Frank De Kova
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.
Photos
Movies (57)
Hey Good Lookin'
1982 · Old Vinnie (voice)
American Pop
1981 · Crisco (voice)
Mafia on the Bounty
1980 · Rupolo
Cat in the Cage
1978 · Rachid Khan
Coonskin
1975 · Managan (voice) / Ruby (voice) (uncredited)
Johnny Firecloud
1975 · White Eagle
Crossfire
1975 · Albert Ambrose
Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes
1974 · Big Tony (as Frank deKova)
The Don Is Dead
1973 · Giunta
The Slams
1973 · Capiello
Heavy Traffic
1973 · Angelo "Angie" Corleone (voice)
Frasier, the Sensuous Lion
1973 · The Man
The Mechanic
1972 · The Man
The Wild Country
1970 · Two Dog
The Legend of the Boy and the Eagle
1967 · Narrator (voice)
The Greatest Story Ever Told
1965 · The tormentor
The Sword of Ali Baba
1965 · Old Baba
Those Calloways
1964 · Nigosh
Follow That Dream
1962 · Jack (as Frank de Kova)
Atlantis: The Lost Continent
1961 · Sonoy the Astrologer
The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond
1960 · Syndicate Chairman
The Jayhawkers!
1959 · Evans
Day of the Outlaw
1959 · Denver, Bruhn's Gang
Apache Territory
1958 · Lugo (as Frank deKova)
Teenage Cave Man
1958 · The Black-Bearded One
Machine-Gun Kelly
1958 · Harry
The Brothers Karamazov
1958 · Capt. Vrublevski
Cowboy
1958 · Alcaide
Ride Out for Revenge
1957 · Chief Yellow Wolf
Run of the Arrow
1957 · Red Cloud (as Frank De Kova)
Appointment with a Shadow
1957 · Dutch Hayden
Not One Shall Die
1957 · Egyptian Official
The Ten Commandments
1956 · Abiram
Reprisal!
1956 · Charlie Washackle
The White Squaw
1956 · Yellow Elk
Pillars of the Sky
1956 · Zachariah
Santiago
1956 · Jingo
Johnny Moccasin
1956 · Brave Scout
The Lone Ranger
1956 · Chief Red Hawk
Shack Out on 101
1955 · Prof. Claude Dillon
Hold Back Tomorrow
1955 · Priest
The Man from Laramie
1955 · Padre
Strange Lady in Town
1955 · Anse Hatlo
They Rode West
1954 · Isatai
Drum Beat
1954 · Modoc Jim
Passion
1954 · Martinez (as Frank de Kova)
Valley of the Kings
1954 · Akmed Salah (uncredited)
King of the Khyber Rifles
1953 · Ali Nur
Fighter Attack
1953 · Benedetto
All the Brothers Were Valiant
1953 · Stevenson
Arrowhead
1953 · Chief Chattez
The Desert Song
1953 · Mindar
Raiders of the Seven Seas
1953 · Captain Romero
Split Second
1953 · Dummy
The Big Sky
1952 · Moleface (uncredited)
Holiday for Sinners
1952 · The Wiry Man
Kiss of Death
1947 · Con Library (uncredited)
TV shows (59)
The Incredible Hulk
1977
The Swiss Family Robinson
1975
Baretta
1975
The Rockford Files
1974 · Nova
Police Woman
1974 · Vito Angelo
Little House on the Prairie
1974 · Chief Kilowatt
Run, Joe, Run
1974
Toma
1973
Police Story
1973
Cannon
1971
Love, American Style
1969
Hawaii Five-O
1969 · Phil Kalama
It Takes a Thief
1968 · Gen. Tashkov
The High Chaparral
1967 · Aguirre
The F.B.I.
1965 · Faber, Dracus
F Troop
1965 · Chief Wild Eagle, Wild Eagle
Daniel Boone
1964 · Talakum, Saugus
Kraft Suspense Theatre
1963 · Edward
The Greatest Show on Earth
1963 · Joseph
The Dakotas
1963
The Gallant Men
1962
Ben Casey
1961
Gunslinger
1961 · Don Ignacio Alesandro
The Roaring 20's
1960
Route 66
1960
Surfside 6
1960 · Stinger
The Islanders
1960 · Carlos Roca
Outlaws
1960
Thriller
1960 · Lieutenant Vincoli
The Tall Man
1960
The Detectives
1959 · Nordoff
The Untouchables
1959 · Louis 'Little New York' Campagna, Anthony 'Tough Tony' Lamberto, Louis Campagne, Louie Campagna, The Man, Bugs Donovan
Hawaiian Eye
1959 · Pete Dailey
The Alaskans
1959
The Rebel
1959 · Richard Aloysius Sturgis
The Third Man
1959 · Arlatti, Juan Rodriguez
Laramie
1959 · Tah-Za
The Deputy
1959 · Cowan
The Troubleshooters
1959 · Nadi
Johnny Staccato
1959
The Lawless Years
1959
Black Saddle
1959 · Calderon
Rawhide
1959 · Chief Tawyawp, Villegro
77 Sunset Strip
1958 · Jack Bent, Jerry Gordon, Dino Malatesta
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
1958 · Jimmy Napoli
Lawman
1958 · Jed Barker
The Rifleman
1958 · Chief Hostay
Peter Gunn
1958
The Walter Winchell File
1957 · Stefan
The Californians
1957 · Ug-A-Mug
Maverick
1957
Wagon Train
1957 · Obuki, Isaiah Quickfox, Ocheo, True Oak, Indian Chief
Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans
1957 · Ottawa Chief
Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers
1956
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
1955 · Pedro, Senor Vargas
Cheyenne
1955 · Spotted Bull, Sitting Bull, Dull Knife, Chief Johnny Cake, War Cloud, Red Knife
Gunsmoke
1955 · Tobeel, Mulligan Rives, Leader
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
1954
Martin Kane, Private Eye
1949 · Thomas Randall