Frank De Kova
Biography
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.
Known For
The tormentor
The Greatest Story Ever Told
Con Library (uncredited)
Kiss of Death
Angelo "Angie" Corleone (voice)
Heavy Traffic
Evans
The Jayhawkers!
Abiram
The Ten Commandments
Old Vinnie (voice)
Hey Good Lookin'
Dummy
Split Second
The Wiry Man
Holiday for Sinners
Sonoy the Astrologer
Atlantis: The Lost Continent
Crisco (voice)
American Pop
Capiello
The Slams
Albert Ambrose
Crossfire
Nigosh
Those Calloways
Syndicate Chairman
The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond
Prof. Claude Dillon
Shack Out on 101
Harry
Machine-Gun Kelly
Capt. Vrublevski
The Brothers Karamazov
Chief Chattez
Arrowhead
Denver, Bruhn's Gang
Day of the Outlaw
Dutch Hayden
Appointment with a Shadow
Old Baba
The Sword of Ali Baba
Ali Nur
King of the Khyber Rifles
Padre
The Man from Laramie
Big Tony (as Frank deKova)
Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes
White Eagle
Johnny Firecloud
Giunta
The Don Is Dead
Captain Romero
Raiders of the Seven Seas
The Black-Bearded One
Teenage Cave Man
Chief Red Hawk
The Lone Ranger
Zachariah
Pillars of the Sky
Modoc Jim
Drum Beat
Yellow Elk
The White Squaw
Brave Scout
Johnny Moccasin
Moleface (uncredited)
The Big Sky
Charlie Washackle
Reprisal!
Jingo
Santiago
Benedetto
Fighter Attack
Mindar
The Desert Song
Stevenson
All the Brothers Were Valiant
Priest
Hold Back Tomorrow
Alcaide
Cowboy
Rachid Khan
Cat in the Cage
Anse Hatlo
Strange Lady in Town
Jack (as Frank de Kova)
Follow That Dream
Isatai
They Rode West
Martinez (as Frank de Kova)
Passion
Red Cloud (as Frank De Kova)
Run of the Arrow
Chief Yellow Wolf
Ride Out for Revenge
Lugo (as Frank deKova)
Apache Territory
Two Dog
The Wild Country
Rupolo
Mafia on the Bounty
The Man
The Mechanic
Narrator (voice)
The Legend of the Boy and the Eagle
Managan (voice) / Ruby (voice) (uncredited)
Coonskin
Egyptian Official
Not One Shall Die
Akmed Salah (uncredited)
Valley of the Kings
The Man
Frasier, the Sensuous Lion
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
57
Gender
Male
Birthday
1910-03-17
Place of Birth
New York City, New York, USA
Also Known As
Frank DeKova