Donald Woods (actor)

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Donald Woods
in Sea Devils (1937)
Born
Ralph Lewis Zink

(1906-12-02)December 2, 1906
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
DiedMarch 5, 1998(1998-03-05) (aged 91)
Palm Springs, California, U.S.
Resting placeForest Lawn Cemetery (Cathedral City)
OccupationActor
Spouse
Josephine Van der Horck
​
​
(m. 1933)​
Children2
RelativesRuss Conway (brother)

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.

Life and career

Woods was born in Brandon, Manitoba, and moved with his family to California, where he was raised in Burbank. His parents were William and Margaret Zink, Presbyterians of German descent. His younger brother, Clarence Russell Zink, also became an actor (Russ Conway).[1]

Woods graduated from the

Lupe Velez
.

He also occasionally played major roles in bigger

Academy Award
.

Of considerable importance to Donald Woods's acting career were several seasons as leading man with the

Denver, Colorado, where he performed in 1932, 1933, 1939, 1941, 1947, and 1948.[citation needed
]

In the early days of television, Woods starred in "It's Only a Game", the October 17, 1950, episode of Armstrong Circle Theatre.[2] He starred as the title character in the 1951 syndicated TV series Craig Kennedy, Criminologist,[3] and he was the host of Damon Runyon Theater on CBS-TV.[3]: 230  He played himself on the dramatic series Hotel Cosmopolitan, also on CBS[3]: 479 , and he was one of three hosts of The Orchid Award on ABC-TV.[3]: 795  He portrayed Walter Manning on Portia Faces Life on CBS.[3]: 847 

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 "Professor 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 Landfield 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 in a hangman's noose.[4]

Woods later was a regular in the role of John Brent on the short-lived series

Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law, among many others before retiring from acting in 1976.[citation needed
]

Besides his film career, he also worked as a successful

Palm Springs, California, 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. [5] He was interred at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cathedral City, California.[6]

Partial filmography

Woods in Anthony Adverse (1936)
Woods in The White Angel (1936)

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1972
Alias Smith and Jones
 Halberstam S2:E19, "The Biggest Game in the West"

References

  1. ISBN 9781476625997
    . Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  2. Newspapers.com
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7
    .
  4. ^ "Laramie: Two for the Gallows". Internet Movie Data Base. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
  5. ^ "Donald Woods; Prolific Actor in Movies and TV Shows". Los Angeles Times. 25 April 1998.
  6. OCLC 70284362
    .
  7. ^ Jordan, Joe (30 June 2014). Showmanship: The Cinema of William Castle. BearManor Media. pp. 231–. GGKEY:7X0U2FR3T69.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Donald Woods.
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