Donald Woods
Known for: Acting
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.
Filmography
Series
Lassie
1954
Series
Wagon Train
Philip Ayers
1957
Series
Wagon Train
Luke Grant
1957
Series
Ironside
1967
Series
Robert Montgomery Presents
1950
Series
The Wild Wild West
1965
Series
The Philco Television Playhouse
1948
Series
Thriller
Dr. John Carmody
1960
Series
Ben Casey
1961
Series
Bat Masterson
Roger Purcell
1958
Series
Lights Out
1949
Series
The Millionaire
Cobb Marley
1955
Series
77 Sunset Strip
1958
Series
The Rebel
Sam Moss
1959
Series
Police Story
1973
Series
The United States Steel Hour
1953
Series
Felony Squad
1966
Series
Alias Smith and Jones
1971
Series
Stoney Burke
1962
Series
Arrest and Trial
Chet Hayes
1963
Portia Faces Life
1954
Hotel Cosmopolitan
1957
Series
Bourbon Street Beat
1959
Series
Sam Benedict
1962
Series
Tightrope
1959
Film
True Grit
"Barlow"
1969
Series
Hondo
1967
Series
Inner Sanctum
1954
Series
Men Into Space
1959
Series
Tammy
John Brent
1965
Series
General Electric Theater
1953
Series
General Electric Theater
Norman Frost Bennett
1953
Series
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Kirby Sinclair
1951
Film
Night and Day
Ward Blackburn
1946
Series
Craig Kennedy, Criminologist
Craig Kennedy
1951
The Sandy Duncan Show
1972
Film
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
Capt. Jackson
1953
Damon Runyon Theater
1955
Film
Istanbul Express
Shepherd
1969
Film
13 Ghosts
Cyrus Zorba
1960
Film
Kissin' Cousins
General Alvin Donford
1964
Film
Bachelor Daddy
Edward Smith
1941
Film
Anthony Adverse
Vincent Nolte
1936
Film
Watch on the Rhine
David Farrelly
1943
Film
Hollywood Canteen
Self
1944
Film
A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Darnay
1935
Film
Wonder Man
Monte Rossen
1945
Film
The White Angel
Charles Cooper
1936
Film
A Wind from the South
Robert
1955
Film
Never Say Goodbye
Rex DeVallon
1946
Film
The Story of Louis Pasteur
Dr. Jean Martel
1936
Hollywood Newsreel
Himself
1934
Film
Isle of Fury
Eric Blake
1936
Film
Breakdowns of 1936
Self
1936
Film
Scene of the Crime
Bob Herkimer
1949
Film
Mr. Music
Tippy Carpenter
1950
Film
She Was a Lady
Tommy Traill
1934
Film
Dimension 5
Kane
1966
Film
Forgotten Girls
Dan Donahue
1940
Film
Moment to Moment
Mr. Singer
1966
Film
Frisco Kid
Charles Ford
1935
Film
The Lost Volcano
Paul Gordon
1950
Film
Thru Different Eyes
Ted Farnsworth
1942
Film
So's Your Uncle
Steve Curtis aka Uncle John
1943
Film
Free For All
Roger Abernathy
1949
Film
Fog Over Frisco
Tony Sterling
1934
Film
I'll Give My Life
1960
Film
Stranded
John Wesley
1935
Film
Things You Never See on the Screen
Self
1935
Film
Big Town Girl
Mark Tracey
1937
Film
Goodbye, Weeds
Henry
1946
Film
I Was a Prisoner on Devil's Island
Joel Grant / Joseph Elmer
1941
Film
The Studebaker Story
John Mohler Studebaker
1953
Film
Hi'ya, Sailor
Bob Jackson
1943
Film
Johnny One-Eye
Vet
1950
Film
If I Had My Way
Fred Johnson
1940
Film
The Case of the Curious Bride
Carl
1935
Film
Star in the Night
Hitchhiker
1945
Film
As the Earth Turns
Stan
1934
Film
Roughly Speaking
Rodney Crane
1945
Film
Road Gang
James 'Jim' Larrabie
1936
Film
Charlie Chan's Courage
Bob Crawford
1934
Film
Mexican Spitfire Out West
Dennis 'Denny' Lindsay
1940
Film
The Gay Sisters
Penn Sutherland Gaylord
1942
Film
Charlie Chan on Broadway
Speed Patten, Reporter New York Bulletin
1937
Film
Mexican Spitfire
Dennis Lindsay
1940
Film
Sea Devils
Steve Webb
1937
Film
The Case of the Stuttering Bishop
Perry Mason
1937
Film
Five Minutes to Live
Kenneth Wilson
1961
Film
Heritage of the Desert
John Abbott
1939
Film
Corregidor
Dr. Michael
1943
Film
Barbary Pirate
Maj. Tom Blake
1949
Film
The Girl from Mexico
Dennis Lindsay
1939
Film
Sweet Adeline
Sid Barnett
1934
Film
Danger on the Air
Benjamin Butts
1938
Film
Beauty for the Asking
Jeffrey Martin
1939
Film
City of Chance
Steve Walker
1940
Film
Talent Scout
Steve Stewart
1937
Film
Motorboat Mamas
Yacht Club Patron (uncredited)
1928
Film
Motorboat Mamas
Yacht Club Patron
1928
Film
Bells of San Fernando
Michael 'Gringo' O'Brien
1947
Film
A Dream Comes True
Himself (uncredited)
1935
Film
All That I Have
Pastor William Goodwin
1951
Film
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Brother Juniper
1944
Film
Tammy and the Millionaire
John Brent
1967
Film
The Florentine Dagger
Juan Cesare
1935
Film
The Making of a Great Motion Picture
1936
Film
The Time, The Place and The Girl
Martin Drew
1946
Film
March On, America!
Francis Scott Key (archive footage) (uncredited)
1942
Film
The Black Doll
Nick Halstead
1938
Film
Sky Raiders
Captain Bob Dayton
1941
Young America Flies
John Woodward
1940
Film
Once a Doctor
Steven Brace
1937
Film
Love, Honor and Oh-Baby!
Brian McGrath
1940
Film
Merry Wives of Reno
Frank
1934
Film
Born to the Saddle
Matt Daggett
1953
Film
Romance on the Run
Barry Drake
1938
Film
Enemy of Women
Dr. Hans Traeger, MD
1944
Tall, Dark and Dead
Craig Kennedy
1952
A Time to Sing
Vernon Carter
1968
Film
A Son Comes Home
Denny
1936
Film
Daughter of the West
Commissioner Ralph C. Connors
1949
Film
Stepchild
Ken Bullock
1947
Film
The Return of Rin Tin Tin
Father Matthew
1947
The Song of a Nation
Francis Scott Key
1936