- Born
- Died
- Birth nameRalph Lewis Zink
- Height6′ (1.83 m)
- Donald Woods, a prolific cinema and television character actor whose career spanned 75 films and 150 TV programs over 40 years, was born Ralph L. Zink on December 2, 1906, in Brandon, Manitoba. (He legally changed his name to Donald Woods in 1945.) His family eventually departed Canada for California, and young Ralph was raised in Burbank. He became an actor after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley.
The self-described "King of the Bs" made his reputation playing in low-budget, B-unit westerns and mysteries, and later was a popular guest actor on TV programs, including western shows such as Wagon Train (1957). He also appeared in nearly 100 stage productions and was busy on the radio. In the 1950s, Woods hosted two TV series, The Orchid Award (1953) and Hotel Cosmopolitan (1957) and was a regular on the series Tammy (1965).
After his acting career was over, Donald Woods established himself as a successful real estate broker in Palm Springs, California. It was there that he died on March 5, 1998, at the age of 91.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Jon C. Hopwood
- SpouseJosephine Vander Horck(November 1, 1927 - March 5, 1998) (his death, 2 children)
- RelativesRuss Conway(Sibling)
- Wife Jo was his college sweetheart. They were the parents of two: Linda and Conrad. Conrad became a tennis pro and modern painter.
- Pleasant, boyish leading man of the 1930s who later moved into mature character roles. Played Perry Mason in one of a series of Warner Brothers B pictures.
- Appeared in four Oscar Best Picture nominees: A Tale of Two Cities (1935), The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936), Anthony Adverse (1936) and Watch on the Rhine (1943).
- Brother of actor Russ Conway (Russell Clarence Zink).
- I try to do at least one play per year whatever else I'm doing--such as selling $300,000 worth of real estate in Palm Springs.
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