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.
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Movies (89)
True Grit
1969 · "Barlow"
Istanbul Express
1969 · Shepherd
A Time to Sing
1968 · Vernon Carter
Tammy and the Millionaire
1967 · John Brent
Dimension 5
1966 · Kane
Moment to Moment
1966 · Mr. Singer
Kissin' Cousins
1964 · General Alvin Donford
Five Minutes to Live
1961 · Kenneth Wilson
13 Ghosts
1960 · Cyrus Zorba
I'll Give My Life
1960
A Wind from the South
1955 · Robert
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
1953 · Capt. Jackson
Born to the Saddle
1953 · Matt Daggett
The Studebaker Story
1953 · John Mohler Studebaker
Tall, Dark and Dead
1952 · Craig Kennedy
All That I Have
1951 · Pastor William Goodwin
Mr. Music
1950 · Tippy Carpenter
The Lost Volcano
1950 · Paul Gordon
Johnny One-Eye
1950 · Vet
Barbary Pirate
1949 · Maj. Tom Blake
Free For All
1949 · Roger Abernathy
Scene of the Crime
1949 · Bob Herkimer
Daughter of the West
1949 · Commissioner Ralph C. Connors
The Return of Rin Tin Tin
1947 · Father Matthew
Stepchild
1947 · Ken Bullock
Bells of San Fernando
1947 · Michael 'Gringo' O'Brien
The Time, The Place and The Girl
1946 · Martin Drew
Never Say Goodbye
1946 · Rex DeVallon
Goodbye, Weeds
1946 · Henry
Night and Day
1946 · Ward Blackburn
Star in the Night
1945 · Hitchhiker
Wonder Man
1945 · Monte Rossen
Roughly Speaking
1945 · Rodney Crane
Hollywood Canteen
1944 · Self
Enemy of Women
1944 · Dr. Hans Traeger, MD
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
1944 · Brother Juniper
Hi'ya, Sailor
1943 · Bob Jackson
So's Your Uncle
1943 · Steve Curtis aka Uncle John
Watch on the Rhine
1943 · David Farrelly
Corregidor
1943 · Dr. Michael
The Gay Sisters
1942 · Penn Sutherland Gaylord
March On, America!
1942 · Francis Scott Key (archive footage) (uncredited)
Thru Different Eyes
1942 · Ted Farnsworth
I Was a Prisoner on Devil's Island
1941 · Joel Grant / Joseph Elmer
Bachelor Daddy
1941 · Edward Smith
Sky Raiders
1941 · Captain Bob Dayton
Mexican Spitfire Out West
1940 · Dennis 'Denny' Lindsay
Young America Flies
1940 · John Woodward
Love, Honor and Oh-Baby!
1940 · Brian McGrath
If I Had My Way
1940 · Fred Johnson
Forgotten Girls
1940 · Dan Donahue
City of Chance
1940 · Steve Walker
Mexican Spitfire
1940 · Dennis Lindsay
Heritage of the Desert
1939 · John Abbott
The Girl from Mexico
1939 · Dennis Lindsay
Beauty for the Asking
1939 · Jeffrey Martin
Danger on the Air
1938 · Benjamin Butts
Romance on the Run
1938 · Barry Drake
The Black Doll
1938 · Nick Halstead
Big Town Girl
1937 · Mark Tracey
Charlie Chan on Broadway
1937 · Speed Patten, Reporter New York Bulletin
Talent Scout
1937 · Steve Stewart
The Case of the Stuttering Bishop
1937 · Perry Mason
Sea Devils
1937 · Steve Webb
Once a Doctor
1937 · Steven Brace
Breakdowns of 1936
1936 · Self
Isle of Fury
1936 · Eric Blake
Anthony Adverse
1936 · Vincent Nolte
A Son Comes Home
1936 · Denny
The Song of a Nation
1936 · Francis Scott Key
The White Angel
1936 · Charles Cooper
The Making of a Great Motion Picture
1936
Road Gang
1936 · James 'Jim' Larrabie
The Story of Louis Pasteur
1936 · Dr. Jean Martel
A Dream Comes True
1935 · Himself (uncredited)
A Tale of Two Cities
1935 · Charles Darnay
Things You Never See on the Screen
1935 · Self
Frisco Kid
1935 · Charles Ford
Stranded
1935 · John Wesley
The Case of the Curious Bride
1935 · Carl
The Florentine Dagger
1935 · Juan Cesare
Sweet Adeline
1934 · Sid Barnett
She Was a Lady
1934 · Tommy Traill
Charlie Chan's Courage
1934 · Bob Crawford
Fog Over Frisco
1934 · Tony Sterling
Merry Wives of Reno
1934 · Frank
Hollywood Newsreel
1934 · Himself
As the Earth Turns
1934 · Stan
Motorboat Mamas
1928 · Yacht Club Patron (uncredited), Yacht Club Patron
TV shows (33)
Police Story
1973
The Sandy Duncan Show
1972
Alias Smith and Jones
1971
Hondo
1967
Ironside
1967
Felony Squad
1966
The Wild Wild West
1965
Tammy
1965 · John Brent
Arrest and Trial
1963 · Chet Hayes
Stoney Burke
1962 · Dave Jenson
Sam Benedict
1962
Ben Casey
1961
Thriller
1960 · Dr. John Carmody
Bourbon Street Beat
1959
The Rebel
1959 · Sam Moss
Men Into Space
1959
Tightrope
1959
77 Sunset Strip
1958
Bat Masterson
1958 · Roger Purcell
Wagon Train
1957 · Philip Ayers, Luke Grant
Hotel Cosmopolitan
1957
Damon Runyon Theater
1955
The Millionaire
1955 · Cobb Marley
Lassie
1954
Portia Faces Life
1954
Inner Sanctum
1954
The United States Steel Hour
1953
General Electric Theater
1953 · Norman Frost Bennett
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951 · Kirby Sinclair
Craig Kennedy, Criminologist
1951 · Craig Kennedy
Robert Montgomery Presents
1950
Lights Out
1949
The Philco Television Playhouse
1948