Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV News
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsEmmysHalloween PicksScary Good HorrorHispanic Heritage MonthMAMISTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Biography
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Erik Rhodes(1906-1990)

  • Actor
  • Soundtrack
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Erik Rhodes
Watch Trailer
Play trailer1:01
Top Hat (1935)
1 Video
11 Photos
With his slicked back hair and thin moustache Erik Rhodes arrived in Hollywood to recreate his stage role of Rudolfo Tonetti (which he had performed first on Broadway and then in London, 1932-1933) for the filming of Hupainen avioero (1934), starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Contrary to his screen image, Erik was born in Oklahoma and graduated from the University of Oklahoma where he won a scholarship to study acting in New York. He made his theatrical debut, delivering eight lines, in the 1928 play 'A Most Immoral Lady', under his birth name Ernest (sometimes spelled Earnest) Sharpe. Because of his good baritone voice, he was next cast in two musicals. An expert mimicker of accents and dialects, he came to specialise in films as the perennial hyperactive continental charmer. In his second notable screen outing, Top Hat (1935), he played flamboyant dressmaker Alberto Beddini, famously declaring to Ginger Rogers "All my life I have promised my dresses I'd take them to Italy...and you must be in them". There were other good parts, particularly in the comedy A Night at the Ritz (1935) as would-be master chef Leopold Jaynos. Andre Sennwald's review in The New York Times (May 16,1935) commented on Erik's performance "as the psychopath with a yearning for culinary immortality, he gives 'A Night at the Ritz' its air of polite lunacy and helps to wring laughter out of a featherweight enterprise".

Erik Rhodes made films at RKO until 1937, more often than not as excitable Europeans (Henri Saffron in Mitä nainen tahtoo... (1937), Frank Rochet in Old Man Rhythm (1935), Tony Bandini in Criminal Lawyer (1937) and, not forgetting, Spaghetti Nadzio in Elä elämäsi hymyillen (1937)). By the end of the decade, his screen career had run its course. After his wartime service with U.S. Air Force Intelligence, he went back to Broadway for a lengthy spell in 'Can Can' as a Parisian bon vivant.
BornFebruary 10, 1906
DiedFebruary 17, 1990(84)
BornFebruary 10, 1906
DiedFebruary 17, 1990(84)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank

Photos11

Lucille Ball and Erik Rhodes in Chatterbox (1936)
Lynn Bari, June Lang, Erik Rhodes, Constantine Romanoff, and Wally Vernon in Meet the Girls (1938)
Erik Rhodes
Erik Rhodes
Lois January, Leona Maricle, Joel McCrea, and Erik Rhodes in Mitä nainen tahtoo... (1937)
Peter Lorre, Frank Hagney, Erik Rhodes, and John Rogers in Mr. Moto kuulee sävelen (1938)
Patricia Ellis, William Gargan, Paul Porcasi, Erik Rhodes, and Bodil Rosing in A Night at the Ritz (1935)
Lana Turner, Paulette Goddard, Jean Chatburn, Melville Cooper, Virginia Grey, John Hubbard, Alan Marshal, Luise Rainer, Erik Rhodes, and Ann Rutherford in Tyttöjä alle 20:n (1938)
Betty Grable, William Gould, Erik Rhodes, Bert Wheeler, and Robert Woolsey in The Nitwits (1935)
Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Betty Grable, Edward Everett Horton, and Erik Rhodes in Hupainen avioero (1934)

Known for:

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Top Hat (1935)
Top Hat
7.7
  • Alberto Beddini
  • 1935
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Hupainen avioero (1934)
Hupainen avioero
7.4
  • Rodolfo Tonetti
  • 1934
Margot Grahame and Lee Tracy in Criminal Lawyer (1937)
Criminal Lawyer
5.8
  • Gene Larkin
  • 1937
John Miljan and Warner Oland in Charlie Chan Pariisissa (1935)
Charlie Chan Pariisissa
7.1
  • Max Corday
  • 1935

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actor

  • The Adams Chronicles (1976)
    The Adams Chronicles
    8.1
    TV Mini Series
    • Duke of Exeter
    • 1976
  • Car 54, Where Are You? (1961)
    Car 54, Where Are You?
    7.7
    TV Series
    • Producer
    • 1962
  • Alaston kaupunki (1958)
    Alaston kaupunki
    8.2
    TV Series
    • Gardell
    • 1961
  • Raymond Burr in Perry Mason yllättää (1957)
    Perry Mason yllättää
    8.3
    TV Series
    • Herman Albright
    • 1961
  • The Phil Silvers Show (1955)
    The Phil Silvers Show
    8.4
    TV Series
    • Advertising Executive Smithers
    • 1958
  • Appointment with Adventure (1955)
    Appointment with Adventure
    6.5
    TV Series
    • Alvarez
    • 1955
  • Lux Video Theatre (1950)
    Lux Video Theatre
    7.6
    TV Series
    • Mr. Purdy
    • Dr. Gardiner
    • 1950–1954
  • Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and Rod Serling in Suspense (1949)
    Suspense
    7.5
    TV Series
    • Drexel Courtney
    • 1952
  • Musical Comedy Time (1950)
    Musical Comedy Time
    6.8
    TV Series
    • Joseph Pulitzer
    • 1950–1951
  • The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre (1948)
    The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre
    7.7
    TV Series
    • 1948
  • Great Catherine
    TV Movie
    • Naryshkin
    • 1948
  • Vera Zorina in Zorina tanssii (1939)
    Zorina tanssii
    5.6
    • Konstantin Morrisine
    • 1939
  • Paulette Goddard, Alan Marshal, and Luise Rainer in Tyttöjä alle 20:n (1938)
    Tyttöjä alle 20:n
    6.2
    • Georges Mounier
    • 1938
  • Ray Milland, Olympe Bradna, and Irene Hervey in Siveä ranskattareni (1938)
    Siveä ranskattareni
    7.0
    • Irving
    • 1938
  • Peter Lorre, Harold Huber, and Mary Maguire in Mr. Moto kuulee sävelen (1938)
    Mr. Moto kuulee sävelen
    6.7
    • David Scott-Frensham
    • 1938

Soundtrack

  • Joan Fontaine and Nino Martini in Elä elämäsi hymyillen (1937)
    Elä elämäsi hymyillen
    5.9
    • Soundtrack ("Vesti la giubba")
    • 1937
  • Margot Grahame and Lee Tracy in Criminal Lawyer (1937)
    Criminal Lawyer
    5.8
    • performer: "Tonight, Lover, Tonight" (1937)
    • 1937
  • Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Hupainen avioero (1934)
    Hupainen avioero
    7.4
    • performer: "The Continental" (1934)
    • 1934

Videos1

Trailer
Trailer 1:01
Trailer

Personal details

Edit
  • Alternative name
    • Eric Rhodes
  • Height
    • 1.78 m
  • Born
    • February 10, 1906
    • El Reno, Indian Territory, USA [now Oklahoma, USA]
  • Died
    • February 17, 1990
    • Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA(pneumonia)
  • Spouse
    • Emmala Reed (Dunbar) Langdoc LaBrancheApril 1972 - February 19, 1984 (her death)
  • Other works
    Active on Broadway (also credited as Ernest Sharpe early in career) in the following productions:
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Print Biography
    • 1 Article

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Died of pneumonia in Oklahoma City at age 84.
  • Quotes
    [In a 1987 interview in retirement in Oklahoma City) I am completely alone, but very comfortably so.

Related news

Contribute to this page

Suggest an edit or add missing content
  • Learn more about contributing
Edit page

More to explore

Production art
List
The Best New Shows and Movies in November
See our picks
Production art
List
TV Tracker: Renewed and Canceled Shows
Check the status

Add demo reel with IMDbPro

Demo reel thumbnail
Make your IMDb page stand out by adding a demo reel
Upload your demo reel

Add demo reel with IMDbPro

Make your IMDb page stand out by adding a demo reel
Upload your demo reel
Demo reel thumbnail

How much have you seen?

Keep track of how much of Erik Rhodes’s work you have seen. Go to your list.

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb App
Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
  • Get the IMDb App
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • IMDb Developer
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.