Frank De Kova
ActingFrank 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.
Known For
The Ten Commandments
Abiram
The Greatest Story Ever Told
The tormentor
American Pop
Crisco (voice)
The Mechanic
The Man
Cowboy
Alcaide
Kiss of Death
Con Library (uncredited)
Coonskin
Managan (voice) / Ruby (voice) (uncredited)
The Big Sky
Moleface (uncredited)
Pillars of the Sky
Zachariah
The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond
Syndicate Chairman
Filmography — Acting
The Ten Commandments
Abiram
The Greatest Story Ever Told
The tormentor
American Pop
Crisco (voice)
The Mechanic
The Man
Cowboy
Alcaide
Kiss of Death
Con Library (uncredited)
Coonskin
Managan (voice) / Ruby (voice) (uncredited)
The Big Sky
Moleface (uncredited)
Pillars of the Sky
Zachariah
The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond
Syndicate Chairman
Atlantis: The Lost Continent
Sonoy the Astrologer
Hey Good Lookin'
Old Vinnie (voice)
The Lone Ranger
Chief Red Hawk
The Brothers Karamazov
Capt. Vrublevski
Arrowhead
Chief Chattez
Drum Beat
Modoc Jim
The Man from Laramie
Padre
Day of the Outlaw
Denver, Bruhn's Gang
Those Calloways
Nigosh
Heavy Traffic
Angelo "Angie" Corleone (voice)
King of the Khyber Rifles
Ali Nur
The Don Is Dead
Giunta
Run of the Arrow
Red Cloud (as Frank De Kova)
Valley of the Kings
Akmed Salah (uncredited)
Ride Out for Revenge
Chief Yellow Wolf
The Slams
Capiello
The Wild Country
Two Dog
Strange Lady in Town
Anse Hatlo
They Rode West
Isatai
Santiago
Jingo
Passion
Martinez (as Frank de Kova)
The Jayhawkers!
Evans
Teenage Cave Man
The Black-Bearded One
The Desert Song
Mindar
Crossfire
Albert Ambrose
Apache Territory
Lugo (as Frank deKova)
Cat in the Cage
Rachid Khan
Machine-Gun Kelly
Harry
Split Second
Dummy
Reprisal!
Charlie Washackle
Johnny Moccasin
Brave Scout
Follow That Dream
Jack (as Frank de Kova)
All the Brothers Were Valiant
Stevenson
Fighter Attack
Benedetto
Appointment with a Shadow
Dutch Hayden
Not One Shall Die
Egyptian Official
Raiders of the Seven Seas
Captain Romero
The White Squaw
Yellow Elk
Hold Back Tomorrow
Priest
The Sword of Ali Baba
Old Baba
Johnny Firecloud
White Eagle
Shack Out on 101
Prof. Claude Dillon
Frasier, the Sensuous Lion
The Man
The Legend of the Boy and the Eagle
Narrator (voice)
Holiday for Sinners
The Wiry Man
Mafia on the Bounty
Rupolo
Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes
Big Tony (as Frank deKova)