1906-12-02 Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
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.
 |
True Grit | "Barlow" | 1969-06-11 |
 |
Istanbul Express | Shepherd | 1969-03-07 |
 |
A Time to Sing | Vernon Carter | 1968-08-15 |
 |
Tammy and the Millionaire | John Brent | 1967-05-01 |
 |
Dimension 5 | Kane | 1966-10-01 |
 |
Moment to Moment | Mr. Singer | 1966-01-27 |
 |
Kissin' Cousins | General Alvin Donford | 1964-03-06 |
 |
Five Minutes to Live | Kenneth Wilson | 1961-12-07 |
 |
13 Ghosts | Cyrus Zorba | 1960-07-18 |
 |
I'll Give My Life | 1960-02-03 | |
 |
A Wind from the South | Robert | 1955-09-14 |
 |
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms | Capt. Jackson | 1953-06-13 |
 |
Born to the Saddle | Matt Daggett | 1953-03-15 |
 |
The Studebaker Story | John Mohler Studebaker | 1953-01-01 |
|
Tall, Dark and Dead | Craig Kennedy | 1952-01-01 |
 |
All That I Have | Pastor William Goodwin | 1951-10-01 |
 |
The Lost Volcano | Paul Gordon | 1950-06-25 |
 |
Mr. Music | Tippy Carpenter | 1950-12-08 |
 |
Johnny One-Eye | Vet | 1950-05-05 |
 |
Free For All | Roger Abernathy | 1949-11-01 |
 |
Daughter of the West | Commissioner Ralph C. Connors | 1949-02-15 |
 |
Scene of the Crime | Bob Herkimer | 1949-07-28 |
 |
Barbary Pirate | Maj. Tom Blake | 1949-11-10 |
 |
The Return of Rin Tin Tin | Father Matthew | 1947-11-01 |
 |
Bells of San Fernando | Michael 'Gringo' O'Brien | 1947-03-01 |
 |
Stepchild | Ken Bullock | 1947-06-07 |
 |
Goodbye, Weeds | Henry | 1946-10-30 |
 |
Night and Day | Ward Blackburn | 1946-07-02 |
 |
Never Say Goodbye | Rex DeVallon | 1946-11-09 |
 |
The Time, The Place and The Girl | Martin Drew | 1946-12-26 |
 |
Star in the Night | Hitchhiker | 1945-10-13 |
 |
Roughly Speaking | Rodney Crane | 1945-01-31 |
 |
Wonder Man | Monte Rossen | 1945-06-08 |
 |
The Bridge of San Luis Rey | Brother Juniper | 1944-02-11 |
 |
Enemy of Women | Dr. Hans Traeger, MD | 1944-11-10 |
 |
Hollywood Canteen | Self | 1944-12-15 |
 |
Hi'ya, Sailor | Bob Jackson | 1943-10-08 |
 |
So's Your Uncle | Steve Curtis aka Uncle John | 1943-09-01 |
 |
Watch on the Rhine | David Farrelly | 1943-08-27 |
 |
Corregidor | Dr. Michael | 1943-03-29 |
 |
The Gay Sisters | Penn Sutherland Gaylord | 1942-08-01 |
 |
Thru Different Eyes | Ted Farnsworth | 1942-06-19 |
 |
March On, America! | Francis Scott Key (archive footage) (uncredited) | 1942-06-20 |
 |
Bachelor Daddy | Edward Smith | 1941-06-04 |
 |
I Was a Prisoner on Devil's Island | Joel Grant / Joseph Elmer | 1941-08-04 |
 |
Sky Raiders | Captain Bob Dayton | 1941-04-08 |
 |
Forgotten Girls | Dan Donahue | 1940-03-15 |
 |
If I Had My Way | Fred Johnson | 1940-05-05 |
|
Young America Flies | John Woodward | 1940-07-13 |
 |
Mexican Spitfire Out West | Dennis 'Denny' Lindsay | 1940-10-29 |
 |
City of Chance | Steve Walker | 1940-01-13 |
 |
Love, Honor and Oh-Baby! | Brian McGrath | 1940-06-07 |
 |
Mexican Spitfire | Dennis Lindsay | 1940-01-12 |
 |
Heritage of the Desert | John Abbott | 1939-06-23 |
 |
The Girl from Mexico | Dennis Lindsay | 1939-06-01 |
 |
Beauty for the Asking | Jeffrey Martin | 1939-02-24 |
 |
Romance on the Run | Barry Drake | 1938-05-11 |
 |
Danger on the Air | Benjamin Butts | 1938-06-30 |
 |
The Black Doll | Nick Halstead | 1938-01-31 |
 |
Sea Devils | Steve Webb | 1937-02-19 |
 |
Talent Scout | Steve Stewart | 1937-07-24 |
 |
Charlie Chan on Broadway | Speed Patten, Reporter New York Bulletin | 1937-09-22 |
 |
Big Town Girl | Mark Tracey | 1937-12-03 |
 |
The Case of the Stuttering Bishop | Perry Mason | 1937-06-08 |
 |
Once a Doctor | Steven Brace | 1937-01-23 |
|
The Song of a Nation | Francis Scott Key | 1936-07-04 |
 |
Isle of Fury | Eric Blake | 1936-10-10 |
 |
The Story of Louis Pasteur | Dr. Jean Martel | 1936-02-22 |
 |
Breakdowns of 1936 | Self | 1936-12-30 |
 |
Anthony Adverse | Vincent Nolte | 1936-08-26 |
 |
The White Angel | Charles Cooper | 1936-06-25 |
 |
Road Gang | James 'Jim' Larrabie | 1936-03-28 |
 |
A Son Comes Home | Denny | 1936-07-31 |
 |
The Making of a Great Motion Picture | 1936-04-15 | |
 |
The Florentine Dagger | Juan Cesare | 1935-03-30 |
 |
A Tale of Two Cities | Charles Darnay | 1935-12-25 |
 |
Frisco Kid | Charles Ford | 1935-11-30 |
 |
Things You Never See on the Screen | Self | 1935-12-01 |
 |
The Case of the Curious Bride | Carl | 1935-04-13 |
 |
Stranded | John Wesley | 1935-06-29 |
 |
A Dream Comes True | Himself (uncredited) | 1935-12-31 |
 |
Charlie Chan's Courage | Bob Crawford | 1934-07-06 |
|
Hollywood Newsreel | Himself | 1934-03-24 |
 |
She Was a Lady | Tommy Traill | 1934-08-22 |
 |
Sweet Adeline | Sid Barnett | 1934-12-29 |
 |
As the Earth Turns | Stan | 1934-02-14 |
 |
Fog Over Frisco | Tony Sterling | 1934-06-02 |
 |
Merry Wives of Reno | Frank | 1934-04-18 |
 |
Motorboat Mamas | Yacht Club Patron | 1928-09-30 |
|
Motorboat Mamas | Yacht Club Patron (uncredited) | 1928-09-30 |
