Hari Rhodes

• Name — Hari Rhodes • Born — 10 April 1932 • Birthplace — Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. • Died — 15 January 1992 • Place of death — Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California, U.S. • Other Names — Harry Rhodes • Occupation — Actor Author • Years Active — 1957–1992

Rhodes was born April 10, 1932, in Cincinnati, Ohio. When he was 15, Rhodes spent two months learning to copy his mother's signature, and forged it on enlistment papers to join the U.S. Marine Corps. In the Marines, Rhodes was a member of his camp's judo team for two years. He eventually gained the rank of sergeant and served in Korea, where he led a reconnaissance platoon behind enemy lines. "The time I got wounded at the Chosin Reservoir, a Chinese came running toward me," Rhodes told TV Guide. "My Thompson submachine gun was unloaded. I threw it down so he wouldn't shoot. His face almost smiled. He had his bayonet on my chest. He began slashing my arms. I got him with an 8-inch knife."

In 1960, Rhodes appeared in five television series: General Electric Theater, hosted by Ronald Reagan; The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor, Have Gun, Will Travel, starring Richard Boone, The Westerner, starring Brian Keith; and in two episodes of Adventures in Paradise, starring Gardner McKay. In 1961, he was cast in an episode of ABC's Hawaii-based drama, Follow the Sun. From 1966 to 1969, Rhodes was a regular on Daktari as Mike Makula. In 1969, he starred in the short-lived series The Bold Ones: The Protectors. His most notable television role came in 1977 in the ABC miniseries, Roots, in which he was cast as a leader of Kunta Kinte's village. He had a pioneering role as an African-American in science-fiction television. His portrayal of one Lt. Ernie Travers, member of a lunar exploration team in the "Moonstone" episode of The Outer Limits (1964), antedated Nichelle Nichols' portrayal of a black member (Lt. Uhura) of a space exploration crew on Star Trek. In 1985, he appeared as character Mr. Wanda in Magnum P.I. in the episode titled "Old Acquaintance". His early film roles included appearances in The Nun and the Sergeant (1962), Drums of Africa (1963), Shock Corridor (1963), The Satan Bug (1965), and Mirage (1965). In 1966, he played a supporting role as Captain Davis in the successful suspense-comedy motion picture Blindfold, starring Rock Hudson and Claudia Cardinale. He also played Mr. MacDonald, who aids Caesar in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972), and was the star of the blaxploitation film Detroit 9000 (1973). His later film credits included Mayday at 40,000 Feet! (1976), The Hostage Heart (1977), Coma (1978), and the Burt Reynolds cop thriller Sharky's Machine (1981).

Rhodes' first television role was in a 1957 episode of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater that starred Sammy Davis Jr. The role came just one year after Rhodes had received a rude lesson in racial prejudice. "I read about a training program a major studio had for grooming people for 'stardom.' Being naïve about the system, I got on the phone and called the man in charge and asked if he would interview me, and he told me to come around to the studio," Rhodes told TV Guide in 1968. "I said, 'By the way, I think I should tell you that I am a Negro.' He said, 'Don't waste your time – we don't take Negroes in this program.' I hung up the phone. Almost tore the cradle off the thing." In 1965, he published a novel based on his experiences in the Marine Corps at the last black Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Montford Point called A Chosen Few. The novel was described as "an explosive personal portrait of what (Rhodes) saw and lived through in the heart of the American South in the last all-Negro Marine boot camp." The novel's uneducated hero remarks, "Bitterness... is a consuming, cancerous quality out of which comes nothing but self-destruction, while out of an anger can come many constructive things, if nothing more than the drive to get something done." Rhodes later penned two unpublished novels: Harambee, about a man with a plan to liquidate the world's entire Caucasian population, and Land of Odds, about Hollywood. Rhodes told TV Guide that writing served as his safety valve. "I'd rather be writing my own than reading somebody else's. I have no need for it." Rhodes said.

Films • Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1957 — Burden of Truth — Joe Hamilton • 1958 — The Lost Missile — Black Man At Piano • 1960 — This Rebel Breed — Claude • 1961 — The Fiercest Heart — Hendrik • 1961 — Return to Peyton Place — Arthur — Uncredited • 1962 — The Nun and the Sergeant — Hall • 1963 — Drums of Africa — Kasongo • 1963 — Shock Corridor — Trent • 1965 — The Satan Bug — Lieutenant Johnson • 1965 — Taffy and the Jungle Hunter — Kahli • 1965 — Mirage — Lieutenant Franken • 1966 — Blindfold — Captain Davis • 1972 — Conquest of the Planet of the Apes — Malcolm MacDonald • 1973 — Detroit 9000 — Sergeant Jesse Williams • 1978 — Coma — Dr. Morelind • 1981 — Sharky's Machine — "Highball Mary" Television • Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1959 — Zane Grey Theater — Troop Andrew — Mission – Season 4 Episode 7 • 1960 — General Electric Theater — Jinks — The Patsy – Season 8 Episode 21 • 1960 — The Detectives — Tempus — Longshot – Season 2 Episode 2 • 1960 — Adventures in Paradise — Ombomb / Timi — The Death-Divers – Season 1 Episode 28, Open for Diving – Season 2 Episode 1 • 1960 — Have Gun – Will Travel — Ansel James — The Shooting of Jessie May – Season 4 Episode 8 • 1960 — The Westerner — Jones — Line Camp – Season 1 Episode 10 • 1961 — King of Diamonds — Otis Movito — Alias Willie Hogan – Season 1 Episode 5 • 1961 — Follow the Sun — M'Boto — The Hunters – Season 1 Episode 9 • 1963 — Wide Country — Chuck Crowley — The Man Who Ran Away – Season 1 Episode 19 • 1963 — My Three Sons — Guard — The Clunky Kid – Season 3 Episode 22 • 1963 — The Eleventh Hour — Charley — A Medicine Man in This Day and Age – Season 1 Episode 29 • 1963 — The Alfred Hitchcock Hour — Patrolman — Season 1 Episode 32: Death of a Cop • 1963 — The Fugitive — Dan Digby — Decision in the Ring – Season 1 Episode 6 • 1963 — Breaking Point — Detective Shaw — Whatsoever Things I hear – Season 1 Episode 10 • 1964 — Channing — Cicero — Another Kind of Music – Season 1 Episode 17 • 1964 — Arrest and Trial — Detective Victor Hammerlund — People in Glass Houses – Season 1 Episode 20 • 1964 — The Outer Limits — Lieutenant Ernie Travers — Moonstone – Season 1 Episode 24 • 1964 — Wagon Train — Jefferson Washington Freeman — The Stark Bluff Story – Season 7 Episode 29 • 1964 — Rawhide — Corporal Dunbar — Incident at Seven Fingers – Season 6 Episode 30 • 1964 — Peyton Place — Mr. Massey, Prison Parole Officer — Season 1 Episode 30 • 1962–1965 — Ben Casey — Gunner Garrison — To a Grand and Natural Finale – Season 1 Episode 23 For Jimmy, the Best of Everything – Season 4 Episode 6 Because of the Needle, the Haystack Was Lost – Season 5 Episode 5 • 1966 — I Spy — Scott #2 — Will the Real Good Guys Please Stand Up? – Season 2 Episode 8 • 1966–1969 — Daktari — Mike Makula / Mike • 1970 — The Name of the Game — Captain Adzuwe — The Skin Game – Season 2 Episode 21 • 1969–1970 — The Bold Ones: The Protectors — District Attorney William Washburn / Leslie Washburn • 1970 — Mannix — Minji Obuko — The World Between – Season 4 Episode 8 • 1971 — Mission: Impossible — George Corley — Cat's Paw – Season 5 Episode 15 • 1971 — Earth II — Dr. Loren Huxley — TV movie • 1972 — O'Hara, U.S. Treasury — Rouchinet — Operation: White Fire – Season 1 Episode 17 • 1973 — Trouble Comes to Town — Horace Speare — TV movie • 1970–1973 — The F.B.I — Ginger Dodds / Ormond — The Deadly Pact – Season 6 Episode 8 Fatal Reunion – Season 9 Episode 7 • 1973 — A Dream for Christmas — Reverend Will Douglas — TV movie • 1974 — To Sir, with Love — Paul Cameron — TV movie • 1974 — Born Free — Dr. Alan Kamante — Elephant Trouble – Seasons 1, 2 • 1974 — Police Surgeon — Gret Jarrett — Episode name: The Militant • 1974 — The Six Million Dollar Man — Karl — The Peeping Blonde – Season 2 Episode 11 • 1975 — Cop on the Beat — Dr. Belding — TV movie, Uncredited • 1975 — Matt Helm — Seki — Matt Helm – Season 1 Episode 0 • 1975–1976 — Cannon — Mayor Jesse Satterfield / Lieutenant Dexter — The Investigator – season 4 Episode 20, Revenge – Season 5 Episode 18 / Snapshot – Season 5 Episode 21 • 1972–1976 — The Streets of San Francisco — Floyd Marsden / Karpa / Harry Gates / Charlie Johnson • 1976 — Mayday at 40,000 Feet! — Belson — TV movie • 1977 — Roots — Brima Cesay — Season 1 Episode 1 • 1976–1977 — Most Wanted — Mayor Dan Stoddard • 1977 — The Hostage Heart — Don Harris — TV movie - credited as Harry Rhodes • 1977 — The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries — Lieutenant Astor — Mystery of the Hollywood Phantom, Part II – Season 2 Episode 5 • 1977 — Charlie's Angels — Ben Brody — Sam Davis Jr. Kidnap Caper – Season 2 Episode 12 • 1978 — A Woman Called Moses — Tavwell Robinson — Season 1 Episode 1, Episode 2 • 1978 — The Bionic Woman — Chief Inspector Ball — The Antidote – Season 3 Episode 14 • 1978 — Logan's Run — Samuel — Turnabout – Season 1 Episode 13 • 1978 — CHiPs — Father — Crack-Up – Season 1 Episode 21 • 1973–1978 — Police Story — Sonny DuPrix / L.C. Madden / Borden Gampu / Otis Spencer • 1976–1978 — Quincy M.E. — Deputy Mayor Collins / Dr. Phil Moran — Go Fight City Hall... to the Death – Season 1 Episode 1 Death by Good Intentions – Season 4 Episode 4 • 1979 — Wonder Woman — Sheldon Como — Going, Going, Gone – Season 3 Episode 13 • 1979 — Backstairs at the White House — Coates, The Butler • 1979 — Salvage 1 — Pierre — Operation Breakout – Season 1 Episode 8 • 1979 — The Runaways — Hackett — Wrong Way Street – Season 2 Episode 2 • 1979 — The White Shadow — Harmon Reese — The Cross-Town Hustle – Season 2 Episode 3 • 1980 — Beyond Westworld — Commander Riley — Take-Over – Season 1 Episode 5 • 1981 — Judgment Day — Joseph Pierson — TV movie • 1983 — The Powers of Matthew Star — Keating — Swords and Quests – Season 1 Episode 21 • 1984 — Automan — Rollie Dumont — Flashes and Ashes – Season 1 Episode 6 • 1984 — Dynasty — Detective Taylor — The Voice: Part 3 – Season 4 Episode 22, The Engagement – Season 4 Episode 25 • 1984 — Cover Up — Jourdan — The Million Dollar Face – Season 1 Episode 2 • 1985 — The Fall Guy — Dr. Hubbard — Rockabye Baby – Season 4 Episode 19 • 1985 — Magnum, P.I. — Prison Guard / Mr. Wanda — A Pretty Good Dancing Chicken – season 5 Episode 22, Old Acquaintance – Season 6 Episode 2 • 1990 — L.A. Law — Federal Judge Emmanuel — The Last Gasp – Season 4 Episode 22 • 1990 — Donor — Harry — TV movie • 1992 — Murder Without Motive: The Edmund Perry Story — Unknown — TV movie, (final film role)

Hari Rhodes died of a heart attack in January 1992, a few months before the premiere of his final project, the made-for-TV feature Murder Without Motive: The Edmund Perry Story.