Erik Rhodes (born Ernest Sharpe; February 10, 1906 – February 17, 1990) was an American film and Broadway singer and actor. He is best remembered today for appearing in two classic Hollywood musical films with the popular dancing team of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers: The Gay Divorcee (1934) and Top Hat (1935).
Early years
Rhodes was born Ernest R. Sharpe at El Reno, Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest A. Sharpe. He attended Central High School and the University of Oklahoma. While he was a student at the university, he earned a scholarship that enabled him to spend a year in New York studying voice.[2]
Rhodes started performing on the Broadway stage in A Most Immoral Lady (1928) using his birth name, Ernest R. Sharpe. This was followed by two musicals, The Little Show (1929) and Hey Nonny Nonny! (1932).[4]
He first used the name Erik Rhodes when he appeared on Broadway in Gay Divorce (1932)[4] and again in London in 1933. In this show, he gave a memorable comic portrayal of a spirited, feather-brained, thick-accented Italian character that impressed RKO executives enough to bring him to Hollywood to reprise the role in the film version, The Gay Divorcee (1934) and then repeated in Top Hat (1935), much to Mussolini's displeasure.[note 1][5][6]
In 1946, he was called in to take over a role in the Vernon Duke musical Sweet Bye and Bye during its tryout, but the show closed before reaching Broadway. Between 1947 and 1964, he was back on Broadway in The Great Campaign, Dance Me a Song, Collector's Item, Shinbone Alley, Jamaica, How to Make a Man, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.[4] In the Cole Porter musical Can-Can, he appeared as a lecherous art critic, and introduced the song "Come Along With Me".
Rhodes also acted in regional theater, including Playhouse on the Mall in Paramus, New Jersey,[7] and the Forrest Theatre in Philadelphia.[8]
On radio, Rhodes was heard regularly on the variety show 51 East 51st.[9] On television, he was co-host of Second Cup of Coffee, which debuted on WJZ in New York City on October 15, 1952. The Monday-Friday 15-minute daytime program combined talk and music.[10] Among his other TV appearances, he performed in the variety program Wonder Boy[3] and played the role of murder victim Herman Albright in the 1961 Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Violent Vest."
^The different spellings of Gay Divorce (Broadway play, 1932) and The Gay Divorcee (film, 1934) are not a typographic error. When the film was made, film censors objected to the description of a divorce as "gay" (in the traditional meaning of the word – happy, cheerful). Hence, the title change.
