Donald Woods (actor)

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Donald Woods (born December 2, 1906 in Brandon , Manitoba as Ralph L. Zink , † March 5, 1998 in Palm Springs ) was a Canadian - American actor .

Life

Donald Woods was a native Canadian with German roots and made his first film in 1928. Only six years later - after gaining experience in the theater for a few years - he made his second film. He quickly made a breakthrough and received leading roles, including alongside Bette Davis in William Dieterle's crime film Nebel über Frisco (1934). For most of his career, the dark-haired, handsome actor had to be content with leading roles in now largely forgotten B-films . Occasionally, mainly in the early stages of his career, he also played mostly boyish roles in larger films: In the Dickens film adaptation of Escape from Paris (1935), Woods played a major supporting role as the aristocratic lover of Elizabeth Allan ; he also played in A restless life (1936) alongside Olivia de Havilland and Frederic March, a banker and friend of March's character. He also had a bigger role in the war film Watch on the Rhine (1943).

In the 1940s he played in numerous B-Westerns, he once described himself as the King of the B-Movies . From the 1950s he was a regular television actor, including in series such as Bonanza , 77 Sunset Strip and Hawaiian Eye . He took on leading roles in the television series Craig Kennedy, Criminologist (1952) and Tammy, the houseboat girl (1965-1966), the latter was also very successful on German television. Woods had one of his last film appearances as Barlow in the western The Marshal alongside John Wayne . It wasn't until 1984 that he ended his acting career after having played in around 140 film and television productions. In later years he worked successfully as a real estate agent in Palm Springs in addition to his film career.

Donald Woods died in California in 1998 at the age of 91. He and his childhood sweetheart Josephine von der Horck had been married for 66 years from 1933 until his death. They had two children. The actor was buried in the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cathedral City .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : Donald Woods  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Donald Woods at Find A Grave
personal data
SURNAME Woods, Donald
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zinc, Ralph L.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH December 2, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Brandon , Manitoba , Canada
DATE OF DEATH March 5, 1998
Place of death Palm Springs , USA