Da Vinci's Inquest and Battlestar Galactica actor Donnelly Rhodes dies at age of 80

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      One of B.C.'s most enduring character actors will no longer light up the small screen in any new roles.

      That's because Donnelly Rhodes died today of cancer at the age of 80 in Maple Ridge.

      Rhodes, who was born in Winnipeg, caught the attention of U.S. television audiences in 1965 when he appeared twice in a western called Laredo and once in an episode called "The Trap" on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

      Later in the 1960s, Rhodes appeared in other TV westerns and was cast in an episode of Mission: Impossible.

      His big break came when he was given the role of an escaped convict in the hit comedy series Soap, which turned Billy Crystal into a household name in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

      Rhodes also had a recurring role as the cigarette-smoking Dr. Cottle on Battlestar Galactica.

      His other U.S. TV credits included The X-Files, Smallville, The Young and the Restless, The Outer Limits, Murder She Wrote, The Wild Wild West, and many others, as well as the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which starred Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

      Rhodes also appeared in several Canadian TV series, including Sidestreet, Street LegalDanger Bay, The Romeo Section, and Da Vinci's Inquest, in which he played Det. Leo Shannon.

      He won one Gemini Award and two other Gemini nominations for his work in Da Vinci's Inquest, as well as a Gemini nomination for his work in Danger Bay.

      In 2008, Rhodes was honoured with a Sam Payne Award, which recognizes performers for their humanity, artistic integrity, and development of new talent.

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