Ira David Wood III (born November 19, 1947) is an American actor, author, singer, theater director and playwright.
He is a son of Bettie Lee (Winstead), a nurse, and Ira David Wood, Jr.[1] He is a graduate of The North Carolina School of the Arts, having attended between 1965 and 1970.
He had a minor role in Douglas Trumbull's science fiction drama Brainstorm (1983) alongside Natalie Wood and Christopher Walken.
He wrote and directed the Opening Ceremonies for the U.S. Olympic Festival in 1987 – the largest single athletic event in the history of North Carolina.
On September 28, 2011, just prior to the 50th anniversary of the death of Kennedy, Wood's original JFK Assassination Chronology was updated and released as an e-Book edited by Bernard Wilds.
In 2013, Wood became Artistic Director for the North Carolina outdoor drama The Lost Colony, winning a Tony award for Excellence in Theater.
Wood is best known for conceiving, producing, directing, and headlining (as Scrooge) a popular musical comedy adaptation of A Christmas Carol that has been performed annually in Raleigh—and, more recently, in nearby Durham—since 1974.