Donald Woods, born Ralph Lewis Zink on December 2, 1906, was a Canadian-American film and television actor whose six-decade-long career in Hollywood spanned from 1928 to 1976.
Born in Brandon, Manitoba, Woods moved to California with his family and was raised in Burbank, the son of William and Margaret Zink, who were Presbyterians of German descent. His younger brother, Clarence Russell Zink, also became an actor, known professionally as Russ Conway.
Woods graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and made his film debut in 1928. He spent most of his screen career in B movies, playing roles such as Perry Mason in the 1937 film The Case of the Stuttering Bishop. He also appeared in major films like A Tale of Two Cities, Anthony Adverse, Watch on the Rhine, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, and Roughly Speaking.
Woods' acting career was significantly influenced by his work with the Elitch Gardens Theatre Company in Denver, Colorado, where he performed in six seasons from 1932 to 1948.
In the early days of television, Woods starred as the title character in the 1951 syndicated TV series Craig Kennedy, Criminologist, and hosted the Damon Runyon Theater on CBS-TV. He also appeared in various anthology series, including The Philco Television Playhouse, Armstrong Circle Theatre, Robert Montgomery Presents, The United States Steel Hour, Crossroads, and General Electric Theater.
Woods made guest appearances on numerous TV shows, including 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, before retiring from acting in 1976.
In addition to his acting career, Woods worked as a successful real estate broker in Palm Springs, where he lived with his wife, Josephine Van der Horck, whom he married in 1933. They had two children, Linda and Conrad, and Woods was interred at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cathedral City, California, after his death on March 5, 1998.
