Erik Rhodes
Biography
Erik Rhodes was an American actor and singer who worked on Broadway and in Hollywood films, remembered for two Hollywood musicals with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Born Ernest Sharpe in El Reno, Oklahoma, he studied at the University of Oklahoma and won a scholarship that let him spend a year studying voice in New York. He first acted on Broadway in 1928 in A Most Immoral Lady as Ernest R. Sharpe, followed by the musicals The Little Show and Hey Nonny Nonny! Adopting the name Erik Rhodes, he played a comic Italian character in Gay Divorce in 1932, and his performance in that show led RKO to cast him in The Gay Divorcee (1934), the screen version of that show, and he repeated the part in Top Hat (1935). Later Broadway credits included Can-Can, Shinbone Alley, Jamaica, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. He also appeared on radio and television, and died in 1990.
84years old at death
- Born El Reno
- Died Oklahoma City
- Star sign: AquariusThe sign runs January 20 to February 18
Movie Career
- Films
- 5
- Career span
- 2 years1934 to 1936
Every film, newest first
- 1936One Rainy AfternoonIMDb rating 5.9
- 1935Another FaceIMDb rating 6.0
- 1935Charlie Chan in ParisIMDb rating 7.1
- 1935Top HatIMDb rating 7.7
- 1934The Gay DivorceeIMDb rating 7.3
Genres
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About the name
Rhodes first used the professional name Erik Rhodes on Broadway in Gay Divorce in 1932, and his comic turn as a thick-accented Italian so impressed RKO executives that they brought him to Hollywood to repeat it on film.
First role
Using his birth name, Ernest R. Sharpe, Rhodes first acted on the Broadway stage in A Most Immoral Lady in 1928.
Early training
Rhodes attended Central High School and the University of Oklahoma. While a university student, he won a scholarship that allowed him to study voice in New York for a year.
A role that slipped away
In 1946, Rhodes stepped into a part in Vernon Duke's musical Sweet Bye and Bye while it was trying out, but the production shut down before it got to Broadway.
Beyond film
Rhodes took the part of a lecherous art critic in Cole Porter's musical Can-Can, and he introduced the song Come Along With Me.
Erik Rhodes movies on Netflix
Most often with
Mark Sandrich directed two of these films. Six actors appear in two of them each. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Gino Corrado's page
Fred Astaire's page
Ginger Rogers's page
Edward Everett Horton's page
Eric Blore's page
Murray Kinnell's page
Mark SandrichDirector, 2 films, 1934 to 1935
All films by Mark Sandrich
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.