
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.
Known For
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)
Moment to Moment
as Mr. Singer
(1966)
Dimension 5
as Kane
(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)
Johnny One-Eye
as Vet
(1950)
The Lost Volcano
as Paul Gordon
(1950)
Mr. Music
as Tippy Carpenter
(1949)
Scene of the Crime
as Bob Herkimer
(1949)
Daughter of the West
as Commissioner Ralph C. Connors
(1949)
Free For All
as Roger Abernathy
(1949)
Barbary Pirate
as Maj. Tom Blake
(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)
The Time, The Place and The Girl
as Martin Drew
(1946)
Never Say Goodbye
as Rex DeVallon
(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)
I Was a Prisoner on Devil's Island
as Joel Grant / Joseph Elmer
(1941)
Sky Raiders
as Captain Bob Dayton
(1941)
Bachelor Daddy
as Edward Smith
(1940)
Mexican Spitfire Out West
as Dennis 'Denny' Lindsay
(1940)
If I Had My Way
as Fred Johnson
(1940)
City of Chance
as Steve Walker
(1940)
Forgotten Girls
as Dan Donahue
(1940)
Love, Honor and Oh-Baby!
as Brian McGrath
(1940)
Young America Flies
as John Woodward
(1940)
Mexican Spitfire
as Dennis Lindsay
(1939)
Beauty for the Asking
as Jeffrey Martin
(1939)
Heritage of the Desert
as John Abbott
(1939)
The Girl from Mexico
as Dennis Lindsay
(1938)
The Black Doll
as Nick Halstead
(1938)
Romance on the Run
as Barry Drake
(1938)
Danger on the Air
as Benjamin Butts
(1937)
Charlie Chan on Broadway
as Speed Patten, Reporter New York Bulletin
(1937)
Talent Scout
as Steve Stewart
(1937)
Sea Devils
as Steve Webb
(1937)
The Case of the Stuttering Bishop
as Perry Mason
(1937)
Big Town Girl
as Mark Tracey
(1937)
Once a Doctor
as Steven Brace
(1936)
The Story of Louis Pasteur
as Dr. Jean Martel
(1936)
Anthony Adverse
as Vincent Nolte
(1936)
Breakdowns of 1936
as Self
(1936)
The White Angel
as Charles Cooper
(1936)
Isle of Fury
as Eric Blake
(1936)
Road Gang
as James 'Jim' Larrabie
(1936)
(1936)
A Son Comes Home
as Denny
(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)
The Florentine Dagger
as Juan Cesare
(1935)
(1935)
A Dream Comes True
as Himself (uncredited)
(1935)
Stranded
as John Wesley
(1935)
(1934)
Fog Over Frisco
as Tony Sterling
(1934)
Merry Wives of Reno
as Frank
(1934)
Hollywood Newsreel
as Himself
(1934)
Charlie Chan's Courage
as Bob Crawford
(1934)
She Was a Lady
as Tommy Traill
(1934)
As the Earth Turns
as Stan
(1934)
Sweet Adeline
as Sid Barnett
(1928)
Motorboat Mamas
as Yacht Club Patron (uncredited)
(1928)
Motorboat Mamas
as Yacht Club Patron