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 Zapatas 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 Cormans 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 Tuckers Sgt. ORourke in ORourkes 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.
The tormentor
Filme 1965
Con Library (uncredited)
Filme 1947
Angelo "Angie" Corleone (voice)
Filme 1973
Evans
Filme 1959
Abiram
Filme 1956
Old Vinnie (voice)
Filme 1982
Dummy
Filme 1953
The Wiry Man
Filme 1952
Sonoy the Astrologer
Filme 1961
Crisco (voice)
Filme 1981
Capiello
Filme 1973
Albert Ambrose
Filme 1975
Nigosh
Filme 1965
Syndicate Chairman
Filme 1960
Prof. Claude Dillon
Filme 1955
Harry
Filme 1958
Capt. Vrublevski
Filme 1958
Chief Chattez
Filme 1953
Denver, Bruhn's Gang
Filme 1959
Dutch Hayden
Filme 1957
Old Baba
Filme 1965
Ali Nur
Filme 1953
Padre
Filme 1955
Big Tony (as Frank deKova)
Filme 1974
White Eagle
Filme 1975
Captain Romero
Filme 1953
The Black-Bearded One
Filme 1958
Chief Red Hawk
Filme 1956
Zachariah
Filme 1956
Modoc Jim
Filme 1954
Yellow Elk
Filme 1956
Brave Scout
Filme 1956
Moleface (uncredited)
Filme 1952
Charlie Washackle
Filme 1956
Benedetto
Filme 1953
Mindar
Filme 1953
Stevenson
Filme 1953
Priest
Filme 1955
Alcaide
Filme 1958
Rachid Khan
Filme 1978
Anse Hatlo
Filme 1955
Jack (as Frank de Kova)
Filme 1962
Isatai
Filme 1954
Martinez (as Frank de Kova)
Filme 1954
Chief Yellow Wolf
Filme 1957
Red Cloud (as Frank De Kova)
Filme 1957
Lugo (as Frank deKova)
Filme 1958
Two Dog
Filme 1970
The Man
Filme 1972
Narrator (voice)
Filme 1967
Managan (voice) / Ruby (voice) (uncredited)
Filme 1975
Akmed Salah (uncredited)
Filme 1954
Tv 1962
Tv 1977
Chief Wild Eagle
Tv 1965
Tv 1974
Phil Kalama
Tv 1968
Tv 1960
Tv 1975
Tv 1971
Carlos Roca
Tv 1960
Tv 1959
Tv 1974
Tv 1960
Tv 1975
Tv 1963
Tv 1960
Tv 1959
Chief Tawyawp
Tv 1959
Tv 1974
Talakum
Tv 1964
Tv 1973
Aguirre
Tv 1967
Lieutenant Vincoli
Tv 1960
Tv 1958
Tv 1954
Ottawa Chief
Tv 1957
Tv 1959
Calderon
Tv 1959
Richard Aloysius Sturgis
Tv 1959
Tv 1958
Tv 1963
Tv 1961
Tv 1959
Tv 1973
Tv 1956
Nordoff
Tv 1959
Tv 1960
Tv 1957
Obuki
Tv 1957
Pete Dailey
Tv 1959
Wild Eagle
Tv 1965
Stefan
Tv 1957
Saugus
Tv 1964
Arlatti
Tv 1959
Nova (as Frank De Kova)
Tv 1974
Isaiah Quickfox
Tv 1957
Ocheo
Tv 1957
Thomas Randall
Tv 1949
Chief Hostay
Tv 1958
Cowan
Tv 1959
Vito Angelo
Tv 1974
Tv 1969