Percy Rodrigues, the regal African-Canadian actor with the rich supple voice whose most memorable work came in the late '60s when he co-starred with Alan Alda in The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter (1968), died of kidney failure on September 6 at his Indio, California home. He was 89.

He was born on June 13, 1918, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and was of mixed African and Portuguese descent. He got his first taste of acting in high school and joined the Negro Theater Guild in his native Montreal in the late '30s. He did several stage productions in his native Canada before graduating to the Broadway stage in 1960 for a production of Toys in the Attic with Jason Robards and Maureen Stapleton.

It wasn't long before television came calling. He made noteworthy appearances in Naked City, Route 66, and Ben Casey. He made his film debut in a low-budget western The Plainclothesman (1966) and followed that up with a terrific performance as a troubled doctor who suffers from a strained relationship with his daughter (Cicely Tyson) in the Oscar®-nominated drama The Heart Is A Lonely Heart (1968).

In the meanwhile, his television career flourished and he played strong, intelligent characters of authority in a long line of hit shows. He played the neurosurgeon in the final season of the hit series Peyton Place (1968-69). He also appeared in Star Trek, The Fugitive, Marcus Welby, M.D., Mannix, Mission Impossible, and Ironside to name just a few. And his film career was holding with Come Back, Charleston Blue (1972), Rhinoceros (1974), and Enigma (1977).

Rodrigues was a natural for voice work and it was his voice you heard in the trailer for Jaws (1975). Elsewhere, he supplied his voice for such diverse fare as the Dorothy Stratton sci-fi camp classic Galaxina (1980), the cult animated Heavy Metal, and Wes Craven's Deadly Blessing (both 1981). His last prominent part was in a recurring guest role as Judge Harper in the sitcom Benson (1982-85).

He is survived by his wife, Karen; a daughter, Hollis; a son; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

by Michael T. Toole