Frank De Kova
Acting
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.
Born: March 17, 1910
Place of Birth: New York City, New York, USA
Known For
Filmography
as Old Vinnie (voice)
as Crisco (voice)
as Rupolo
as Rachid Khan
as Managan (voice) / Ruby (voice) (uncredited)
as White Eagle
as Albert Ambrose
as Big Tony (as Frank deKova)
as Nova (as Frank De Kova)
as Vito Angelo
as Giunta
as Capiello
as Angelo "Angie" Corleone (voice)
as The Man
as The Man
as Two Dog
as Phil Kalama
as Aguirre
as Narrator (voice)
as Faber
as Dracus
as Chief Wild Eagle
as Wild Eagle
as The tormentor
as Old Baba
as Nigosh
as Talakum
as Saugus
as Edward
as Jack (as Frank de Kova)
as Sonoy the Astrologer
as Stinger
as Carlos Roca
as Lieutenant Vincoli
as Syndicate Chairman
as Nordoff
as Louis 'Little New York' Campagna
as Anthony 'Tough Tony' Lamberto
as Louis Campagne
as Louie Campagna
as The Man
as Bugs Donovan
as Evans
as Pete Dailey
as Richard Aloysius Sturgis
as Arlatti
as Juan Rodriguez
as Tah-Za
as Cowan
as Nadi
as Denver, Bruhn's Gang
as Calderon
as Chief Tawyawp
as Jack Bent
as Jerry Gordon
as Dino Malatesta
as Jimmy Napoli
as Jed Barker
as Chief Hostay
as Lugo (as Frank deKova)
as The Black-Bearded One
as Harry
as Capt. Vrublevski
as Alcaide
as Chief Yellow Wolf
as Stefan
as Obuki
as Isaiah Quickfox
as Ocheo
as True Oak
as Red Cloud (as Frank De Kova)
as Dutch Hayden
as Ottawa Chief
as Egyptian Official
as Charlie Washackle
as Yellow Elk
as Abiram
as Zachariah
as Jingo
as Chief Red Hawk
as Prof. Claude Dillon
as Priest
as Pedro
as Senor Vargas
as Spotted Bull
as Sitting Bull
as Dull Knife
as Chief Johnny Cake
as War Cloud
as Tobeel
as Mulligan Rives
as Leader
as Padre
as Anse Hatlo
as Isatai
as Modoc Jim
as Martinez (as Frank de Kova)
as Akmed Salah (uncredited)
as Ali Nur
as Benedetto
as Stevenson
as Chief Chattez
as Mindar
as Captain Romero
as Dummy
as Moleface (uncredited)
as The Wiry Man
as Thomas Randall
as Con Library (uncredited)