Donald Woods
Acting • Born 1906-12-02 – Died 1998-03-05
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.
Filmography
123 credits
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
Movie • 1953
Capt. Jackson
13 Ghosts
Movie • 1960
Cyrus Zorba
The Florentine Dagger
Movie • 1935
Juan Cesare
Never Say Goodbye
Movie • 1946
Rex DeVallon
Anthony Adverse
Movie • 1936
Vincent Nolte
Five Minutes to Live
Movie • 1961
Kenneth Wilson
Sweet Adeline
Movie • 1934
Sid Barnett
City of Chance
Movie • 1940
Steve Walker
Scene of the Crime
Movie • 1949
Bob Herkimer
Charlie Chan on Broadway
Movie • 1937
Speed Patten, Reporter New York Bulletin
Hollywood Canteen
Movie • 1944
Self
True Grit
Movie • 1969
"Barlow"
A Tale of Two Cities
Movie • 1935
Charles Darnay
Motorboat Mamas
Movie • 1928
Yacht Club Patron (uncredited)
Fog Over Frisco
Movie • 1934
Tony Sterling
Johnny One-Eye
Movie • 1950
Vet
Dimension 5
Movie • 1966
Kane
The Story of Louis Pasteur
Movie • 1936
Dr. Jean Martel
Merry Wives of Reno
Movie • 1934
Frank
Isle of Fury
Movie • 1936
Eric Blake
Beauty for the Asking
Movie • 1939
Jeffrey Martin
Mr. Music
Movie • 1950
Tippy Carpenter
The Lost Volcano
Movie • 1950
Paul Gordon
Mexican Spitfire
Movie • 1940
Dennis Lindsay
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Movie • 1944
Brother Juniper
Bells of San Fernando
Movie • 1947
Michael 'Gringo' O'Brien
The Return of Rin Tin Tin
Movie • 1947
Father Matthew
The Studebaker Story
Movie • 1953
John Mohler Studebaker
Forgotten Girls
Movie • 1940
Dan Donahue
Roughly Speaking
Movie • 1945
Rodney Crane
The Case of the Stuttering Bishop
Movie • 1937
Perry Mason
Frisco Kid
Movie • 1935
Charles Ford
Enemy of Women
Movie • 1944
Dr. Hans Traeger, MD
Sea Devils
Movie • 1937
Steve Webb
Stranded
Movie • 1935
John Wesley
Talent Scout
Movie • 1937
Steve Stewart
As the Earth Turns
Movie • 1934
Stan
Road Gang
Movie • 1936
James 'Jim' Larrabie
A Son Comes Home
Movie • 1936
Denny
A Time to Sing
Movie • 1968
Vernon Carter
Sky Raiders
Movie • 1941
Captain Bob Dayton
The Girl from Mexico
Movie • 1939
Dennis Lindsay
Love, Honor and Oh-Baby!
Movie • 1940
Brian McGrath
Charlie Chan's Courage
Movie • 1934
Bob Crawford
Romance on the Run
Movie • 1938
Barry Drake
Danger on the Air
Movie • 1938
Benjamin Butts
The Black Doll
Movie • 1938
Nick Halstead
Mexican Spitfire Out West
Movie • 1940
Dennis 'Denny' Lindsay
Tall, Dark and Dead
Movie • 1952
Craig Kennedy
The White Angel
Movie • 1936
Charles Cooper
Free For All
Movie • 1949
Roger Abernathy
Wonder Man
Movie • 1945
Monte Rossen
Watch on the Rhine
Movie • 1943
David Farrelly
Stepchild
Movie • 1947
Ken Bullock
The Case of the Curious Bride
Movie • 1935
Carl
Heritage of the Desert
Movie • 1939
John Abbott
Daughter of the West
Movie • 1949
Commissioner Ralph C. Connors
Born to the Saddle
Movie • 1953
Matt Daggett
Tammy and the Millionaire
Movie • 1967
John Brent
Hollywood Newsreel
Movie • 1934
Himself
Star in the Night
Movie • 1945
Hitchhiker
Once a Doctor
Movie • 1937
Steven Brace
Big Town Girl
Movie • 1937
Mark Tracey
Hi'ya, Sailor
Movie • 1943
Bob Jackson
Corregidor
Movie • 1943
Dr. Michael
Thru Different Eyes
Movie • 1942
Ted Farnsworth
Breakdowns of 1936
Movie • 1936
Self
The Gay Sisters
Movie • 1942
Penn Sutherland Gaylord
A Wind from the South
Movie • 1955
Robert
The Song of a Nation
Movie • 1936
Francis Scott Key
Goodbye, Weeds
Movie • 1946
Henry
The Time, The Place and The Girl
Movie • 1946
Martin Drew
Kissin' Cousins
Movie • 1964
General Alvin Donford
Istanbul Express
Movie • 1969
Shepherd
A Dream Comes True
Movie • 1935
Himself (uncredited)
Things You Never See on the Screen
Movie • 1935
Self
The Making of a Great Motion Picture
Movie • 1936
All That I Have
Movie • 1951
Pastor William Goodwin
I Was a Prisoner on Devil's Island
Movie • 1941
Joel Grant / Joseph Elmer
So's Your Uncle
Movie • 1943
Steve Curtis aka Uncle John
Moment to Moment
Movie • 1966
Mr. Singer
If I Had My Way
Movie • 1940
Fred Johnson
Young America Flies
Movie • 1940
John Woodward
Bachelor Daddy
Movie • 1941
Edward Smith
March On, America!
Movie • 1942
Francis Scott Key (archive footage) (uncredited)
Barbary Pirate
Movie • 1949
Maj. Tom Blake
Night and Day
Movie • 1946
Ward Blackburn
I'll Give My Life
Movie • 1960
She Was a Lady
Movie • 1934
Tommy Traill
Motorboat Mamas
Movie • 1928
Yacht Club Patron
77 Sunset Strip
TV • 1958
Bourbon Street Beat
TV • 1959
Alias Smith and Jones
TV • 1971
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Lassie
TV • 1954
Ironside
TV • 1967
Sam Benedict
TV • 1962
Felony Squad
TV • 1966
The Wild Wild West
TV • 1965
The Sandy Duncan Show
TV • 1972
Police Story
TV • 1973
The Millionaire
TV • 1955
Cobb Marley
Tammy
TV • 1965
John Brent
Thriller
TV • 1960
Dr. John Carmody
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
TV • 1951
Kirby Sinclair
Portia Faces Life
TV • 1954
Men Into Space
TV • 1959
The Philco Television Playhouse
TV • 1948
Hondo
TV • 1967
The Rebel
TV • 1959
Sam Moss
Bat Masterson
TV • 1958
Roger Purcell
Ben Casey
TV • 1961
Robert Montgomery Presents
TV • 1950
Inner Sanctum
TV • 1954
Stoney Burke
TV • 1962
Tightrope
TV • 1959
Lights Out
TV • 1949
Damon Runyon Theater
TV • 1955
Hotel Cosmopolitan
TV • 1957
The United States Steel Hour
TV • 1953
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Norman Frost Bennett
Craig Kennedy, Criminologist
TV • 1951
Craig Kennedy
Wagon Train
TV • 1957
Philip Ayers