Donald Woods

Who was Donald Woods?

Donald Woods was a Canadian-born American film and television actor whose career spanned six decades.

Born Ralph L. Zink in Brandon, Manitoba, Woods moved with his family to California and was raised in Burbank. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and made his film debut in 1928. His screen career was spent mostly in B movies, although he occasionally scored a role in a prestige feature film like A Tale of Two Cities, Anthony Adverse, Watch on the Rhine, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, and Roughly Speaking.

Of most importance to his acting career were several seasons as Leading Man with the Elitch Gardens Theatre Company in Denver, Colorado. He performed at the Elitch Theatre in 1933, 1932, 1939, 1941, 1947, and 1948.

In the early days of television, Woods appeared in Craig Kennedy, Criminologist, and 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 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, 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.