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