Frank De Kova

Acting

Born March 17, 1910, 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

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