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