Frank De Kova
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- March 17, 1910
- Died
- October 15, 1981
- Birthplace
- New York City, New York, USA
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.
Filmography
Hey Good Lookin' 1982
as Old Vinnie (voice)
American Pop 1981
as Crisco (voice)
Mafia on the Bounty 1980
as Rupolo
Cat in the Cage 1978
as Rachid Khan
Coonskin 1975
as Managan (voice) / Ruby (voice) (uncredited)
Johnny Firecloud 1975
as White Eagle
Crossfire 1975
as Albert Ambrose
Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes 1974
as Big Tony (as Frank deKova)
The Don Is Dead 1973
as Giunta
The Slams 1973
as Capiello
Heavy Traffic 1973
as Angelo "Angie" Corleone (voice)
Frasier, the Sensuous Lion 1973
as The Man
The Mechanic 1972
as The Man
The Wild Country 1970
as Two Dog
The Legend of the Boy and the Eagle 1967
as Narrator (voice)
The Greatest Story Ever Told 1965
as The tormentor
The Sword of Ali Baba 1965
as Old Baba
Those Calloways 1964
as Nigosh
Follow That Dream 1962
as Jack (as Frank de Kova)
Atlantis: The Lost Continent 1961
as Sonoy the Astrologer
The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond 1960
as Syndicate Chairman
The Jayhawkers! 1959
as Evans
Day of the Outlaw 1959
as Denver, Bruhn's Gang
Apache Territory 1958
as Lugo (as Frank deKova)
Teenage Cave Man 1958
as The Black-Bearded One
Machine-Gun Kelly 1958
as Harry
The Brothers Karamazov 1958
as Capt. Vrublevski
Cowboy 1958
as Alcaide
Ride Out for Revenge 1957
as Chief Yellow Wolf
Run of the Arrow 1957
as Red Cloud (as Frank De Kova)
Appointment with a Shadow 1957
as Dutch Hayden
Not One Shall Die 1957
as Egyptian Official
The Ten Commandments 1956
as Abiram
Reprisal! 1956
as Charlie Washackle
The White Squaw 1956
as Yellow Elk
Pillars of the Sky 1956
as Zachariah
Santiago 1956
as Jingo
- Johnny Moccasin
Johnny Moccasin 1956
as Brave Scout
The Lone Ranger 1956
as Chief Red Hawk
Shack Out on 101 1955
as Prof. Claude Dillon
Hold Back Tomorrow 1955
as Priest
The Man from Laramie 1955
as Padre
Strange Lady in Town 1955
as Anse Hatlo
They Rode West 1954
as Isatai
Drum Beat 1954
as Modoc Jim
Passion 1954
as Martinez (as Frank de Kova)
Valley of the Kings 1954
as Akmed Salah (uncredited)
King of the Khyber Rifles 1953
as Ali Nur
Fighter Attack 1953
as Benedetto
All the Brothers Were Valiant 1953
as Stevenson
Arrowhead 1953
as Chief Chattez
The Desert Song 1953
as Mindar
Raiders of the Seven Seas 1953
as Captain Romero
Split Second 1953
as Dummy
The Big Sky 1952
as Moleface (uncredited)
Holiday for Sinners 1952
as The Wiry Man
Viva Zapata! 1952
as Colonel Guajardo
Kiss of Death 1947
as Con Library (uncredited)
Credits from TMDB.