Donald Woods

Donald Woods was a Canadian-American actor who worked in film and television for six decades. He was born in Manitoba and grew up in California, then earned his degree at the University of California, Berkeley before starting out in West Coast stock theater. His screen debut came in 1928, and he worked largely in B movies, playing lawyer Perry Mason in The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1937) and romantic leads in the Mexican Spitfire comedies with Lupe Velez. He appeared in bigger features such as A Tale of Two Cities (1935). In 1945 he co-starred in Star in the Night, a Christmas parable whose lead performance drew notice and which won the Academy Award for Best Short Subject. He spent several seasons as a leading man with the Elitch Gardens Theatre Company in Denver. On television he starred in Craig Kennedy, Criminologist, hosted Damon Runyon Theater, and played John Brent on Tammy. He retired from acting in 1976.