Acting · New York City, New York, USA · Born March 17, 1910
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.
MovieHey Good Lookin'
1982
as Old Vinnie (voice)
MovieAmerican Pop
1981
as Crisco (voice)
MovieMafia on the Bounty
1980
as Rupolo
MovieCat in the Cage
1978
as Rachid Khan
TVThe Incredible Hulk
1977
TVThe Swiss Family Robinson
1975
MovieCoonskin
1975
as Managan (voice) / Ruby (voice) (uncredited)
MovieJohnny Firecloud
1975
as White Eagle
MovieCrossfire
1975
as Albert Ambrose
TVBaretta
1975
MovieBaby Needs a New Pair of Shoes
1974
as Big Tony (as Frank deKova)
TVPolice Woman
1974
TVThe Rockford Files
1974
as Nova
TVLittle House on the Prairie
1974
as Chief Kilowatt
TVRun, Joe, Run
1974
MovieThe Don Is Dead
1973
as Giunta
TVToma
1973
MovieThe Slams
1973
as Capiello
MovieHeavy Traffic
1973
as Angelo "Angie" Corleone (voice)
MovieFrasier, the Sensuous Lion
1973
as The Man
TVPolice Story
1973
MovieThe Mechanic
1972
as The Man
TVCannon
1971
MovieThe Wild Country
1970
as Two Dog
TVLove, American Style
1969
TVHawaii Five-O
1968
as Phil Kalama
TVIt Takes a Thief
1968
as Gen. Tashkov
TVThe High Chaparral
1967
as Aguirre
MovieThe Legend of the Boy and the Eagle
1967
as Narrator (voice)
TVThe F.B.I.
1965
as Faber
TVF Troop
1965
as Chief Wild Eagle
MovieThe Greatest Story Ever Told
1965
as The tormentor
MovieThe Sword of Ali Baba
1965
as Old Baba
MovieThose Calloways
1964
as Nigosh
TVDaniel Boone
1964
as Talakum
TVKraft Suspense Theatre
1963
as Edward
The Greatest Show on Earth
1963
as Joseph
TVThe Dakotas
1963
TVThe Gallant Men
1962
MovieFollow That Dream
1962
as Jack (as Frank de Kova)
TVBen Casey
1961
MovieAtlantis: The Lost Continent
1961
as Sonoy the Astrologer
TVGunslinger
1961
as Don Ignacio Alesandro
TVThe Roaring 20's
1960
TVRoute 66
1960
TVSurfside 6
1960
as Stinger
TVThe Islanders
1960
as Carlos Roca
TVOutlaws
1960
TVThriller
1960
as Lieutenant Vincoli
TVThe Tall Man
1960
MovieThe Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond
1960
as Syndicate Chairman
TVThe Detectives
1959
as Nordoff
MovieThe Jayhawkers!
1959
as Evans
TVThe Untouchables
1959
as Louis 'Little New York' Campagna
TVHawaiian Eye
1959
as Pete Dailey
TVThe Alaskans
1959
TVThe Rebel
1959
as Richard Aloysius Sturgis
TVThe Third Man
1959
as Arlatti
TVLaramie
1959
TVThe Deputy
1959
as Cowan
TVThe Troubleshooters
1959
as Nadi
TVJohnny Staccato
1959
MovieDay of the Outlaw
1959
as Denver, Bruhn's Gang
TVThe Lawless Years
1959
TVBlack Saddle
1959
as Calderon
TVRawhide
1959
as Chief Tawyawp
TV77 Sunset Strip
1958
as Jack Bent
TVWestinghouse Desilu Playhouse
1958
as Jimmy Napoli
TVLawman
1958
as Jed Barker
TVThe Rifleman
1958
TVPeter Gunn
1958
MovieApache Territory
1958
as Lugo (as Frank deKova)
MovieTeenage Cave Man
1958
as The Black-Bearded One
MovieMachine-Gun Kelly
1958
as Harry
MovieThe Brothers Karamazov
1958
as Capt. Vrublevski
MovieCowboy
1958
as Alcaide
MovieRide Out for Revenge
1957
as Chief Yellow Wolf
TVThe Walter Winchell File
1957
as Stefan
TVMaverick
1957
TVWagon Train
1957
as Obuki
MovieRun of the Arrow
1957
as Red Cloud (as Frank De Kova)
MovieAppointment with a Shadow
1957
as Dutch Hayden
TVHawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans
1957
as Ottawa Chief
MovieNot One Shall Die
1957
as Egyptian Official
MovieReprisal!
1956
as Charlie Washackle
MovieThe White Squaw
1956
as Yellow Elk
TVTales of the 77th Bengal Lancers
1956
MovieThe Ten Commandments
1956
as Abiram
MoviePillars of the Sky
1956
as Zachariah
MovieSantiago
1956
as Jingo
Johnny Moccasin
1956
as Brave Scout
MovieThe Lone Ranger
1956
as Chief Red Hawk
MovieShack Out on 101
1955
as Prof. Claude Dillon
MovieHold Back Tomorrow
1955
as Priest
TVAlfred Hitchcock Presents
1955
as Pedro
TVCheyenne
1955
TVGunsmoke
1955
as Tobeel
MovieThe Man from Laramie
1955
as Padre
MovieStrange Lady in Town
1955
as Anse Hatlo
MovieThey Rode West
1954
as Isatai
MovieDrum Beat
1954
as Modoc Jim
TVThe Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
1954
MoviePassion
1954
as Martinez (as Frank de Kova)
MovieValley of the Kings
1954
as Akmed Salah (uncredited)
MovieKing of the Khyber Rifles
1953
as Ali Nur
MovieFighter Attack
1953
as Benedetto
MovieAll the Brothers Were Valiant
1953
as Stevenson
MovieArrowhead
1953
as Chief Chattez
MovieThe Desert Song
1953
as Mindar
MovieRaiders of the Seven Seas
1953
as Captain Romero
MovieSplit Second
1953
as Dummy
MovieThe Big Sky
1952
as Moleface (uncredited)
MovieHoliday for Sinners
1952
as The Wiry Man
TVMartin Kane, Private Eye
1949
as Thomas Randall
MovieKiss of Death
1947
as Con Library (uncredited)
