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Hari Rhodes
Hari Rhodes inDaktari, 1966
Born	(1932-04-10)April 10, 1932 Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Died	January 15, 1992(1992-01-15) (aged 59) Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other names	Harry Rhodes
Occupation(s)	Actor Author
Years active	1957–1992

Hari Rhodes (April 10, 1932 – January 15, 1992) was an American author and actor whose career spanned three decades beginning in 1957.

He was sometimes billed asHarry Rhodes, and appeared in 66 films and television programs, such asABC's 1963 TV medical drama series about psychiatryBreaking Point.

In a 1968TV Guide interview, Rhodes described growing up in a rough section of his nativeCincinnati: "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 theU.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 inKorea, where he led a reconnaissance platoon behind enemy lines.^[1]

"The time I got wounded at theChosin Reservoir, a Chinese came running toward me," Rhodes toldTV Guide. "MyThompson 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 atMontford Point calledA Chosen Few.

In 1960, Rhodes appeared in five television series:General Electric Theater, hosted byRonald Reagan;The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor,Have Gun, Will Travel, starringRichard Boone,The Westerner, starringBrian Keith; and in two episodes ofAdventures in Paradise, starringGardner McKay. In 1961, he was cast in an episode ofABC's Hawaii-based drama,Follow the Sun. In 1963, he played a patrolman in "Death of a Cop" onCBS'sThe Alfred Hitchcock Hour.^[2]

From 1966–69, Rhodes was a regular onDaktari as Mike Makula. In 1969, he starred in the short-lived seriesThe Bold Ones: The Protectors. His most notable television role came in 1977 in the ABCminiseries,Roots, in which he was cast as a leader ofKunta 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 alunar exploration team in the "Moonstone" episode ofThe Outer Limits (1964), antedatedNichelle Nichols' portrayal of a black member (Lt. Uhura) of a space exploration crew onStar Trek. In 1985, he appeared as character Mr. Wanda inMagnum P.I. in the episode titled "Old Acquaintance".

His early film roles included appearances inThe Nun and the Sergeant (1962),Drums of Africa (1963),Shock Corridor (1963),The Satan Bug (1965), andMirage (1965). In 1966, he played a supporting role as Captain Davis in the successful suspense-comedy motion pictureBlindfold, starringRock Hudson andClaudia Cardinale. He also playedMr. MacDonald, who aidsCaesar inConquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972), and was the star of theblaxploitation filmDetroit 9000 (1973). His later film credits includedMayday at 40,000 Feet! (1976),The Hostage Heart (1977),Coma (1978), and theBurt Reynolds cop thrillerSharky's Machine (1981).

Rhodes' first television role was in a 1957 episode ofDick Powell's Zane Grey Theater that starredSammy Davis Jr. The role came just one year after Rhodes had received a rude lesson inracial 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 toldTV 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 (Rhodes) saw and lived through in the heart of theAmerican 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, andLand of Odds, about Hollywood.

Rhodes toldTV 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.

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

• A Chosen Few. Bantam Books, 1965.
• The Hollow and the Human. Vantage, 1976

• Hobson, Dick. (1968, April 20–26). "On Maneuvers With Hari Rhodes".TV Guide, p. 18–19.

• Hari Rhodes atIMDb

• 1932 births
• 1992 deaths
• 20th-century African-American writers
• 20th-century African-American male actors
• 20th-century American male actors
• 20th-century American male writers
• African-American male writers
• American male film actors
• American male television actors
• Male actors from Cincinnati
• Military personnel from Cincinnati
• Military personnel from Ohio
• United States Marine Corps non-commissioned officers
• United States Marine Corps personnel of the Korean War

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