1910-03-17 New York City, New York, USA
Frank DeKova parlayed a sinister scowl, piercing eyes and an all-around menacing attitude into a long career of playing cold-blooded trigger-men, rampaging Indian chiefs, brutal Mexican army officers and the like. So it would probably come as a shock to those who know his work to discover that, before he became an actor, he was--of all things--a schoolteacher. Born in New York in 1910, DeKova gave up teaching for the stage, and played in many Shakespearean productions before getting work on Broadway. One of his first starring roles was in the classic detective play "Detective Story", which got him noticed and brought to Hollywood. He debuted in Viva Zapata! (1952) as the devious Mexican colonel who sets up Zapata's assassination. For the next several years he played an assortment of gangsters, killers, gunfighters and Indians--with time out to play a prehistoric patriarch in Roger Corman's campy Teenage Cave Man (1958)--and did much television work, including a standout job as a Mafia hit-man assigned to kill Elliot Ness in Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse: The Untouchables: Part 1 (1959). The role for which he will be most remembered, however, is probably the one that was his most atypical: the scheming, somewhat untrustworthy but very funny Hekawi Chief Wild Eagle, the partner to Forrest Tucker's Sgt. O'Rourke in O'Rourke's various schemes to make money, in the western comedy series F Troop (1965). He showed a previously unknown talent for comedy and managed to steal most of the scenes he was in from such veterans as Tucker and Larry Storch. He died in his sleep in 1981.
 |
Hey Good Lookin' | Old Vinnie (voice) | 1982-10-01 |
 |
American Pop | Crisco (voice) | 1981-02-13 |
 |
Mafia on the Bounty | Rupolo | 1980-03-07 |
 |
Cat in the Cage | Rachid Khan | 1978-08-02 |
 |
Crossfire | Albert Ambrose | 1975-03-24 |
 |
Coonskin | Managan (voice) / Ruby (voice) (uncredited) | 1975-08-20 |
 |
Johnny Firecloud | White Eagle | 1975-08-01 |
 |
Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes | Big Tony (as Frank deKova) | 1974-11-01 |
 |
The Don Is Dead | Giunta | 1973-11-14 |
 |
Frasier, the Sensuous Lion | The Man | 1973-06-19 |
 |
Heavy Traffic | Angelo "Angie" Corleone (voice) | 1973-08-08 |
 |
The Slams | Capiello | 1973-09-26 |
 |
The Mechanic | The Man | 1972-10-06 |
 |
The Wild Country | Two Dog | 1970-12-16 |
 |
The Legend of the Boy and the Eagle | Narrator (voice) | 1967-06-21 |
 |
The Greatest Story Ever Told | The tormentor | 1965-04-09 |
 |
The Sword of Ali Baba | Old Baba | 1965-04-01 |
 |
Those Calloways | Nigosh | 1965-01-28 |
 |
Follow That Dream | Jack (as Frank de Kova) | 1962-04-11 |
 |
Atlantis: The Lost Continent | Sonoy the Astrologer | 1961-05-03 |
 |
The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond | Syndicate Chairman | 1960-02-03 |
 |
Day of the Outlaw | Denver, Bruhn's Gang | 1959-07-01 |
 |
The Jayhawkers! | Evans | 1959-10-15 |
 |
Teenage Cave Man | The Black-Bearded One | 1958-07-01 |
 |
Cowboy | Alcaide | 1958-01-23 |
 |
The Brothers Karamazov | Capt. Vrublevski | 1958-02-20 |
 |
Machine-Gun Kelly | Harry | 1958-05-01 |
 |
Apache Territory | Lugo (as Frank deKova) | 1958-09-01 |
 |
Not One Shall Die | Egyptian Official | 1957-01-01 |
 |
Ride Out for Revenge | Chief Yellow Wolf | 1957-10-31 |
 |
Appointment with a Shadow | Dutch Hayden | 1957-09-01 |
 |
Run of the Arrow | Red Cloud (as Frank De Kova) | 1957-09-05 |
 |
Santiago | Jingo | 1956-07-13 |
 |
Reprisal! | Charlie Washackle | 1956-11-02 |
 |
The Lone Ranger | Chief Red Hawk | 1956-02-25 |
 |
Johnny Moccasin | Brave Scout | 1956-06-06 |
 |
Pillars of the Sky | Zachariah | 1956-09-14 |
 |
The Ten Commandments | Abiram | 1956-10-05 |
 |
The White Squaw | Yellow Elk | 1956-11-01 |
 |
The Man from Laramie | Padre | 1955-08-19 |
 |
Strange Lady in Town | Anse Hatlo | 1955-04-12 |
 |
Hold Back Tomorrow | Priest | 1955-11-01 |
 |
Shack Out on 101 | Prof. Claude Dillon | 1955-12-04 |
 |
Valley of the Kings | Akmed Salah (uncredited) | 1954-07-21 |
 |
Passion | Martinez (as Frank de Kova) | 1954-10-06 |
 |
Drum Beat | Modoc Jim | 1954-11-10 |
 |
They Rode West | Isatai | 1954-12-04 |
 |
The Desert Song | Mindar | 1953-05-30 |
 |
Split Second | Dummy | 1953-05-02 |
 |
Fighter Attack | Benedetto | 1953-11-29 |
 |
All the Brothers Were Valiant | Stevenson | 1953-11-13 |
 |
Arrowhead | Chief Chattez | 1953-08-03 |
 |
Raiders of the Seven Seas | Captain Romero | 1953-05-27 |
 |
King of the Khyber Rifles | Ali Nur | 1953-12-23 |
 |
Holiday for Sinners | The Wiry Man | 1952-07-25 |
 |
The Big Sky | Moleface (uncredited) | 1952-08-19 |
 |
Kiss of Death | Con Library (uncredited) | 1947-08-27 |
