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.
Movie | Horrible Horror | Cyrus Zorba in '13 Ghosts' | 1986-01-01 |
Series | Police Story | Unknown | 1973-03-20 |
Series | The Sandy Duncan Show | Unknown | 1972-09-17 |
Series | Alias Smith and Jones | Unknown | 1971-01-05 |
Movie | Istanbul Express | Shepherd | 1969-03-07 |
Movie | True Grit | "Barlow" | 1969-06-11 |
Movie | A Time to Sing | Vernon Carter | 1968-08-15 |
Series | Hondo | Unknown | 1967-09-08 |
Series | Ironside | Unknown | 1967-03-28 |
Movie | Tammy and the Millionaire | John Brent | 1967-05-01 |
Movie | Moment to Moment | Mr. Singer | 1966-01-27 |
Movie | Dimension 5 | Kane | 1966-10-01 |
Series | Felony Squad | Unknown | 1966-09-12 |
Series | The Wild Wild West | Unknown | 1965-09-17 |
Series | Tammy | 1965-09-17 | |
Movie | Kissin' Cousins | General Alvin Donford | 1964-03-06 |
Series | Sam Benedict | Unknown | 1962-09-15 |
Series | Stoney Burke | Unknown | 1962-10-01 |
Series | Ben Casey | Unknown | 1961-10-02 |
Movie | Five Minutes to Live | Kenneth Wilson | 1961-12-07 |
Movie | 13 Ghosts | Cyrus Zorba | 1960-07-18 |
Series | Thriller | Unknown | 1960-09-13 |
Series | Tightrope | Unknown | 1959-09-08 |
Series | Men into Space | Unknown | 1959-09-30 |
Series | The Rebel | Unknown | 1959-10-04 |
Series | Bourbon Street Beat | Unknown | 1959-10-05 |
Series | Bat Masterson | Unknown | 1958-10-08 |
Series | 77 Sunset Strip | Unknown | 1958-10-10 |
Series | Hotel Cosmopolitan | 1957-08-19 | |
Movie | A Wind from the South | Robert | 1955-09-14 |
Series | The Millionaire | Unknown | 1955-01-19 |
Series | Damon Runyon Theater | 1955-04-16 | |
Series | Inner Sanctum | Unknown | 1954-01-09 |
Series | Lassie | Unknown | 1954-09-12 |
Series | Portia Faces Life | 1954-04-05 | |
Series | General Electric Theater | Unknown | 1953-02-01 |
Movie | The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms | Capt. Jackson | 1953-06-13 |
Movie | Born to the Saddle | Matt Daggett | 1953-03-15 |
Series | Craig Kennedy, Criminologist | Craig Kennedy | 1952-01-01 |
Movie | All That I Have | Pastor William Goodwin | 1951-10-01 |
Series | Schlitz Playhouse of Stars | Unknown | 1951-10-05 |
Movie | Johnny One-Eye | Vet | 1950-05-05 |
Series | Robert Montgomery Presents | Unknown | 1950-01-30 |
Movie | The Lost Volcano | Paul Gordon | 1950-06-25 |
Movie | Mr. Music | Tippy Carpenter | 1950-12-08 |
Movie | Daughter of the West | Commissioner Ralph C. Connors | 1949-02-15 |
Series | Lights Out | Unknown | 1949-07-19 |
Movie | Free For All | Roger Abernathy | 1949-11-01 |
Movie | Scene of the Crime | Bob Herkimer | 1949-07-28 |
Series | The Philco Television Playhouse | Unknown | 1948-10-03 |
Movie | Bells of San Fernando | Michael 'Gringo' O'Brien | 1947-03-01 |
Movie | The Return of Rin Tin Tin | Father Matthew | 1947-11-01 |
Movie | Night and Day | Ward Blackburn | 1946-07-02 |
Movie | The Time, The Place and The Girl | Martin Drew | 1946-12-26 |
Movie | Goodbye, Weeds | Henry | 1946-10-30 |
Movie | Never Say Goodbye | Rex DeVallon | 1946-11-09 |
Movie | Roughly Speaking | Rodney Crane | 1945-01-31 |
Movie | Star in the Night | Hitchhiker | 1945-10-13 |
Movie | Wonder Man | Monte Rossen | 1945-06-08 |
Movie | The Bridge of San Luis Rey | Brother Juniper | 1944-02-11 |
Movie | Enemy of Women | Dr. Hans Traeger, MD | 1944-11-10 |
Movie | Hollywood Canteen | Self | 1944-12-15 |
Movie | Corregidor | Dr. Michael | 1943-03-29 |
Movie | Watch on the Rhine | David Farrelly | 1943-08-27 |
Movie | Hi'ya, Sailor | Bob Jackson | 1943-10-08 |
Movie | So's Your Uncle | Steve Curtis aka Uncle John | 1943-09-01 |
Movie | Thru Different Eyes | Ted Farnsworth | 1942-06-19 |
Movie | The Gay Sisters | Penn Sutherland Gaylord | 1942-08-01 |
Movie | March On, America! | Francis Scott Key (archive footage) (uncredited) | 1942-06-20 |
Movie | Bachelor Daddy | Edward Smith | 1941-06-04 |
Movie | Sky Raiders | Captain Bob Dayton | 1941-04-08 |
Movie | I Was a Prisoner on Devil's Island | Joel Grant / Joseph Elmer | 1941-08-04 |
Movie | City of Chance | Steve Walker | 1940-01-13 |
Movie | Forgotten Girls | Dan Donahue | 1940-03-15 |
Movie | Mexican Spitfire | Dennis Lindsay | 1940-01-12 |
Movie | Mexican Spitfire Out West | Dennis 'Denny' Lindsay | 1940-10-29 |
Movie | If I Had My Way | Fred Johnson | 1940-05-05 |
Movie | Love, Honor and Oh-Baby! | Brian McGrath | 1940-06-07 |
Movie | Beauty for the Asking | Jeffrey Martin | 1939-02-24 |
Movie | Heritage of the Desert | John Abbott | 1939-06-23 |
Movie | The Girl from Mexico | Dennis Lindsay | 1939-06-01 |
Movie | The Black Doll | Nick Halstead | 1938-01-31 |
Movie | Danger on the Air | Benjamin Butts | 1938-06-30 |
Movie | Romance on the Run | Barry Drake | 1938-05-11 |
Movie | Sea Devils | Steve Webb | 1937-02-19 |
Movie | Once a Doctor | Steven Brace | 1937-01-23 |
Movie | The Case of the Stuttering Bishop | Perry Mason | 1937-06-08 |
Movie | Charlie Chan on Broadway | Speed Patten, Reporter New York Bulletin | 1937-09-22 |
Movie | Big Town Girl | Mark Tracey | 1937-12-03 |
Movie | Talent Scout | Steve Stewart | 1937-07-24 |
Movie | Road Gang | James 'Jim' Larrabie | 1936-03-28 |
Movie | The Story of Louis Pasteur | Dr. Jean Martel | 1936-02-22 |
Movie | The Making of a Great Motion Picture | 1936-04-15 | |
Movie | The White Angel | Charles Cooper | 1936-06-25 |
Movie | Breakdowns of 1936 | Self | 1936-12-30 |
Movie | Anthony Adverse | Vincent Nolte | 1936-08-26 |
Movie | Isle of Fury | Eric Blake | 1936-10-10 |
Movie | The Song of a Nation | Francis Scott Key | 1936-07-04 |
Movie | The Case of the Curious Bride | Carl | 1935-04-13 |
Movie | The Florentine Dagger | Juan Cesare | 1935-03-30 |
Movie | Stranded | John Wesley | 1935-06-29 |
Movie | Things You Never See on the Screen | Self | 1935-12-01 |
Movie | Frisco Kid | Charles Ford | 1935-11-30 |
Movie | A Dream Comes True | Himself (uncredited) | 1935-12-31 |
Movie | A Tale of Two Cities | Charles Darnay | 1935-12-25 |
Movie | Hollywood Newsreel | Himself | 1934-03-24 |
Movie | As the Earth Turns | Stan | 1934-02-14 |
Movie | Merry Wives of Reno | Frank | 1934-04-18 |
Movie | Fog Over Frisco | Tony Sterling | 1934-06-02 |
Movie | Charlie Chan's Courage | Bob Crawford | 1934-07-06 |
Movie | Sweet Adeline | Sid Barnett | 1934-12-29 |
Movie | How I Play Golf, by Bobby Jones No. 11: 'Practice Shots' | Himself | 1931-04-15 |
Movie | Motorboat Mamas | Yacht Club Patron (uncredited) | 1928-09-30 |