# Barbara Rhoades

Barbara Rhoades is an American actress, known primarily for her comedy and mystery roles, especially as lady bandit Penelope ("Bad Penny") Cushings in The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968) with Don Knotts.
She had a recurring role on Soap as Maggie Chandler, Jodie Dallas's future wife.

## Early years

Born and raised in Poughkeepsie, New York, Rhoades is the daughter of Sherry Rhoades.
She attended Our Lady of Lourdes High School.
She began taking dancing lessons when she was 7 years old.

## Career

Rhoades began acting in the late 1960s, appearing in guest roles on several television series, including It Takes a Thief, Ironside, Mannix, McMillan & Wife, Columbo, Kojak, Starsky & Hutch, Alias Smith and Jones, Love, American Style, The Odd Couple, The Six Million Dollar Man, Sanford and Son, Bewitched, Maude, Trapper John, M.D.,The Partridge Family, Murder, She Wrote, Cagney & Lacey, and Law & Order. She was a regular cast member of the 1977 situation comedy Busting Loose, portraying Melody Feebeck, and in 1989, as Jessica Gardner on Generations
In 1967, Rhoades signed a long-term exclusive contract with Universal Pictures.
Rhoades appeared in a number of films during the 1970s, including There Was a Crooked Man... (1970), opposite Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda, and Up the Sandbox (1972) starring Barbra Streisand. She played a police officer, "No Balls" Hadley, in 1977's The Choirboys and a Las Vegas hooker who picks up Art Carney along the road during his Oscar-winning performance in Harry and Tonto (1974). She also had roles in Scream Blacula Scream (1973) and The Goodbye Girl (1977) and was a frequent panelist on the popular 1970s game show Match Game, hosted by Gene Rayburn. In 2007, she appeared in First Born with Elisabeth Shue.
In 2011, she had a recurring role on the American soap opera One Life to Live as Irene Manning, childhood best friend of Victoria Lord (Erika Slezak).
For 18 months on Broadway, Rhoades had the role of a showgirl in the musical Funny Girl (1964). She gained other stage experience in summer stock productions at the Cecilwood Theater in Fishkill, New York.

## Personal life

Rhoades married Bernie Orenstein, a television producer.

## Filmography

Film :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1968 | The Shakiest Gun in the West | Penelope 'Bad Penny' Cushings | |
| 1968 | Don't Just Stand There! | Kendall Flanagan | |
| 1970 | There Was a Crooked Man... | Miss Jessie Brundidge | |
| 1972 | Up the Sandbox | Dr. Bolden | |
| 1973 | Scream Blacula Scream | Elaine | |
| 1973 | Little Cigars | Helen | Credited as Barbara Rhodes Alternative title: The Little Cigars Mob |
| 1974 | Harry and Tonto | Stephanie | |
| 1976 | The Great Houdini | Margery Crandon | |
| 1977 | The Choirboys | No Balls Hadley | |
| 1977 | The Goodbye Girl | Donna | |
| 1980 | Serial | Vivian | |
| 2007 | First Born | Nancy | |
| Television ||||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1968 | The Virginian | Josie | Episode: "With Help from Ulysses" |
| 1968 | It Takes a Thief | Hilda | Episode: "A Spot of Trouble" |
| 1968 | Mannix | Billie | Season 2 episode 02 "Comes Up rose" |
| 1969 | Love, American Style | Bunny | Season 1, Episode 2, Vignette: "Love and the Unlikely Couple" Credited as Barbara Rhodes |
| 1970 | The Partridge Family | La Von | Episode: "Danny and the Mob" |
| 1970 | Mannix | Donna | Episode: "Once upon a Saturday" |
| 1971 | Bewitched | Aretha | Episode: "The House That Uncle Arthur Built " |
| 1972 | McCloud | Susan | Episode: "Give My Regrets to Broadway" |
| 1972 | Mission: Impossible | Vicki Wells | 1 episode |
| 1972 | The Paul Lynde Show | Eve Loring | Episode 10: "Whose Lib?" |
| 1972–1973 | McMillan & Wife | | 4 episodes |
| 1973 | Kojak | Joanna Ferro | Episode: "Web of Death" |
| 1973 | Night Gallery | Julie | Episode: "Something in the Woodwork" |
| 1973 | Police Story | Marnie | Episode: "Slow Boy" |
| 1974 | Happy Days | Bubbles McCall | Episode: "The Skin Game" |
| 1974 | The Odd Couple | Lucy | Episode: "Our Fathers" |
| 1974 | Nakia | Jackie Thayer | Episode: "Roots of Anger" |
| 1975 | Kolchak: The Night Stalker | Unnamed secretary | Episode: "Primal Scream" |
| 1975 | Petrocelli | Virginia Halima | 1 episode |
| 1975 | Ellery Queen | Veronica Vale | 1 episode |
| 1975 | Columbo | Joyce | Episode: "Identity Crisis" |
| 1975 | Starsky & Hutch | Robin Morton | Episode: "Shootout" |
| 1975 | The Six Million Dollar Man | Kelly Wixted | Episode: "Target in the Sky" |
| 1976 | The Blue Knight | Carrie | 4 episodes |
| 1976 | Sanford and Son | Gladys | 3 episodes |
| 1977 | Busting Loose | Melody Feebeck | Regular (21 episodes) |
| 1977 | Match Game | Herself ('77-'82) | |
| 1978 | Quark | Princess Carna | Episode: "The Old and the Beautiful" |
| 1978 | The Love Boat | Di Di Donnelly | 1 episode |
| 1978 | Maude | Maggie Gallagher | Episode: "Maude's Big Move: Part 3" |
| 1978 | The Eddie Capra Mysteries | Alicia | Episode: "Murder! Murder!" |
| 1979 | Hanging In | Maggie Gallagher | 4 episodes |
| 1979 | Super Train | | 1 episode (February 1979 episode 2) |
| 1979–1981 | Password Plus | Herself | 15 episodes |
| 1980–1981 | Soap | Maggie Chandler | 10 episodes |
| 1982 | Magnum, P.I. | Marcella Ziller | 1 episode |
| 1984 | Murder, She Wrote | Barbara Stevenson | Episode: "Birds of a Feather" |
| 1985 | Cagney & Lacey | Cece Wentworth | Episode: "Happily Ever After" |
| 1986 | You Again? | Maggie Davis | 4 episodes |
| 1988 | Charles in Charge | Pat Walker | 1 episode |
| 1988 | Murder, She Wrote | Flo Oakes | 1 episode |
| 1989 | Generations | Jessica Gardner | series regular |
| 1990 | Father Dowling Mysteries | Daphne Dumont | 1 episode |
| 1991 | Over My Dead Body | Det. Loraine McBride | 1 episode |
| 1993 | Diagnosis: Murder | Marcy Blake | 1 episode |
| 1995 | Marker | Woman | 1 episode |
| 2003 | Law & Order | Kathy McGarity | 1 episode |
| 2011 | One Life to Live | Irene Manning | |