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