Hari Rhodes


Hari Rhodes was an American author and actor whose career spanned three decades beginning around 1960.
He was sometimes billed as Harry Rhodes and appeared in sixty-six films or television programs, such as ABC's 1963 TV medical drama series about psychiatry Breaking Point.

Early life

In a 1968 TV Guide interview, Rhodes described growing up in a rough section of his native Cincinnati: "We lived between the railroad tracks and the river bank. The flood ran us out every winter but we'd always come back, kick out the mud and settle down again until flood time. All the boys had to learn how to hop freights and throw pieces of coal off. All I ever knew was rats, roaches and poverty."
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 Chosan 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 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 The Chosen Few.

Acting career

In 1960, Rhodes appeared in five television series: General Electric Theater, hosted by Ronald W. 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. In 1963, he played a patrolman in "Death of a Cop" on CBS's The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
From 1966-69, Rhodes was a regular on Daktari as Mike Makula. In 1969 Rhodes starred in the short-lived series . 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 a Lt. Travers, member of a lunar exploration team in the "Moonstone" episode of The Outer Limits, pre-dated Nichelle Nichols' portrayal of a black member of a space exploration crew on . In 1985, he appeared as character Mr. Wang in "Magnum P.I." in episode titled 'Old Acquaintance.'
His early film roles included appearances in The Nun and the Sergeant, Drums of Africa, Shock Corridor, The Satan Bug, and Mirage. 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, and was the star of the blaxploitation film Detroit 9000. His later film credits included Mayday at 40,000 Feet!, The Hostage Heart, Coma, and the Burt Reynolds cop thriller Sharky's Machine.

Acting, and racism's effect on his writing

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 naive 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."
Rhodes channeled his anger into a novel, A Chosen Few, which was published in a paperback edition. A Chosen Few was described as "an explosive personal portrait of what 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.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1959Zane Grey TheaterTroop AndrewMission - Season 4 Episode 7
1960General Electric TheaterJinksThe Patsy - Season 8 Episode 21
1960The DetectivesTempusLongshot - Season 2 Episode 2
1960Adventures in ParadiseOmbomb,
Timi
The Death-Divers - Season 1 Episode 28,
Open for Diving - Season 2 Episode 1
1960Have Gun - Will TravelAnsel JamesThe Shooting of Jessie May - Season 4 Episode 8
1960The WesternerJonesLine Camp - Season 1 Episode 10
1961King of DiamondsOtis MovitoAlias Willie Hogan - Season 1 Episode 5
1961Follow the SunM'BotoThe Hunters - Season 1 Episode 9
1963Wide CountryChuck CrowleyThe Man Who Ran Away - Season 1 Episode 19
1963My Three SonsGuardThe Clunky Kid - Season 3 Episode 22
1963The Eleventh HourCharleyA Medicine Man in This Day and Age - Season 1 Episode 29
1963The Alfred Hitchcock HourThe PatrolmanDeath of a Cop - Season 1 Episode 32
1963The FugitiveDan DigbyDecision in the Ring - Season 1 Episode 6
1963Breaking PointDetective ShawWhatsoever Things I hear - Season 1 Episode 10
1964ChanningCiceroAnother Kind of Music - Season 1 Episode 17
1964Arrest and TrialDet. Victor HammerlundPeople in Glass Houses - Season 1 Episode 20
1964The Outer LimitsLt. Ernie TraversMoonstone - Season 1 Episode 24
1964Wagon TrainJefferson Washington FreemanThe Stark Bluff Story - Season 7 Episode 29
1964RawhideCpl. DunbarIncident at Seven Fingers - Season 6 Episode 30
1964Peyton PlaceMr. Massey - Prison Parole OfficerSeason 1 Episode 30
1962-1965Ben CaseyGunner GarrisonTo 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
1966I SpyScott #2Will the Real Good Guys Please Stand Up? - Season 2 Episode 8
1966-1969DaktariMike Makula / Mike
1970The Name of the GameCaptain AdzuweThe Skin Game - Season 2 Episode 21
1969-1970'District Attorney William Washburn / Leslie Washburn
1970MannixMinji ObukoThe World Between - Season 4 Episode 8
1971'George CorleyCat's Paw - Season 5 Episode 15
1971Earth IIDr Loren HuxleyTV Movie
1972O'Hara, U.S. TreasuryRouchinetOperation: White Fire - Season 1 Episode 17
1973Trouble Comes to TownHorace SpeareTV Movie
1970-1973The F.B.IGinger Dodds,
Ormond
The Deadly Pact - Season 6 Episode 8
Fatal Reunion - Season 9 Episode 7
1973A Dream for ChristmasRev. Will DouglasTV Movie
1974To Sir, with LovePaul CameronTV Movie
1974Born FreeDr Alan KamanteElephant Trouble - Season 1, 2
1974Police SurgeonGret JarrettEpisode name: The Militant
1974The Six Million Dollar ManKarlThe Peeping Blonde - Season 2 Episode 11
1975Cop on the BeatDr BeldingTV Movie, Uncredited
1975Matt HelmSekiMatt Helm - Season 1 Episode 0
1975-1976CannonMayor Jesse Satterfield,
Lieutenant Dexter
The Investigator - Season 4 Episode 20,
Revenge - Season 5 Episode 18 / Snapshot - Season 5 Episode 21
1972-1976The Streets of San FanciscoFloyd Marsden / Karpa / Harry Gates / Charlie Johnson
1976Mayday at 40,000 Feet!BelsonTV Movie
1977RootsBrima CesaySeason 1 Episode 1
1976-1977Most WantedMayor Dan Stoddard
1977The Hostage HeartDon Harris TV Movie
1977The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew MysteriesLieutenant AstorMystery of the Hollywood Phantom, Part II - Season 2 Episode 5
1977Charlie's AngelsBen BrodySam Davis, Jr. Kidnap Caper - Season 2 Episode 12
1978A Woman Called MosesTavwell RobinsonSeason 1 Episode 1, Episode 2
1978The Bionic WomanChief Inspector BallThe Antidote - Season 3 Episode 14
1978Logan's RunSamuelTurnabout - Season 1 Episode 13
1978CHiPsFatherCrack-Up - Season 1 Episode 21
1973-1978Police StorySonny DuPrix / L.C. Madden / Borden Gampu / Otis Spencer
1976-1978Quincy 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
1979Wonder WomanSheldon ComoGoing, Going, Gone - Season 3 Episode 13
1979Backstairs at the White HouseButler Coates
1979Salvage 1PierreOperation Breakout - Season 1 Episode 8
1979The RunawaysHackettWrong Way Street - Season 2 Episode 2
1979The White ShadowHarmon ReeseThe Cross-Town Hustle - Season 2 Episode 3
1980Beyond WestworldCommander RileyTake-Over - Season 1 Episode 5
1981Judgment DayJoseph PiersonTV Movie
1983The Powers of Matthew StarKeatingSwords and Quests - Season 1 Episode 21
1984AutomanRollie DumontFlashes and Ashes - Season 1 Episode 6
1984DynastyDetective TaylorThe Voice: Part 3 - Season4 Episode 22,
The Engagement - Season 4 Episode 25
1984Cover UpJourdanThe Million Dollar Face - Season 1 Episode 2
1985The Fall GuyDr HubbardRockabye Baby - Season 4 Episode 19
1985Magnum, P.I.Prison Guard,
Mr Wanda
A Pretty Good Dancing Chicken - Season 5 Episode 22,
Old Acquaintance - Season 6 Episode 2
1990L.A. LawFederal Judge EmmanuelThe Last Gasp - Season 4 Episode 22
1990DonorHarryTV Movie
1992TV Movie,

Death

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 .