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Frank De Kova‌

Gender

Male

Birthday

calendar1910-03-17

Popularity

star5.3

Frank De Kova

New York City, New York, USA

Frank De Kova

New York City, New York, USA

Gender

Male

Birthday

calendar1910-03-17

Popularity

star5.3

Biography

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.

Movie Credits

The Greatest Story Ever Told

The Greatest Story Ever Told‌
star6.4
calendar 1965

Kiss of Death

Kiss of Death‌
star7.0
calendar 1947

Heavy Traffic

Heavy Traffic‌
star6.4
calendar 1973

The Jayhawkers!

The Jayhawkers!‌
star5.9
calendar 1959

The Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments‌
star7.8
calendar 1956

Hey Good Lookin'

Hey Good Lookin'‌
star5.6
calendar 1982

Split Second

Split Second‌
star6.2
calendar 1953

Holiday for Sinners

Holiday for Sinners‌
star5.5
calendar 1952

Atlantis: The Lost Continent

Atlantis: The Lost Continent‌
star5.2
calendar 1961

American Pop

American Pop‌
star6.8
calendar 1981

The Slams

The Slams‌
star6.2
calendar 1973

Crossfire

Crossfire‌
star0.0
calendar 1975

Those Calloways

Those Calloways‌
star6.4
calendar 1965

The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond

The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond‌
star5.8
calendar 1960

Shack Out on 101

Shack Out on 101‌
star5.9
calendar 1955

Machine-Gun Kelly

Machine-Gun Kelly‌
star5.7
calendar 1958

The Brothers Karamazov

The Brothers Karamazov‌
star6.6
calendar 1958

Arrowhead

Arrowhead‌
star5.9
calendar 1953

Day of the Outlaw

Day of the Outlaw‌
star6.8
calendar 1959

Appointment with a Shadow

Appointment with a Shadow‌
star5.4
calendar 1957

The Sword of Ali Baba

The Sword of Ali Baba‌
star5.8
calendar 1965

King of the Khyber Rifles

King of the Khyber Rifles‌
star5.7
calendar 1953

The Man from Laramie

The Man from Laramie‌
star7.2
calendar 1955

Jive Turkey

Jive Turkey‌
star3.9
calendar 1974

Johnny Firecloud

Johnny Firecloud‌
star5.4
calendar 1975

The Don Is Dead

The Don Is Dead‌
star5.9
calendar 1973

Raiders of the Seven Seas

Raiders of the Seven Seas‌
star5.7
calendar 1953

Teenage Cave Man

Teenage Cave Man‌
star3.9
calendar 1958

The Lone Ranger

The Lone Ranger‌
star6.1
calendar 1956

Pillars of the Sky

Pillars of the Sky‌
star5.5
calendar 1956

Drum Beat

Drum Beat‌
star6.1
calendar 1954

The White Squaw

The White Squaw‌
star6.4
calendar 1956

Johnny Moccasin

Johnny Moccasin‌
star0.0
calendar 1956

The Big Sky

The Big Sky‌
star6.5
calendar 1952

Reprisal!

Reprisal!‌
star7.2
calendar 1956

Santiago

Santiago‌
star5.1
calendar 1956

Fighter Attack

Fighter Attack‌
star4.5
calendar 1953

The Desert Song

The Desert Song‌
star6.5
calendar 1953

All the Brothers Were Valiant

All the Brothers Were Valiant‌
star5.9
calendar 1953

Hold Back Tomorrow

Hold Back Tomorrow‌
star6.3
calendar 1955

Cowboy

Cowboy‌
star6.3
calendar 1958

Cat in the Cage

Cat in the Cage‌
star2.5
calendar 1978

Strange Lady in Town

Strange Lady in Town‌
star4.5
calendar 1955

Follow That Dream

Follow That Dream‌
star6.1
calendar 1962

They Rode West

They Rode West‌
star6.3
calendar 1954

Passion

Passion‌
star5.2
calendar 1954

Run of the Arrow

Run of the Arrow‌
star6.2
calendar 1957

Ride Out for Revenge

Ride Out for Revenge‌
star5.5
calendar 1957

Apache Territory

Apache Territory‌
star6.4
calendar 1958

The Wild Country

The Wild Country‌
star6.0
calendar 1970

Mafia on the Bounty

Mafia on the Bounty‌
star1.0
calendar 1980

The Mechanic

The Mechanic‌
star6.7
calendar 1972

The Legend of the Boy and the Eagle

The Legend of the Boy and the Eagle‌
star0.0
calendar 1967

Coonskin

Coonskin‌
star6.0
calendar 1975

Not One Shall Die

Not One Shall Die‌
star0.0
calendar 1957

Tv Credits

The Gallant Men

The Gallant Men‌
star6.0
calendar 1962

77 Sunset Strip

77 Sunset Strip‌
star6.7
calendar 1958

Cheyenne

Cheyenne‌
star5.8
calendar 1955

The Incredible Hulk

The Incredible Hulk‌
star7.2
calendar 1977

F Troop

F Troop‌
star6.1
calendar 1965

Little House on the Prairie

Little House on the Prairie‌
star8.0
calendar 1974

Kraft Suspense Theatre

Kraft Suspense Theatre‌
star5.3
calendar 1963

The F.B.I.

The F.B.I.‌
star5.4
calendar 1965

Hawaii Five-O

Hawaii Five-O‌
star7.1
calendar 1968

Route 66

Route 66‌
star6.4
calendar 1960

Baretta

Baretta‌
star6.4
calendar 1975

Surfside 6

Surfside 6‌
star5.0
calendar 1960

Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke‌
star6.5
calendar 1955

Cannon

Cannon‌
star6.5
calendar 1971

The Islanders

The Islanders‌
star8.0
calendar 1960

Johnny Staccato

Johnny Staccato‌
star5.6
calendar 1959

Run, Joe, Run

Run, Joe, Run‌
star6.2
calendar 1974

The Tall Man

The Tall Man‌
star6.3
calendar 1960

The Swiss Family Robinson

The Swiss Family Robinson‌
star6.4
calendar 1975

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Alfred Hitchcock Presents‌
star7.7
calendar 1955

The Greatest Show on Earth

The Greatest Show on Earth‌
star5.0
calendar 1963

Outlaws

Outlaws‌
star6.2
calendar 1960

The Lawless Years

The Lawless Years‌
star7.0
calendar 1959

Rawhide

Rawhide‌
star7.0
calendar 1959

Police Woman

Police Woman‌
star6.3
calendar 1974

Daniel Boone

Daniel Boone‌
star6.9
calendar 1964

Police Story

Police Story‌
star7.1
calendar 1973

The High Chaparral

The High Chaparral‌
star6.5
calendar 1967

Thriller

Thriller‌
star6.2
calendar 1960

Peter Gunn

Peter Gunn‌
star6.5
calendar 1958

The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin

The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin‌
star6.9
calendar 1954

The Alaskans

The Alaskans‌
star5.5
calendar 1959

Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans

Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans‌
star4.8
calendar 1957

Black Saddle

Black Saddle‌
star5.7
calendar 1959

The Rebel

The Rebel‌
star5.3
calendar 1959

The Dakotas

The Dakotas‌
star5.7
calendar 1963

The Rifleman

The Rifleman‌
star7.0
calendar 1958

Ben Casey

Ben Casey‌
star5.7
calendar 1961

Laramie

Laramie‌
star6.4
calendar 1959

Toma

Toma‌
star7.8
calendar 1973

Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers

Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers‌
star5.0
calendar 1956

The Detectives

The Detectives‌
star5.6
calendar 1959

The Roaring 20's

The Roaring 20's‌
star0.0
calendar 1960

Maverick

Maverick‌
star6.8
calendar 1957

Cheyenne

Cheyenne‌
star5.8
calendar 1955

Wagon Train

Wagon Train‌
star6.4
calendar 1957

The Untouchables

The Untouchables‌
star7.8
calendar 1959

Hawaiian Eye

Hawaiian Eye‌
star5.0
calendar 1959

The Untouchables

The Untouchables‌
star7.8
calendar 1959

The Untouchables

The Untouchables‌
star7.8
calendar 1959

F Troop

F Troop‌
star6.1
calendar 1965

The F.B.I.

The F.B.I.‌
star5.4
calendar 1965

Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke‌
star6.5
calendar 1955

Cheyenne

Cheyenne‌
star5.8
calendar 1955

Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke‌
star6.5
calendar 1955

The Walter Winchell File

The Walter Winchell File‌
star5.0
calendar 1957

Daniel Boone

Daniel Boone‌
star6.9
calendar 1964

The Third Man

The Third Man‌
star6.4
calendar 1959

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Alfred Hitchcock Presents‌
star7.7
calendar 1955

The Untouchables

The Untouchables‌
star7.8
calendar 1959

The Rockford Files

The Rockford Files‌
star7.5
calendar 1974

Wagon Train

Wagon Train‌
star6.4
calendar 1957

Wagon Train

Wagon Train‌
star6.4
calendar 1957

77 Sunset Strip

77 Sunset Strip‌
star6.7
calendar 1958

77 Sunset Strip

77 Sunset Strip‌
star6.7
calendar 1958

Martin Kane, Private Eye

Martin Kane, Private Eye‌
star5.0
calendar 1949

The Rifleman

The Rifleman‌
star7.0
calendar 1958

The Deputy

The Deputy‌
star6.2
calendar 1959

The Untouchables

The Untouchables‌
star7.8
calendar 1959

Cheyenne

Cheyenne‌
star5.8
calendar 1955

The Untouchables

The Untouchables‌
star7.8
calendar 1959