Losing a battle with cancer, former The Young and the Restless star Donnelly Rhodes (ex-Phillip Chancellor II) passed away at the Baille House Hospice in Maple Ridge, BC. The Canadian actor was 80.
Best known for his roles as the dim-witted escaped con Dutch in the ABC comedy Soap and Dr. Cottle in the cult hit Battlestar Galactica, Rhodes won over daytime fans when he took on the role of Phillip Chancellor from 1974 to 1975.
Though he was only on the soap opera for a short time, Rhodes made his mark as a strong actor able to hold his own in love triangle scenes with Jeanne Cooper (who played Phillip's wife, Katherine Chancellor) and Brenda Dickson (who played Phillip's lover, Jill Foster). In fact, Phillip was the character who launched the brutal feud between Katherine and Jill that roared for decades on end.
Rhodes, widely considered one of Canada's leading character actors, appeared in over 160 films and television series over his sixty-year career, including Golden Girls and Bonanza. He became an actor after training to be a warden in the National Park Service in Manitoba and joining the Royal Canadian Air Force as an airman-mechanic.
The actor received numerous honors over the years, including a Gemini Award in 2002 for his role as Det. Leo Shannon in the Canadian drama Da Vinci's Inquest and a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. He is survived by his wife, Sarah, a daughter, and a son.
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