Acting
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.
Filmography
Hey Good Lookin'
Film · 1982
American Pop
Film · 1981
Mafia on the Bounty
Film · 1980
Cat in the Cage
Film · 1978
The Incredible Hulk
Series · 1977
Crossfire
Film · 1975
Johnny Firecloud
Film · 1975
Coonskin
Film · 1975
Baretta
Series · 1975
The Swiss Family Robinson
Series · 1975
Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes
Film · 1974
Little House on the Prairie
Series · 1974
Run, Joe, Run
Series · 1974
The Rockford Files
Series · 1974
Police Woman
Series · 1974
Heavy Traffic
Film · 1973
The Slams
Film · 1973
The Don Is Dead
Film · 1973
Frasier, the Sensuous Lion
Film · 1973
Police Story
Series · 1973
Toma
Series · 1973
The Mechanic
Film · 1972
Cannon
Series · 1971
The Wild Country
Film · 1970
Hawaii Five-O
Series · 1969
Love, American Style
Series · 1969
It Takes a Thief
Series · 1968
The Legend of the Boy and the Eagle
Film · 1967
The High Chaparral
Series · 1967
The Greatest Story Ever Told
Film · 1965
The Sword of Ali Baba
Film · 1965
F Troop
Series · 1965
The F.B.I.
Series · 1965
F Troop
Series · 1965
The F.B.I.
Series · 1965
Those Calloways
Film · 1964
Daniel Boone
Series · 1964
Daniel Boone
Series · 1964
Kraft Suspense Theatre
Series · 1963
The Dakotas
Series · 1963
The Greatest Show on Earth
Series · 1963
Follow That Dream
Film · 1962
The Gallant Men
Series · 1962
Atlantis: The Lost Continent
Film · 1961
Ben Casey
Series · 1961
Gunslinger
Series · 1961
The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond
Film · 1960
Route 66
Series · 1960
Surfside 6
Series · 1960
The Islanders
Series · 1960
The Tall Man
Series · 1960
Outlaws
Series · 1960
Thriller
Series · 1960
The Roaring 20's
Series · 1960
The Jayhawkers!
Film · 1959
Day of the Outlaw
Film · 1959
Johnny Staccato
Series · 1959
The Lawless Years
Series · 1959
Rawhide
Series · 1959
The Alaskans
Series · 1959
Black Saddle
Series · 1959
The Rebel
Series · 1959
Laramie
Series · 1959
The Detectives
Series · 1959
The Untouchables
Series · 1959
Hawaiian Eye
Series · 1959
The Untouchables
Series · 1959
The Untouchables
Series · 1959
The Third Man
Series · 1959
The Deputy
Series · 1959
The Untouchables
Series · 1959
The Untouchables
Series · 1959
The Third Man
Series · 1959
The Troubleshooters
Series · 1959
Laramie
Series · 1959
The Untouchables
Series · 1959
Rawhide
Series · 1959
Machine-Gun Kelly
Film · 1958
The Brothers Karamazov
Film · 1958
Teenage Cave Man
Film · 1958
Cowboy
Film · 1958
Apache Territory
Film · 1958
Peter Gunn
Series · 1958
The Rifleman
Series · 1958
77 Sunset Strip
Series · 1958
77 Sunset Strip
Series · 1958
The Rifleman
Series · 1958
77 Sunset Strip
Series · 1958
Lawman
Series · 1958
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
Series · 1958
Appointment with a Shadow
Film · 1957
Run of the Arrow
Film · 1957
Ride Out for Revenge
Film · 1957
Not One Shall Die
Film · 1957
Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans
Series · 1957
Maverick
Series · 1957
Wagon Train
Series · 1957
The Walter Winchell File
Series · 1957
Wagon Train
Series · 1957
Wagon Train
Series · 1957
Wagon Train
Series · 1957
Wagon Train
Series · 1957
The Californians
Series · 1957
The Ten Commandments
Film · 1956
The Lone Ranger
Film · 1956
Pillars of the Sky
Film · 1956
The White Squaw
Film · 1956
Johnny Moccasin
Film · 1956
Reprisal!
Film · 1956
Santiago
Film · 1956
Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers
Series · 1956
Shack Out on 101
Film · 1955
The Man from Laramie
Film · 1955
Hold Back Tomorrow
Film · 1955
Strange Lady in Town
Film · 1955
Cheyenne
Series · 1955
Gunsmoke
Series · 1955
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Series · 1955
Cheyenne
Series · 1955
Gunsmoke
Series · 1955
Cheyenne
Series · 1955
Gunsmoke
Series · 1955
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Series · 1955
Cheyenne
Series · 1955
Cheyenne
Series · 1955
Cheyenne
Series · 1955
Cheyenne
Series · 1955
Drum Beat
Film · 1954
They Rode West
Film · 1954
Passion
Film · 1954
Valley of the Kings
Film · 1954
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
Series · 1954
Split Second
Film · 1953
Arrowhead
Film · 1953
King of the Khyber Rifles
Film · 1953
Raiders of the Seven Seas
Film · 1953
Fighter Attack
Film · 1953
The Desert Song
Film · 1953
All the Brothers Were Valiant
Film · 1953
Holiday for Sinners
Film · 1952
The Big Sky
Film · 1952
Martin Kane, Private Eye
Series · 1949
Kiss of Death
Film · 1947