Born and raised in Winnipeg, Canada, Donnelly Rhodes trained to be a warden in the National Park Service in Manitoba and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force as an airman-mechanic before finally settling into his long and successful career as an actor. Rhodes became a contract player for Universal Pictures in the U.S., landing film and television roles ranging from a gunslinger in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) to a country singer in The Hard Part Begins (1973) to various guest appearances in series such as "Mission: Impossible" (1966). Later, he was popular as the suave Phillip Chancellor Sr. on "The Young and the Restless" (1973).

More recently, he has appeared in a number of TV movies as well as in guest spots on popular series such as "Sliders" (1995) and "The X Files" (1993). Rhodes' diverse interests include music and horses, but his real passion is boats.