in Oklahoma City at age 84.
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Appeared in the Broadway version of The Gay Divorce in 1932 prior to the movie version.
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Stage actor best remembered in films as the mustachioed, feather- brained, continental type in two Astaire-Rogers mistaken-identity romps: The Gay Divorcee (1934) and Top Hat (1935).