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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
December 2, 1906
Died
March 5, 1998
Place of Birth
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
Also Known As
- Ralph Lewis Zink
Donald Woods
0.4 Popularity
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.
Known For
Credits
Police Story
1973
6.9
🎬
The Sandy Duncan Show
1972
0.0
Alias Smith and Jones
1971
6.9
True Grit
as "Barlow"
1969
7.3
Istanbul Express
as Shepherd
1969
5.1
🎬
A Time to Sing
as Vernon Carter
1968
5.0
Hondo
1967
6.5
Tammy and the Millionaire
as John Brent
1967
5.0
Ironside
1967
6.8
Dimension 5
as Kane
1966
4.8
Felony Squad
1966
6.4
Moment to Moment
as Mr. Singer
1966
5.1
The Wild Wild West
1965
7.5
Tammy
as John Brent
1965
5.0
Kissin' Cousins
as General Alvin Donford
1964
4.7
Stoney Burke
1962
5.7
Sam Benedict
1962
6.0
Five Minutes to Live
as Kenneth Wilson
1961
5.5
Ben Casey
1961
5.6
Thriller
as Dr. John Carmody
1960
6.4
13 Ghosts
as Cyrus Zorba
1960
5.7
I'll Give My Life
1960
6.0
Bourbon Street Beat
1959
5.0
The Rebel
as Sam Moss
1959
5.1
Men Into Space
1959
7.0
Tightrope
1959
5.5
77 Sunset Strip
1958
6.7
Bat Masterson
as Roger Purcell
1958
6.1
Wagon Train
as Philip Ayers
1957
6.3
🎬
Hotel Cosmopolitan
1957
0.0
A Wind from the South
as Robert
1955
5.7
🎬
Damon Runyon Theater
1955
0.0
The Millionaire
as Cobb Marley
1955
5.0
Lassie
1954
6.1
🎬
Portia Faces Life
1954
1.0
Inner Sanctum
1954
7.0
The United States Steel Hour
1953
6.2
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
as Capt. Jackson
1953
6.6
Born to the Saddle
as Matt Daggett
1953
5.0
General Electric Theater
1953
6.3
General Electric Theater
as Norman Frost Bennett
1953
6.3
The Studebaker Story
as John Mohler Studebaker
1953
0.0
🎬
Tall, Dark and Dead
as Craig Kennedy
1952
0.0
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
as Kirby Sinclair
1951
7.3
All That I Have
as Pastor William Goodwin
1951
5.0
Craig Kennedy, Criminologist
as Craig Kennedy
1951
0.0
Mr. Music
as Tippy Carpenter
1950
4.0
The Lost Volcano
as Paul Gordon
1950
5.3
Johnny One-Eye
as Vet
1950
4.9
Robert Montgomery Presents
1950
5.6
Barbary Pirate
as Maj. Tom Blake
1949
6.0
Free For All
as Roger Abernathy
1949
6.0
Scene of the Crime
as Bob Herkimer
1949
6.3
Lights Out
1949
5.3
Daughter of the West
as Commissioner Ralph C. Connors
1949
0.0
The Philco Television Playhouse
1948
6.3
The Return of Rin Tin Tin
as Father Matthew
1947
5.2
Stepchild
as Ken Bullock
1947
0.0
Bells of San Fernando
as Michael 'Gringo' O'Brien
1947
4.2
The Time, The Place and The Girl
as Martin Drew
1946
5.4
Never Say Goodbye
as Rex DeVallon
1946
6.3
Goodbye, Weeds
as Henry
1946
0.0
Night and Day
as Ward Blackburn
1946
5.7
Star in the Night
as Hitchhiker
1945
7.4
Wonder Man
as Monte Rossen
1945
6.6
Roughly Speaking
as Rodney Crane
1945
6.8
Hollywood Canteen
as Self
1944
7.3
Enemy of Women
as Dr. Hans Traeger, MD
1944
4.8
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
as Brother Juniper
1944
6.0
Hi'ya, Sailor
as Bob Jackson
1943
6.0
So's Your Uncle
as Steve Curtis aka Uncle John
1943
5.0
Watch on the Rhine
as David Farrelly
1943
6.7
Corregidor
as Dr. Michael
1943
3.5
The Gay Sisters
as Penn Sutherland Gaylord
1942
6.5
March On, America!
as Francis Scott Key (archive footage) (uncredited)
1942
4.7
Thru Different Eyes
as Ted Farnsworth
1942
0.0
I Was a Prisoner on Devil's Island
as Joel Grant / Joseph Elmer
1941
0.0
Bachelor Daddy
as Edward Smith
1941
0.0
Sky Raiders
as Captain Bob Dayton
1941
6.3
Mexican Spitfire Out West
as Dennis 'Denny' Lindsay
1940
4.6
🎬
Young America Flies
as John Woodward
1940
0.0
Love, Honor and Oh-Baby!
as Brian McGrath
1940
0.0
If I Had My Way
as Fred Johnson
1940
6.4
Forgotten Girls
as Dan Donahue
1940
5.0
City of Chance
as Steve Walker
1940
5.2
Mexican Spitfire
as Dennis Lindsay
1940
4.6
Heritage of the Desert
as John Abbott
1939
5.8
The Girl from Mexico
as Dennis Lindsay
1939
4.2
Beauty for the Asking
as Jeffrey Martin
1939
5.7
Danger on the Air
as Benjamin Butts
1938
5.9
Romance on the Run
as Barry Drake
1938
0.0
The Black Doll
as Nick Halstead
1938
5.3
Big Town Girl
as Mark Tracey
1937
6.0
Charlie Chan on Broadway
as Speed Patten, Reporter New York Bulletin
1937
7.0
Talent Scout
as Steve Stewart
1937
6.0
The Case of the Stuttering Bishop
as Perry Mason
1937
6.8
Sea Devils
as Steve Webb
1937
5.7
Once a Doctor
as Steven Brace
1937
6.3
Breakdowns of 1936
as Self
1936
0.0
Isle of Fury
as Eric Blake
1936
5.3
Anthony Adverse
as Vincent Nolte
1936
5.8
A Son Comes Home
as Denny
1936
1.0
🎬
The Song of a Nation
as Francis Scott Key
1936
4.0
The White Angel
as Charles Cooper
1936
8.0
The Making of a Great Motion Picture
1936
5.0
Road Gang
as James 'Jim' Larrabie
1936
6.5
The Story of Louis Pasteur
as Dr. Jean Martel
1936
6.8
A Dream Comes True
as Himself (uncredited)
1935
5.5
A Tale of Two Cities
as Charles Darnay
1935
6.8
Things You Never See on the Screen
as Self
1935
5.0
Frisco Kid
as Charles Ford
1935
6.8
Stranded
as John Wesley
1935
5.8
The Case of the Curious Bride
as Carl
1935
6.0
The Florentine Dagger
as Juan Cesare
1935
5.7
Sweet Adeline
as Sid Barnett
1934
5.7
She Was a Lady
as Tommy Traill
1934
0.0
Charlie Chan's Courage
as Bob Crawford
1934
8.0
Fog Over Frisco
as Tony Sterling
1934
6.2
Merry Wives of Reno
as Frank
1934
4.8
🎬
Hollywood Newsreel
as Himself
1934
4.0
As the Earth Turns
as Stan
1934
5.3
Motorboat Mamas
as Yacht Club Patron (uncredited)
1928
0.0
Motorboat Mamas
as Yacht Club Patron
1928
0.0