He is best remembered today for appearing in two classic Hollywood musical films with the popular dancing team of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers: The Gay Divorcee (1934) and Top Hat (1935).

In this show, he gave a memorable comic portrayal of a spirited, feather-brained, thick-accented Italian character that impressed RKO executives enough to bring him to Hollywood to reprise the role in the film version, The Gay Divorcee (1934) and then repeated in Top Hat (1935), much to Mussolini's displeasure.

Between 1947 and 1964, he was back on Broadway in The Great Campaign, Dance Me a Song, Collector's Item, Shinbone Alley, Jamaica, How to Make a Man, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

Rhodes also acted in regional theater, including Playhouse on the Mall in Paramus, New Jersey,[7] and the Forrest Theatre in Philadelphia.

[10] Among his other TV appearances, he performed in the variety program Wonder Boy[3] and played the role of murder victim Herman Albright in the 1961 Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Violent Vest."