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