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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
March 17, 1910
Died
October 15, 1981
Place of Birth
New York City, New York, USA
Also Known As
- Frank DeKova
Frank De Kova
0.9 Popularity
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.
Known For
5.6
Old Vinnie (voice)
Hey Good Lookin'
1982
6.9
Crisco (voice)
American Pop
1981
1.0
Rupolo
Mafia on the Bounty
1980
2.8
Rachid Khan
Cat in the Cage
1978
7.2
The Incredible Hulk
1977
6.4
The Swiss Family Robinson
1975
6.0
Managan (voice) / Ruby (voice) (uncredited)
Coonskin
1975
5.4
White Eagle
Johnny Firecloud
1975
0.0
Albert Ambrose
Crossfire
1975
6.3
Baretta
1975
Credits
Hey Good Lookin'
as Old Vinnie (voice)
1982
5.6
American Pop
as Crisco (voice)
1981
6.9
Mafia on the Bounty
as Rupolo
1980
1.0
Cat in the Cage
as Rachid Khan
1978
2.8
The Incredible Hulk
1977
7.2
The Swiss Family Robinson
1975
6.4
Coonskin
as Managan (voice) / Ruby (voice) (uncredited)
1975
6.0
Johnny Firecloud
as White Eagle
1975
5.4
Crossfire
as Albert Ambrose
1975
0.0
Baretta
1975
6.3
Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes
as Big Tony (as Frank deKova)
1974
3.9
The Rockford Files
as Nova (as Frank De Kova)
1974
7.5
Police Woman
1974
6.2
Police Woman
as Vito Angelo
1974
6.2
Little House on the Prairie
1974
7.9
Run, Joe, Run
1974
6.3
The Don Is Dead
as Giunta
1973
6.0
The Slams
as Capiello
1973
6.2
Heavy Traffic
as Angelo "Angie" Corleone (voice)
1973
6.3
Frasier, the Sensuous Lion
as The Man
1973
5.7
Toma
1973
7.8
Police Story
1973
6.9
The Mechanic
as The Man
1972
6.7
Cannon
1971
6.5
The Wild Country
as Two Dog
1970
6.0
Love, American Style
1969
6.0
Hawaii Five-O
as Phil Kalama
1968
7.1
The High Chaparral
as Aguirre
1967
6.5
The Legend of the Boy and the Eagle
as Narrator (voice)
1967
0.0
The F.B.I.
as Faber
1965
5.5
The F.B.I.
as Dracus
1965
5.5
F Troop
as Chief Wild Eagle
1965
6.2
F Troop
as Wild Eagle
1965
6.2
The Greatest Story Ever Told
as The tormentor
1965
6.4
The Sword of Ali Baba
as Old Baba
1965
5.8
Those Calloways
as Nigosh
1964
6.2
Daniel Boone
as Talakum
1964
6.9
Daniel Boone
as Saugus
1964
6.9
Kraft Suspense Theatre
as Edward
1963
5.3
🎬
The Greatest Show on Earth
1963
5.0
The Dakotas
1963
5.7
The Gallant Men
1962
6.0
Follow That Dream
as Jack (as Frank de Kova)
1962
6.2
Ben Casey
1961
5.6
Atlantis: The Lost Continent
as Sonoy the Astrologer
1961
5.2
The Roaring 20's
1960
0.0
Route 66
1960
6.3
Surfside 6
as Stinger
1960
5.0
The Islanders
as Carlos Roca
1960
8.0
Outlaws
1960
6.2
Thriller
as Lieutenant Vincoli
1960
6.4
The Tall Man
1960
6.3
The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond
as Syndicate Chairman
1960
6.0
The Detectives
as Nordoff
1959
5.6
The Untouchables
as Louis 'Little New York' Campagna
1959
7.9
The Untouchables
as Anthony 'Tough Tony' Lamberto
1959
7.9
The Untouchables
as Louis Campagne
1959
7.9
The Untouchables
as Louie Campagna
1959
7.9
The Untouchables
as The Man
1959
7.9
The Jayhawkers!
as Evans
1959
5.9
Hawaiian Eye
as Pete Dailey
1959
5.2
The Rebel
as Richard Aloysius Sturgis
1959
5.1
The Alaskans
1959
5.5
The Third Man
as Arlatti
1959
6.7
The Third Man
as Juan Rodriguez
1959
6.7
Laramie
1959
6.4
The Deputy
as Cowan
1959
6.2
The Troubleshooters
as Nadi
1959
0.0
Johnny Staccato
1959
5.6
Day of the Outlaw
as Denver, Bruhn's Gang
1959
6.8
The Lawless Years
1959
7.0
Black Saddle
as Calderon
1959
6.0
Rawhide
as Chief Tawyawp
1959
7.2
77 Sunset Strip
as Jack Bent
1958
6.7
77 Sunset Strip
as Jerry Gordon
1958
6.7
77 Sunset Strip
as Dino Malatesta
1958
6.7
The Rifleman
1958
7.0
The Rifleman
as Chief Hostay
1958
7.0
Peter Gunn
1958
6.5
Apache Territory
as Lugo (as Frank deKova)
1958
6.4
Teenage Cave Man
as The Black-Bearded One
1958
3.9
Machine-Gun Kelly
as Harry
1958
5.7
The Brothers Karamazov
as Capt. Vrublevski
1958
6.6
Cowboy
as Alcaide
1958
6.4
Ride Out for Revenge
as Chief Yellow Wolf
1957
5.5
The Walter Winchell File
as Stefan
1957
5.0
Maverick
1957
6.8
Wagon Train
as Obuki
1957
6.3
Wagon Train
as Isaiah Quickfox
1957
6.3
Wagon Train
as Ocheo
1957
6.3
Run of the Arrow
as Red Cloud (as Frank De Kova)
1957
6.2
Appointment with a Shadow
as Dutch Hayden
1957
5.4
Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans
as Ottawa Chief
1957
4.8
Not One Shall Die
as Egyptian Official
1957
0.0
Reprisal!
as Charlie Washackle
1956
7.2
The White Squaw
as Yellow Elk
1956
6.3
Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers
1956
5.0
The Ten Commandments
as Abiram
1956
7.8
Pillars of the Sky
as Zachariah
1956
5.5
Santiago
as Jingo
1956
5.1
🎬
Johnny Moccasin
as Brave Scout
1956
0.0
The Lone Ranger
as Chief Red Hawk
1956
6.2
Shack Out on 101
as Prof. Claude Dillon
1955
5.9
Hold Back Tomorrow
as Priest
1955
6.3
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
as Pedro
1955
7.7
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
as Senor Vargas
1955
7.7
Cheyenne
1955
5.8
Cheyenne
as Spotted Bull
1955
5.8
Cheyenne
as Sitting Bull
1955
5.8
Cheyenne
as Dull Knife
1955
5.8
Cheyenne
as Chief Johnny Cake
1955
5.8
Cheyenne
as War Cloud
1955
5.8
Gunsmoke
as Tobeel
1955
6.6
Gunsmoke
as Mulligan Rives
1955
6.6
Gunsmoke
as Leader
1955
6.6
The Man from Laramie
as Padre
1955
7.2
Strange Lady in Town
as Anse Hatlo
1955
4.5
They Rode West
as Isatai
1954
6.3
Drum Beat
as Modoc Jim
1954
6.0
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
1954
6.9
Passion
as Martinez (as Frank de Kova)
1954
5.2
Valley of the Kings
as Akmed Salah (uncredited)
1954
4.8
King of the Khyber Rifles
as Ali Nur
1953
5.7
Fighter Attack
as Benedetto
1953
4.5
All the Brothers Were Valiant
as Stevenson
1953
5.9
Arrowhead
as Chief Chattez
1953
5.9
The Desert Song
as Mindar
1953
6.5
Raiders of the Seven Seas
as Captain Romero
1953
5.7
Split Second
as Dummy
1953
6.2
The Big Sky
as Moleface (uncredited)
1952
6.5
Holiday for Sinners
as The Wiry Man
1952
5.5
Martin Kane, Private Eye
as Thomas Randall
1949
6.0
Kiss of Death
as Con Library (uncredited)
1947
7.0