
Donald Woods
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1906-12-02
Day of Death
1998-03-05 (91 years old)
Place of Birth
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
Donald Woods
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Donald Woods (born Ralph Lewis Zink, December 2, 1906 – March 5, 1998) was a Canadian-American film and television actor whose career in Hollywood spanned six decades.
Born in Brandon, Manitoba, Woods moved with his family to California and was raised in Burbank. A son of William and Margaret Zink, Presbyterians of German descent. His younger brother, Clarence Russell Zink, also became an actor (Russ Conway).
Woods graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and made his film debut in 1928. His screen career was spent mostly in B movies, for example as lawyer Perry Mason in the 1937 film The Case of the Stuttering Bishop. He also occasionally played major roles in bigger feature films like A Tale of Two Cities (1935), Anthony Adverse (1936), Watch on the Rhine (1943), The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1944), and Roughly Speaking (1945).
Of considerable importance to his acting career were several seasons as leading man with the Elitch Gardens Theatre Company in Denver, Colorado, where he performed in 1932, 1933, 1939, 1941, 1947, and 1948.
In the early days of television, Woods starred as the title character in the 1951 syndicated TV series Craig Kennedy, Criminologist, and he was the host of Damon Runyon Theater on CBS-TV. He played himself on the dramatic series Hotel Cosmopolitan, also on CBS, and he was one of three hosts of The Orchid Award on ABC-TV. He portrayed Walter Manning on Portia Faces Life on CBS.
He also appeared in such anthology series as The Philco Television Playhouse, Armstrong Circle Theatre, Robert Montgomery Presents, The United States Steel Hour, Crossroads, and General Electric Theater. On April 11, 1961, Woods appeared as "Profesor Landfield" in the episode "Two for the Gallows" on NBC's Laramie western series. Series character Slim Sherman (John Smith) is hired under false pretenses to take Landfield into the Badlands to seek gold. Landfield, however, is really Morgan Bennett, a member of the former Henry Plummer gang who has escaped from prison. Slim has no idea that Lanfield is seeking the loot that his gang had hidden away. Series character Jess Harper (Robert Fuller), Pete Dixon, played by Warren Oates, and Pete's younger brother soon come to Slim's aid. The title stems from the talk that the undisciplined Dixon brothers might eventually wind up on a hangman's noose.
Woods later was a regular in the role of John Brent on the short-lived series Tammy and made guest appearances on Bat Masterson, Wagon Train, Ben Casey, 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye, Stoney Burke, Bourbon Street Beat, Bonanza, Coronet Blue, Ironside, Alias Smith and Jones, The Wild Wild West and Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law, among many others before retiring from acting in 1976.
Besides his film career, he also worked as a successful real estate broker in Palm Springs where he lived with his wife, childhood sweetheart Josephine Van der Horck. They were married from 1933 until his death and had two children, Linda and Conrad. He was interred at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cathedral City, California.
Acting
(1969)
True Grit
as "Barlow"
(1969)
Istanbul Express
as Shepherd
(1968)
A Time to Sing
as Vernon Carter
(1967)
Tammy and the Millionaire
as John Brent
(1966)
Dimension 5
as Kane
(1966)
Moment to Moment
as Mr. Singer
(1964)
Kissin' Cousins
as General Alvin Donford
(1961)
Five Minutes to Live
as Kenneth Wilson
(1960)
13 Ghosts
as Cyrus Zorba
(1960)
(1955)
A Wind from the South
as Robert
(1953)
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
as Capt. Jackson
(1953)
Born to the Saddle
as Matt Daggett
(1953)
The Studebaker Story
as John Mohler Studebaker
(1952)
Tall, Dark and Dead
as Craig Kennedy
(1951)
All That I Have
as Pastor William Goodwin
(1950)
Mr. Music
as Tippy Carpenter
(1950)
The Lost Volcano
as Paul Gordon
(1950)
Johnny One-Eye
as Vet
(1949)
Daughter of the West
as Commissioner Ralph C. Connors
(1949)
Scene of the Crime
as Bob Herkimer
(1949)
Barbary Pirate
as Maj. Tom Blake
(1949)
Free For All
as Roger Abernathy
(1947)
The Return of Rin Tin Tin
as Father Matthew
(1947)
Bells of San Fernando
as Michael 'Gringo' O'Brien
(1947)
Stepchild
as Ken Bullock
(1946)
Night and Day
as Ward Blackburn
(1946)
Never Say Goodbye
as Rex DeVallon
(1946)
The Time, The Place and The Girl
as Martin Drew
(1946)
Goodbye, Weeds
as Henry
(1945)
Wonder Man
as Monte Rossen
(1945)
Roughly Speaking
as Rodney Crane
(1945)
Star in the Night
as Hitchhiker
(1944)
Hollywood Canteen
as Self
(1944)
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
as Brother Juniper
(1944)
Enemy of Women
as Dr. Hans Traeger, MD
(1943)
Watch on the Rhine
as David Farrelly
(1943)
Corregidor
as Dr. Michael
(1943)
So's Your Uncle
as Steve Curtis aka Uncle John
(1943)
Hi'ya, Sailor
as Bob Jackson
(1942)
The Gay Sisters
as Penn Sutherland Gaylord
(1942)
March On, America!
as Francis Scott Key (archive footage) (uncredited)
(1942)
Thru Different Eyes
as Ted Farnsworth
(1941)
Bachelor Daddy
as Edward Smith
(1941)
Sky Raiders
as Captain Bob Dayton
(1941)
I Was a Prisoner on Devil's Island
as Joel Grant / Joseph Elmer
(1940)
Mexican Spitfire
as Dennis Lindsay
(1940)
Forgotten Girls
as Dan Donahue
(1940)
Mexican Spitfire Out West
as Dennis 'Denny' Lindsay
(1940)
City of Chance
as Steve Walker
(1940)
If I Had My Way
as Fred Johnson
(1940)
Love, Honor and Oh-Baby!
as Brian McGrath
(1940)
Young America Flies
as John Woodward
(1939)
The Girl from Mexico
as Dennis Lindsay
(1939)
Heritage of the Desert
as John Abbott
(1939)
Beauty for the Asking
as Jeffrey Martin
(1938)
Danger on the Air
as Benjamin Butts
(1938)
The Black Doll
as Nick Halstead
(1938)
Romance on the Run
as Barry Drake
(1937)
Once a Doctor
as Steven Brace
(1937)
Charlie Chan on Broadway
as Speed Patten, Reporter New York Bulletin
(1937)
Big Town Girl
as Mark Tracey
(1937)
Sea Devils
as Steve Webb
(1937)
Talent Scout
as Steve Stewart
(1937)
The Case of the Stuttering Bishop
as Perry Mason
(1936)
Anthony Adverse
as Vincent Nolte
(1936)
The Story of Louis Pasteur
as Dr. Jean Martel
(1936)
Isle of Fury
as Eric Blake
(1936)
The White Angel
as Charles Cooper
(1936)
Road Gang
as James 'Jim' Larrabie
(1936)
Breakdowns of 1936
as Self
(1936)
A Son Comes Home
as Denny
(1936)
(1936)
The Song of a Nation
as Francis Scott Key
(1935)
A Tale of Two Cities
as Charles Darnay
(1935)
Frisco Kid
as Charles Ford
(1935)
A Dream Comes True
as Himself (uncredited)
(1935)
The Florentine Dagger
as Juan Cesare
(1935)
Stranded
as John Wesley
(1935)
(1935)
(1934)
As the Earth Turns
as Stan
(1934)
Fog Over Frisco
as Tony Sterling
(1934)
Charlie Chan's Courage
as Bob Crawford
(1934)
Sweet Adeline
as Sid Barnett
(1934)
She Was a Lady
as Tommy Traill
(1934)
Merry Wives of Reno
as Frank
(1934)
Hollywood Newsreel
as Himself
(1928)
Motorboat Mamas
as Yacht Club Patron (uncredited)
(1928)
Motorboat Mamas
as Yacht Club Patron