Person Details

Birthday: 1906-12-02 01:47:35

Death: 1998-03-05 01:47:35

Aliases: No known aliases

Gender: Male

Place of birth: Brandon, Manitoba, Canada

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 60

TV Involvements: 6


Most Famous Work

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.

Most Famous Work

Wagon Train
Average
6

Wagon Train

(1957) Philip Ayers
The Millionaire
Average
5

The Millionaire

(1955) Cobb Marley
Bat Masterson
Average
6

Bat Masterson

(1958) Roger Purcell
The Rebel
Average
6

The Rebel

(1959) Sam Moss
Thriller
Average
6

Thriller

(1960) Dr. John Carmody
True Grit
Average
7

True Grit

(1969) "Barlow"
13 Ghosts
Average
6

13 Ghosts

(1960) Cyrus Zorba
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
Average
7

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms

(1953) Capt. Jackson

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
1986 Cyrus Zorba in '13 Ghosts'
1973 N/A
1972 N/A
1971 N/A
1969 "Barlow"
Shepherd
1968 Vernon Carter
1967 N/A
John Brent
N/A
1966 Kane
N/A
Mr. Singer
1965 N/A
N/A
1964 General Alvin Donford
1962 N/A
N/A
1961 Kenneth Wilson
N/A
1960 Dr. John Carmody
Cyrus Zorba
N/A
1959 N/A
Sam Moss
N/A
N/A
1958 N/A
Roger Purcell
1957 Philip Ayers
N/A
1955 Robert
N/A
Cobb Marley
1954 N/A
N/A
N/A
1953 N/A
Capt. Jackson
Matt Daggett
N/A
Norman Frost Bennett
John Mohler Studebaker
1952 Craig Kennedy
Craig Kennedy
1951 Kirby Sinclair
Pastor William Goodwin
1950 Tippy Carpenter
Paul Gordon
Vet
N/A
1949 Maj. Tom Blake
Roger Abernathy
Bob Herkimer
Commissioner Ralph C. Connors
1948 N/A
1947 Father Matthew
Ken Bullock
Michael 'Gringo' O'Brien
1946 Martin Drew
Rex DeVallon
Henry
Ward Blackburn
N/A
1945 Hitchhiker
Rodney Crane
Monte Rossen
1944 Self
Dr. Hans Traeger, MD
Brother Juniper
1943 Bob Jackson
Steve Curtis aka Uncle John
David Farrelly
Dr. Michael
1942 Penn Sutherland Gaylord
Francis Scott Key (archive footage) (uncredited)
Ted Farnsworth
1941 Joel Grant / Joseph Elmer
Edward Smith
Captain Bob Dayton
1940 Dennis 'Denny' Lindsay
John Woodward
Brian McGrath
Fred Johnson
Dan Donahue
Steve Walker
Dennis Lindsay
1939 John Abbott
Dennis Lindsay
Jeffrey Martin
1938 Benjamin Butts
Barry Drake
Nick Halstead
1937 Mark Tracey
Speed Patten, Reporter New York Bulletin
Steve Stewart
Perry Mason
Steve Webb
Steven Brace
1936 Self
Eric Blake
Vincent Nolte
N/A
Francis Scott Key
Charles Cooper
N/A
James 'Jim' Larrabie
Dr. Jean Martel
1935 Himself (uncredited)
Charles Darnay
Self
Charles Ford
John Wesley
Carl
Juan Cesare
1934 Sid Barnett
Tommy Traill
Bob Crawford
Tony Sterling
Frank
Himself
Stan
1928 Yacht Club Patron (uncredited)
Year Character Movie/Tv

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