Frank De Kova
Born March 17, 1910 (Age: 116)
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New York City, New York, USA
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.
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.
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Filmography
American Pop
1981
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as Crisco (voice)
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Age: 70
Mafia on the Bounty
1980
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as Rupolo
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Age: 69
Cat in the Cage
1978
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as Rachid Khan
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Age: 68
Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes
1974
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as Big Tony (as Frank deKova)
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Age: 64
The Don Is Dead
1973
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as Giunta
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Age: 63
The Slams
1973
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as Capiello
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Age: 63
Heavy Traffic
1973
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as Angelo "Angie" Corleone (voice)
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Age: 63
Frasier, the Sensuous Lion
1973
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as The Man
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Age: 63
The Greatest Story Ever Told
1965
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as The tormentor
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Age: 55
The Sword of Ali Baba
1965
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as Old Baba
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Age: 55
Those Calloways
1964
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as Nigosh
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Age: 54
Follow That Dream
1962
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as Jack (as Frank de Kova)
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Age: 52
Atlantis: The Lost Continent
1961
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as Sonoy the Astrologer
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Age: 51
The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond
1960
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as Syndicate Chairman
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Age: 49
The Jayhawkers!
1959
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as Evans
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Age: 49
Day of the Outlaw
1959
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as Denver, Bruhn's Gang
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Age: 49
Apache Territory
1958
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as Lugo (as Frank deKova)
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Age: 48
Teenage Cave Man
1958
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as The Black-Bearded One
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Age: 48
Machine-Gun Kelly
1958
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as Harry
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Age: 48
The Brothers Karamazov
1958
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as Capt. Vrublevski
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Age: 47
Cowboy
1958
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as Alcaide
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Age: 47
Reprisal!
1956
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as Charlie Washackle
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Age: 46
The White Squaw
1956
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as Yellow Elk
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Age: 46
The Ten Commandments
1956
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as Abiram
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Age: 46
Pillars of the Sky
1956
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as Zachariah
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Age: 46
Santiago
1956
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as Jingo
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Age: 46
No Image
Johnny Moccasin
1956
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as Brave Scout
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Age: 46
The Lone Ranger
1956
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as Chief Red Hawk
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Age: 45
Shack Out on 101
1955
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as Prof. Claude Dillon
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Age: 45
Hold Back Tomorrow
1955
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as Priest
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Age: 45
The Man from Laramie
1955
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as Padre
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Age: 45
Strange Lady in Town
1955
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as Anse Hatlo
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Age: 45
They Rode West
1954
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as Isatai
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Age: 44
Drum Beat
1954
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as Modoc Jim
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Age: 44
Passion
1954
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as Martinez (as Frank de Kova)
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Age: 44
Valley of the Kings
1954
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as Akmed Salah (uncredited)
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Age: 44
King of the Khyber Rifles
1953
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as Ali Nur
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Age: 43
Fighter Attack
1953
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as Benedetto
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Age: 43
All the Brothers Were Valiant
1953
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as Stevenson
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Age: 43
Arrowhead
1953
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as Chief Chattez
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Age: 43
The Desert Song
1953
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as Mindar
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Age: 43
Raiders of the Seven Seas
1953
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as Captain Romero
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Age: 43
Split Second
1953
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as Dummy
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Age: 43