Barbara Rhoades

[Findcandor]

.

KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER (1975)


(Boom!) (Boom!) HIT THE BEACH, YOU GUYS!!! (Boom!) (Ka-Boom!) Watch out for shrapnel...! Yep, what we have here is a jay-new-whine bombshell!

Although a wholly capable actress, Barbara Rhoades — much to her credit — made no attempt to minimize that she was was an A-Number One sexpot. Many of the roles she was selected for did not take into account her emoting abilities, but focused on her physicality and aura. For example, I just put up a post in the "Classic American Lesser Known Celebrities" thread, featuring yet another attractive actress no one has paid attention to, and....


"Barbara Rhoades, who was recently discovered by producer
Stan Margulies and is soon to star in the film 'Don't Just Stand
There', July 5th 1967" was the text that accompanied the first
photo, and the second one stated, "...Enjoying a picnic during a
break in filming 'Don't Just Stand There', Los Angeles, Nov. 8th
1967." The film referred to is covered below. Both of these photos
were offered on the thread's Post #26, but now have been given
new life through the magic of colorization.

...As I set about collecting materials to display where the neglected nymph had acted in, one of her earliest appearances (as a "stewardess") was from an episode of Sanford and Son, and when I dug up a (not very good, alas) copy of the episodes (this was a two-parter called "The Hawaiian Connection," from 1976), I was delighted to see Ms. Rhoades was cast as the bubble-brained moll of gangster Sheldon Leonard. (Do we have reliable "go to" gangster-types these days, by the way? I miss Sheldon Leonard.)


That's Sheldon, above.

Sanfords Senior and Junior are lured to a free trip to Hawaii so that they may be used to smuggle diamonds. Barbara is introduced in a beach scene, making no pretension as to what she was doing there, with her glorious flesh blatantly in view for everyone to slobber over.



She is given an assignment by the mob man to go into Sanford's room, not realizing the elderly junk proprietor is there, giving Barbara a chance to put her comedic abilities on display. Beyond her looks, she was certainly a gifted lady, and possessed a certain pizaazz.





What I normally do in cases where the women have existing threads is that I go through the thread first so as to avoid repeats when the time comes to collect materials. Problem there is, the post's composition usually necessitates images to illustrate what is being discussed, and then the "later phase" collection often includes photos from the threads (hey, do you expect me to memorize every photo, especially from the longer threads?), meaning one needs to go through the thread six thousand times. This time, I collected the images first, figuring I would delete the ones already featured after going through the thread later. Delete a few I did, only the problem here was that the images I wound up with were important, and I just didn't wanna delete them. (What I have are slightly different anyway, so they sort of qualify as "new." Listen, you're simply going to have to deal with it.)

Far as how much the lady has consented to expose herself in print:

Originally Posted by openthe4thseal

Anyone have the whole issue?

..... .......... ..
Second image is from still-active Member "Vab_01"'s Post #20 in 2019, giving further indication of Barbara's involvement in men's magazines, assuming she knowingly participated; this assortment came from the September 1971 issue of Cavalier Magazine. The third image is one I picked up from the web, not knowing it had already been featured, first by Member "Berigan" in 2013's Post #4, and then Member "Kelio" put up an "alternate version" in 2022's Post #27. Reason why it's there is that in his Post #9 from 2016, now-absent Member "JCat" responded with some detail to Openthe4thseal's question about the rest of the first publication, speculating that the photo came from the Genesis Magazine article ("Barbara Rhoades Busting Loose"). He added, "This has the look of something done in the mid 60s before she was a working actress, so it's possible she was disrobed." (I also added the pic because it knocked my eyes out, and wanted to put it up anyway. Will you look at the finely shaped leg and foot... Kelio's version is best. For a similar "leg and foot" thrill, tune in to the image from Member "Bentratcat"'s Post #22, only one of five posts to date, from him.) The final image from Member "George Anson"'s Post #6, 2015, is from a 1971 edition of Roadshow, but this was not a men's magazine, and rather devoted to movies in general. Curiously, I could find no reference to this publication, aside from its Japanese version.

The interesting thing about Barbara Rhoades is that although she flaunted her feminine flavors, she has apparently never gone all the way (which may explain why this thread devoted to a dish best served hot is on the short side), even though she was from the era when Playboy was king. The thread does reveal she has posed for men's magazines (or maybe the lesser ones compiled sexy photos of the lady), as may be seen from the 2015 post of still-active Member "Openthe4thseal" from the "Quote" box above. (By the way, I'd be too scared for any of the seals to be broken, especially the Seventh Seal, as Ingmar Bergman would have agreed; God sure can be sadistic.)




The first time Ms. Rhoades made an impression on me (although I didn't know who she was) took place in the 1970 film, There Was a Crooked Man... IMDb commentator "Schappe1" describes the context:



The film is all about facades and what is under them and was supposed to contain a legendary nude scene, (see the trivia section). The warden, the celebrate his pride a joy, a new dining hall, has brought in some dignitaries to take dinner with the prisoners. One of them is an attractive but straight-laced young woman in Victorian dress, played by the gorgeous Barbara Rhoades. This young lady imagines that the prisoners will be entertained by her recitation of a poem. It's clear that the prisoners would be more entertained if she used another performing art. A riot breaks out with an escape attempt involving blowing a hole in the wall. In the resulting melee. Miss Rhodes clothing starts to magically disappear. it's not clear why Even in the case of the lovely Ms. Rhoades, the prisoners would not have time in such a situation to take lustful liberties with her person. I'm sure a decision was made that it might be objectionable to the audience to see them forcibly remove her clothing. Instead, each time we see her, she has simply lost some other garment. In the last shot in the current film, she is down to a sexy bustier, a surprising garment for the prim and proper young lady we see at the beginning of the scene to be wearing.



For those who can separate fact from fantasy (for simpler minds, no one is advocating anything like this should happen in real life), that scene was a huge turn-on — especially given how beautiful and innocent (she played a pure-hearted schoolteacher and do-gooder) the woman in the situation was. The trivia item on the film's IMDb page that "Schappe1" referred to stated: "A scene was shot where Miss Jessie Brundidge runs away from the prison completely naked, after having had her clothes torn off piece by piece over the course of the prison riot. Although two images from the shooting of this scene exist, proving that it was indeed shot, it was never a part of the final, finished film for U.S. release, and nor was it ever reinstated for either the VHS or, later, DVD release of the film," and "Schappe1" (who seemed to have been as affected by the scene as I) added:



In Mankeiwicz's original conception of the scene, even the bustier - and everything else disappear until she runs from the building, through an open area and into the desert, naked as the day she was born. Aside from being highly erotic, (and politically incorrect), the scene is fully in alignment with Mankiewicz's theme for the film. In fact, that scene was filmed as described and was part of the original 165 minute version of the film that Mankiewicz preferred . But the studio hacked 39 minutes out of the film, including the second half of the now pointless denuding of Ms. Rhoades. Not only did they ruin a great scene but if a lady is willing to strip off her clothes and run around a movie set with the camera running and dozens of male technicians and extras in attendance, then run into the desert in the altogether, that scene should be in the film in it's entirety! Unfortunately, except for a couple of stills I couldn't find on the internet, the scrapped footage is apparently lost..

....
While reading all of this, I conducted a search, and struck gold with a VEF
wannabe site called "ErotiCity." Most of their photos had died, but luckily, a
page of "Celebrity Sleuth" they put up survived, and the second page only
had the thumbnail left.

Here's a good write-up for the movie, and from its comments section: "Barbara Rhoades said in an interview that in her scene during the prison riot she actually ended up running around stark naked. She had no idea that scene would be so explicit when she took the role but during filming she kept following the director’s instructions and ended up running out of the prison nude. But the nudity was later cut out so all we saw was her in a corset inside the prison. She hinted that she preferred that because while she said she had no problem being fully naked in front of cast and crew, she was relieved the images and footage weren’t floating around forever. But there are two still shots from those scenes on the Net. One shows her topless from the waist up and the other shows her full figure and nude from the side running outside the prison."


And here was the golden fleece, the two photos, which
luckily survived the "ErotiCity" post as well. When I saw
them, I instantly recalled I had run into at least the one
in color in the past. 'Course, the scene made such a
sensational impression on me, I must have gone looking
at one time.

This YouTube video is in agreement with what's above, also claiming that Playboy tried to woo the actress for a pictorial inspired by the scene, but she refused. In addition, actress Eileen O'Neill (brought up three times on the "American Actresses ~ Vintage" thread, and Womwam provided links for the other two times in his post from 2011) refused the part when offered, as the scene was too racy for her taste (see, this is why Barbara has a VEF thread, and Eileen does not). Finally, the narrator suggests since the film was a box office dud, "Maybe a totally nude Barbara Rhoades could have turned this picture around." (Maybe?)

.....
First photo is a close view of what was put up
in that issue of "Celebrity Sleuth," which was
featured in Post #26 by Member "Cuzzyman927,"
so I colorized it to make it "new." Cuzzy also put
up the next shot in Post #24, but the aspect ratio
was messed up. Stop the presses! Just realized it's
the same photo first put up by George Anson, as
I included in the "Quote" box above... well, that
had a blue tint, and this one is a wee bit different.

When I watched this scene many years ago, what helped bowl me over all the more was that the selected actress was just wonderful. Once the actress's identity became known, and since we know Barbara has made a point of not revealing her intimate secrets, the fact that such nudity exists is monumental, and almost becomes a matter of life-or-death. (By God.)



First photo made its way to the thread in 2013's Post #4 by Member
"Berigan," but had a watermark plastered on it. This one also has the
lady's autograph ("sincerely"? How sweetly formal). Cuzzy also put up
the portrait view in his Post #24. I colorized both to make them different.

What's difficult to understand is that if Ms. Rhoades made a point to not go all the way on screen or in print, why would she have so easily consented to the director barking orders at her to strip all the way? I suppose there are times during shooting when the pressure and devotion to professionalism supersedes a lady's standards/sense of decorum, but you would think if she made an exception here, she could have done so again. In fact... why didn't she do so again? (I ask you, why didn't Rhoades travel down that road again? Why?)



In 1968's "A Spot of Trouble," with Joan Patrick and Geraldine Baron in the first,
and IT TAKES A THIEF star Robert Wagner in the second.

Barbara Rhoades made a highly successful career for herself, appearing in over one hundred titles (not counting individual TV show episodes) over nearly half-a-century, beginning with a TV western in 1967. In her very next job she got a part in the popular TV series, It Takes a Thief.




Perhaps her familiarity with Wagner helped Barbara land a pretty good role in the comedy, Don't Just Stand There, also in the same year of 1968. (I should say, released in '68. As indicated above, she was shooting in 1967. So it must have been the other way around, where after Wagner got to know her from the film, his influence may have led to her casting in his TV show.) A female author of sex novels gets help from an "Amazon" redhead (note in the lobby card above Barbara is made to be six feet, pretty close to her actual height, with the addition of two inches; note also how she got billing, a pretty big deal in a Hollywood feature for an actress who just got started), but witnesses a murder, leading to her kidnapping. An American (Wagner, who has a sideline as a smuggler) replaces Barbara as the new writer, but instead tries to save Barbara with the help of an actress (Mary Tyler Moore). Supplementing these views of the film, from the thread:

Originally Posted by johnbear

Johnbear included this second similar photo in his Post #5 from 2015, first offered by Berigan in his preceding post
numbered four. Cuzzy presented the next two views in his Post #24. Barbara in bondage and in bathtub... not bad.

There was no stopping Barbara in 1968! Fresh out of the gate, and she managed to land the leading lady role in The Shakiest Gun in the West. Our lady plays a robber who will be pardoned if she can catch smugglers (not Robert Wagner), and she hoodwinks a mild-mannered dentist into marrying her (as she needs a new identity), and makes everyone think her timid guy (played by Don Knotts) is a gunslinger. Many of us have seen this one as kids, and Barbara was sensational in her spunky role, as she filled in Jane Russell's shoes from the Bob Hope film, Paleface. See Johnbear's Post #5 for four more stills from this production.



1969's The Silent Gun was a TV-movie where Sheriff Lloyd Bridges vows to no longer carry a weapon after nearly killing a girl, but he still needs to mop up a town full of desperadoes, so he hopes to get by on his reputation. Barbara's role was as a saloon girl, and in the photo she is seen with actor John Beck (who played Bridges' sidekick).



Also seen are Julio Medina, Shirley Jones and Pat Harrington Jr. as the mob guy.

1970 brought Barbara the role we at VEF will cherish most (that would be, of course, There Was a Crooked Man...) as well as the part of a showgirl in The Partridge Family's "Danny and the Mob." The ten-year-old smart aleck serves as the lady's stock advisor, but her jealous gangster boyfriend gets the wrong idea and decides to put the squeeze on the kid (with the help of his henchmen, Vic Tayback and Dick Bakalyan).





Thought you might also dig shots 2 & 3 above, as the lovely Liz Montgomery gets squirted in the face, and the funny man's reaction.


For more views, check out Member "Srf"'s take from 2013, Post #3.

Barbara was simply terrific (and if you don't believe me, get a taste) in 1971's Bewitched episode of "The House That Uncle Arthur Built." Paul Lynde played Uncle Arthur, and somehow wound up with our gal as his new lady love. Trouble is, she's standoffish (Barbara adopted a fine snobby sound and attitude, while showing off her comedic talents) and doesn't appreciate the uncle's practical jokes.


..
With Arthur Malet and Dennis Weaver in McCLOUD; next, with Lynde again.

Come 1972, Barbara was in an episode of McCloud, and was going full steam ahead in that year, popping up in popular shows such as Mission: Impossible and Mod Squad, as well as the not-all-that-popular The Paul Lynde Show (above), whose star might have had something to do with the lady's casting, after their teamwork from the prior year. In addition, Barbara was cast against type as a doctor (likely psychologist), in the overlooked Barbra Streisand flick, Up the Sandbox (where a housewife escapes her doldrums by daydreaming).


...

In the following year of 1973, Barbara was in Night Gallery, or I should say has been credited in the episode entitled "Something in the Woodwork," but I dug up that episode and spent a lot of time going back and forth (segment is only twenty-five minutes long), but there was no sign of her. (I think Rod Serling played a trick on me.) She was in the last of her three Love American Style episodes (which began in 1969, and views from that first episode were provided by Member "Togolane," 2016's Post #12; he also presented views from the remaining episode in 2019's Post #23) entitled "Love and the Plane Fantasy," with Gary Burghoff (pictured above). I'm delighted to see the actress had a small role in the cult non-classic Little Cigars, where Angel Tompkins works with midgets to rob banks. Waitress Barbara gets mauled by a fresh customer, and the little people rescue her. (Third photo above.)




In my book, Barbara's most exciting 1973 stint was in Scream, Blacula, Scream, where she went up against master vampire William Marshall (she lost that contest).




1974 was another busy year, including a Happy Days appearance as a sexy stripper who is said to take it all off (little did Richie and Potsie realize she was Barbara Rhoades, and Barbara Rhoades does not reveal anything unless intimidated by authoritative movie directors), as well as in the Hollywood feature Harry and Tonto, playing a happy hooker (with Art Carney, above).




Barbara also came on board for the second of her two Odd Couple appearances (first time was in 1973), in the one called "Our Fathers," where Tony Randall and Jack Klugman played their own respective fathers. From what I'm gathering, Barbara played the sexy broad they (or at least the Randall character) came across in a speakeasy. Now you might think the shots above are no different than the ones featured in Womwam's first post from 2009, but these are a little clearer. Womwam also deserves great credit for returning fourteen years later (talk about dedication) while trying to add more juice to these shots in the post directly before this one, but I have to agree that his "AI treatments" made the large views look somewhat surreal.





She signals the hard-boiled private dick to look behind a door.

1974 also marked the last of the lady's three appearances on Mannix (first time was in 1968, and in 2016, Togolane presented these views from her second episode from 1970). She looked majestic here, posing for photographers, and I had no idea Member "Rlg118" covered this ground pretty thoroughly in his Post #25 from 2020. Above is my take. (These could be from the 1968 episode.)



Sharing a scene with star Darren McGavin.

Come 1975, Ms. Rhoades appeared in a ridiculous fifteen vehicles, including an episode of the wonderful show, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, playing the part of a secretary.




1975 also marked her second and last stint in Columbo. First time was in 1971, in an episode called "Lady in Waiting" (with Susan Clark), where Barbara again gave a taste of her comedic ability. As the hostess of a boutique, she tells the detective his cigar needs to be put out. He hands it to her, and she doesn't quite know what to do with the yucky thing.




For more views, see 2019's Post #19, compliments of Member "Nailsfromthething."

The episode from 1975 was called "Identity Crisis" with Patrick McGoohan as the villain. Barbara was a photograph taker's assistant in a carnival, and is recruited to help dig up a clue.



I think they tried to deglamorize Ms. Rhoades so that star Marsha Mason didn't get overpowered. Trouble is, you can't whittle down something
so spectacularly pretty. These shots came from that "ErotiCity" site.

1976 gave the lady her first opportunity to appear in a TV series called Busting Loose as a regular, and she played the gorgeous redhead next door to a slacker played by Adam Arkin. 1977 presented two feature film opportunities for the beauty, one being the box office hit, The Goodbye Girl (above).






The second was The Choirboys, which accented one of the lady's sexier appearances.




The back view takes a back seat to the lady's spectacular front, but one may see that's a derriere worthy of Truth or Dare.


Just who is the second actress? Blair Brown was my best guess, but I don't think so.



In Robert Aldrich's version of Joseph Wambaugh's book (which ticked off the author), Barbara (playing "No Balls Hadley"; the exciting Phyllis Davis also played a dominatrix-type) got upset when "Spermwhale," played by Charles Durning (pictured four rows up), tried to remove her bottom (as you can tell from the photos). She later mouths off to her friend (who had a nice figure, but I couldn't figure who she was from the cast; I included a close shot of her, in case you get curious) and then, as you may see from the last row, takes off her drawers. That last photo of her sitting came from "Celebrity Sleuth" so that you may get a clearer idea of what was going on. (It's a promotional photo, not appearing in the movie.) You see, she sits on that table, and one of the wise guy coppers crawls underneath so that her exposed vital area gets kissed through the glass.



When she goes on the attack, the officers rush in and carry her to a bed with Randy Quaid so that she may get groped. That last shot from directly above also came from "Celebrity Sleuth," but it's another that must have been taken for promotional purposes, since the angle does not appear on the screen. Mind you, she's bottomless, although the magazine sensibly mentioned she was wearing "see-through panties."






One may see the actress' star value was rising, as she appeared on game shows such as The Match Game.



These are from four different appearances, mainly from 1977-78. The site I took the images from wrote the exchange for the last shot was, "Barbara, can you sum up Maggie Gallagher and Maggie and Maude’s relationship using one word? Barbara *smirking*: Gay. Homo, sweet homo." Maybe that was a direct quote, and maybe not, and although not the kind of thing allowed to be said these days, I give her credit for the rude sense of humor (assuming, again, that these were reliable quotes).




1978 gave her no break, as she appeared in popular shows such as What's Happening!! (as herself, playing a panelist on The Gong Show) and Rhoda. She wore a sexy outfit that has not been ignored on the thread in Quark, a humorous take on Star Trek that sadly did not last long.



See Togolane's Post #14 from 2017, for more, and his Post #8 for another view of the group shot.

She was also featured in The Love Boat episode "Musical Cabins," where she has a falling out with Dick Gautier, and I suppose she winds up with Paul Williams, who plays a man who must get married quickly or he will lose a fortune. Also seen in the last photo besides Williams are Marcia Wallace, Fred Grandy, and the beautiful Michele Lee (who — and this takes doing — Barbara almost made look as a boy).




Barbara was very good in the series finale of Maude, where Maude now serves in Congress, and doesn't get along with her assistant, because she speaks her mind and is also tall, allowing for Maude to come to a realization as to why Barbara has been rubbing her the wrong way. Parts of "Maude's Big Move: Part 3" may be seen here.


....
Aside from Crystal, actor in middle photo is Ross Borden.

A year after she got married at age thirty-three, in 1980-81, Barbara showed up for ten episodes of the zany series Soap, where she made Billy Crystal's gay character doubt his sexual preference. (Which I'd say is believable. Barbara can do that.) Also in 1980, the lady was in a feature targeting California lifestyles of the seventies, called Serial. In the third photo, she is seen with Sally Kellerman, Nita Talbot, and Pamela Bellwood. The film also featured Martin Mull, Tommy Smothers, Tuesday Weld, and... Christopher Lee!



................................Actor is Gerard Prendergast.

In 1989, Barbara appeared in almost fifty episodes of a soap opera called Generations.




When she was sixty-five, Barbara appeared on stage in Love, Loss & What I Wore; in the first photo are Producer Daryl Roth, Orfeh, Kim Zimmer and Katrina Bowden (whatta cutie) at a New York City restaurant on Feb 17, 2011. The second photo's curtain call features Orfeh, Kim Zimmer, Sabrina Le Beauf and Katrina Bowden, at NYC's Westside Theater on the same date.




Her last screen credit, also from 2011, was in the soap opera One Life to Live, where she appeared in twenty-one episodes.


There are two images from the thread I wanted to accentuate:

Originally Posted by togolane

.................

I thought Barbara looked simply sensational in the first photo; as the caption sheds light, this was shortly before she was to begin work on There Was a Crooked Man... (Fellow getting kissed was Busby Berkeley, and Togolane provided another view of him and our lady in Post #13.) The second photo came from Cuzzy's Post #26, and image searches failed to reveal the source. I like the way she is in action, and if anyone knows what production this stems from, please don't keep it to yourself.




From the Bewitched episode's excerpts that were put up on YouTube (the link again), one of the commentators knowingly wrote, "We never got enough, of the underrated, under used, talent, of Ms. Rhoades."
















.

[SinatraFan]

Just came across this little article from the January 18, 1970 edition of the Tampa Tribune, and I thought it might be of interest to Barbara enjoyers. In its last paragraph, it specifically mentions that she has a nude scene in the upcoming “There Was a Crooked Man”, but it quotes her as saying they used a body double. She mentions a double when she has to run across the desert, so I was thinking “Maybe they just used a double for her character to run across the desert”, but I thought that was the only nude scene that we knew of? It feels weird to me that they’d say she had a nude scene, and then directly quote her as saying a double was used, so maybe I’m remembering wrong and there were two nude scenes.

[SinatraFan]

I believe this is a new shot from the photoshoot featured in Genesis magazine.

[bare1234]

I found a larger version of the still from Ellery Queen.



Here is that image upscaled to 2160 in Gigapixel AI.

[stuart666]

There was a recent feature on youtube titled 'Barbara Rhoades left nothing to the imagination' that shows what appears to be a third nude photograph of her in 'There Was A Crooked man...', albeit protecting youtubes modesty with 2 stars. Presumably an uncensored photo is still out there.

[SinatraFan]

Originally Posted by stuart666

albeit protecting youtubes modesty with 2 stars. Presumably an uncensored photo is still out there.

I happened to recognize the bit of watermark that the YouTuber left on that picture; it’s from Alamy. I did a little digging on their website, and voila, here’s the uncensored picture! I didn’t try any watermark removal, and I’m posting it here as is, in case anyone with better skills than I have wants to try fixing it.

[PoloMintGuy]

Originally Posted by SinatraFan

I happened to recognize the bit of watermark that the YouTuber left on that picture; it’s from Alamy. I did a little digging on their website, and voila, here’s the uncensored picture!

Excellent detective work SinatraFan!

Originally Posted by SinatraFan

I didn’t try any watermark removal, and I’m posting it here as is, in case anyone with better skills than I have wants to try fixing it.

Here's an HQ watermark-free version, along with a fun (very 70's!) illustrated poster for There Was a Crooked Man... (1970):



An alternate ImageBam link for those who prefer, here.

Enjoy!

[snoopy1917]

Kolchak Primal Scream https://www.mediafire.com/file/vz5b7...oades.mkv/file