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.

Known For: Acting

Born: New York City, New York, USA, 1910-03-17

Died: 1981-10-15

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1947	Kiss of Death	Con Library (uncredited)	70
2	1952	Holiday for Sinners	The Wiry Man	55
3	1952	The Big Sky	Moleface (uncredited)	65
4	1953	Split Second	Dummy	62
5	1953	Raiders of the Seven Seas	Captain Romero	57
6	1953	The Desert Song	Mindar	65
7	1953	Arrowhead	Chief Chattez	59
8	1953	All the Brothers Were Valiant	Stevenson	59
9	1953	Fighter Attack	Benedetto	45
10	1953	King of the Khyber Rifles	Ali Nur	57
11	1954	Valley of the Kings	Akmed Salah (uncredited)	48
12	1954	Passion	Martinez (as Frank de Kova)	52
13	1954	Drum Beat	Modoc Jim	60
14	1954	They Rode West	Isatai	63
15	1955	Strange Lady in Town	Anse Hatlo	45
16	1955	The Man from Laramie	Padre	72
17	1955	Hold Back Tomorrow	Priest	63
18	1955	Shack Out on 101	Prof. Claude Dillon	59
19	1956	The Lone Ranger	Chief Red Hawk	62
20	1956	Johnny Moccasin	Brave Scout	0
21	1956	Santiago	Jingo	53
22	1956	Pillars of the Sky	Zachariah	55
23	1956	The Ten Commandments	Abiram	78
24	1956	The White Squaw	Yellow Elk	63
25	1956	Reprisal!	Charlie Washackle	72
26	1957	Not One Shall Die	Egyptian Official	0
27	1957	Appointment with a Shadow	Dutch Hayden	54
28	1957	Run of the Arrow	Red Cloud (as Frank De Kova)	62
29	1957	Ride Out for Revenge	Chief Yellow Wolf	55
30	1958	Cowboy	Alcaide	64
31	1958	The Brothers Karamazov	Capt. Vrublevski	66
32	1958	Machine-Gun Kelly	Harry	57
33	1958	Teenage Cave Man	The Black-Bearded One	39
34	1958	Apache Territory	Lugo (as Frank deKova)	64
35	1959	Day of the Outlaw	Denver, Bruhn's Gang	68
36	1959	The Jayhawkers!	Evans	59
37	1960	The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond	Syndicate Chairman	60
38	1961	Atlantis: The Lost Continent	Sonoy the Astrologer	52
39	1962	Follow That Dream	Jack (as Frank de Kova)	62
40	1964	Those Calloways	Nigosh	62
41	1965	The Sword of Ali Baba	Old Baba	58
42	1965	The Greatest Story Ever Told	The tormentor	64
43	1967	The Legend of the Boy and the Eagle	Narrator (voice)	0
44	1970	The Wild Country	Two Dog	60
45	1972	The Mechanic	The Man	67
46	1973	Frasier, the Sensuous Lion	The Man	57
47	1973	Heavy Traffic	Angelo "Angie" Corleone (voice)	63
48	1973	The Slams	Capiello	62
49	1973	The Don Is Dead	Giunta	60
50	1974	Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes	Big Tony (as Frank deKova)	39
51	1975	Crossfire	Albert Ambrose	0
52	1975	Johnny Firecloud	White Eagle	54
53	1975	Coonskin	Managan (voice) / Ruby (voice) (uncredited)	60
54	1978	Cat in the Cage	Rachid Khan	28
55	1980	Mafia on the Bounty	Rupolo	10
56	1981	American Pop	Crisco (voice)	69
57	1982	Hey Good Lookin'	Old Vinnie (voice)	56

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1949	Martin Kane, Private Eye	Thomas Randall	60
2	1954	The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin		69
3	1955	Gunsmoke	Tobeel	66
4	1955	Gunsmoke	Mulligan Rives	66
5	1955	Gunsmoke	Leader	66
6	1955	Cheyenne		58
7	1955	Cheyenne	Spotted Bull	58
8	1955	Cheyenne	Sitting Bull	58
9	1955	Cheyenne	Dull Knife	58
10	1955	Cheyenne	Chief Johnny Cake	58
11	1955	Cheyenne	War Cloud	58
12	1955	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Pedro	77
13	1955	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Senor Vargas	77
14	1956	Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers		50
15	1957	Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans	Ottawa Chief	48
16	1957	Wagon Train	Obuki	63
17	1957	Wagon Train	Isaiah Quickfox	63
18	1957	Wagon Train	Ocheo	63
19	1957	Maverick		68
20	1957	The Walter Winchell File	Stefan	50
21	1958	Peter Gunn		65
22	1958	The Rifleman		70
23	1958	The Rifleman	Chief Hostay	70
24	1958	77 Sunset Strip	Jack Bent	67
25	1958	77 Sunset Strip	Jerry Gordon	67
26	1958	77 Sunset Strip	Dino Malatesta	67
27	1959	Rawhide	Chief Tawyawp	72
28	1959	Black Saddle	Calderon	60
29	1959	The Lawless Years		70
30	1959	Johnny Staccato		56
31	1959	The Troubleshooters	Nadi	0
32	1959	The Deputy	Cowan	62
33	1959	Laramie		64
34	1959	The Third Man	Arlatti	67
35	1959	The Third Man	Juan Rodriguez	67
36	1959	The Alaskans		55
37	1959	The Rebel	Richard Aloysius Sturgis	51
38	1959	Hawaiian Eye	Pete Dailey	52
39	1959	The Untouchables	Louis 'Little New York' Campagna	79
40	1959	The Untouchables	Anthony 'Tough Tony' Lamberto	79
41	1959	The Untouchables	Louis Campagne	79
42	1959	The Untouchables	Louie Campagna	79
43	1959	The Untouchables	The Man	79
44	1959	The Detectives	Nordoff	56
45	1960	The Tall Man		63
46	1960	Thriller	Lieutenant Vincoli	64
47	1960	Outlaws		62
48	1960	The Islanders	Carlos Roca	80
49	1960	Surfside 6	Stinger	50
50	1960	Route 66		63
51	1960	The Roaring 20's		0
52	1961	Ben Casey		56
53	1962	The Gallant Men		60
54	1963	The Dakotas		57
55	1963	The Greatest Show on Earth		50
56	1963	Kraft Suspense Theatre	Edward	53
57	1964	Daniel Boone	Talakum	69
58	1964	Daniel Boone	Saugus	69
59	1965	F Troop	Chief Wild Eagle	62
60	1965	F Troop	Wild Eagle	62
61	1965	The F.B.I.	Faber	55
62	1965	The F.B.I.	Dracus	55
63	1967	The High Chaparral	Aguirre	65
64	1968	Hawaii Five-O	Phil Kalama	71
65	1969	Love, American Style		61
66	1971	Cannon		65
67	1973	Police Story		69
68	1973	Toma		78
69	1974	Run, Joe, Run		63
70	1974	Little House on the Prairie		79
71	1974	Police Woman		63
72	1974	The Rockford Files	Nova (as Frank De Kova)	75
73	1974	Police Woman	Vito Angelo	63
74	1975	Baretta		63
75	1975	The Swiss Family Robinson		62
76	1977	The Incredible Hulk		73

Frank De Kova

Film

Television