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person_profile-Frank De Kova

Frank De Kova Died at age: 71

Actor | Producer

Fullname:

Frank De Kova

Date of Birth:

Mar 17, 1910

Country of birth:

USA

Died:

Oct 15, 1981

Biography of

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.

Photos of

Frank De Kova

Photos ( 1 Photos

Filmography of

Frank De Kova

Found 54 Movies in total

Hey Good Lookin'

Old Vinnie (voice) ( Actor )

... 1982

American Pop

Crisco (voice) ( Actor )

... 1981

Cat in the Cage

Rachid Khan ( Actor )

... 1978

Coonskin

Managan (voice) / Ruby (voice) ( Actor )

... 1975

Johnny Firecloud

White Eagle ( Actor )

... 1975

Crossfire

Albert Ambrose ( Actor )

... 1975

Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes

Big Tony (as Frank deKova) ( Actor )

... 1974

The Don Is Dead

Giunta ( Actor )

... 1973

The Slams

Capiello ( Actor )

... 1973

Heavy Traffic

Angelo "Angie" Corleone ( Actor )

... 1973

The Mechanic

The Man ( Actor )

... 1972

The Wild Country

Two Dog ( Actor )

... 1970

The Legend of the Boy and the Eagle

Narrator (voice) ( Actor )

... 1967

The Greatest Story Ever Told

The tormentor ( Actor )

... 1965

The Sword of Ali Baba

Old Baba ( Actor )

... 1965

Those Calloways

Nigosh ( Actor )

... 1965

Follow That Dream

Jack (as Frank de Kova) ( Actor )

... 1962

Atlantis: The Lost Continent

Sonoy the Astrologer ( Actor )

... 1961

The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond

Syndicate Chairman ( Actor )

... 1960

The Jayhawkers!

Evans ( Actor )

... 1959

Day of the Outlaw

Denver, Bruhn's Gang ( Actor )

... 1959

Apache Territory

Lugo (as Frank deKova) ( Actor )

... 1958

Teenage Cave Man

The Black-Bearded One ( Actor )

... 1958

Machine-Gun Kelly

Harry ( Actor )

... 1958

The Brothers Karamazov

Capt. Vrublevski ( Actor )

... 1958

Cowboy

Alcaide ( Actor )

... 1958

Ride Out for Revenge

Chief Yellow Wolf ( Actor )

... 1957

Run of the Arrow

Red Cloud (as Frank De Kova) ( Actor )

... 1957

Appointment with a Shadow

Dutch Hayden ( Actor )

... 1957

Reprisal!

Charlie Washackle ( Actor )

... 1956

The White Squaw

Yellow Elk ( Actor )

... 1956

The Ten Commandments

Abiram ( Actor )

... 1956

Pillars of the Sky

Zachariah ( Actor )

... 1956

Santiago

Jingo ( Actor )

... 1956

The Lone Ranger

Chief Red Hawk ( Actor )

... 1956

Shack Out on 101

Prof. Claude Dillon ( Actor )

... 1955

Hold Back Tomorrow

Priest ( Actor )

... 1955

The Man from Laramie

Padre ( Actor )

... 1955

Strange Lady in Town

Anse Hatlo ( Actor )

... 1955

They Rode West

Isatai ( Actor )

... 1954

Drum Beat

Modoc Jim ( Actor )

... 1954

Passion

Martinez (as Frank de Kova) ( Actor )

... 1954

Valley of the Kings

Akmed Salah (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1954

King of the Khyber Rifles

Ali Nur ( Actor )

... 1953

Fighter Attack

Benedetto ( Actor )

... 1953

... 1953

Arrowhead

Chief Chattez ( Actor )

... 1953

The Desert Song

Mindar ( Actor )

... 1953

Raiders of the Seven Seas

Captain Romero ( Actor )

... 1953

Split Second

Dummy ( Actor )

... 1953

The Big Sky

Moleface (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1952

Holiday for Sinners

The Wiry Man ( Actor )

... 1952

Viva Zapata!

Col. Guarjarado ( Actor )

... 1952

Kiss of Death

Con Library (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1947