The Ten Commandments1956
As Abiram
TMDb 7.8 / 10
Frank De Kova
Born
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 (57)
The Greatest Story Ever Told1965
As The tormentor
TMDb 6.4 / 10
The Mechanic1972
As The Man
TMDb 6.7 / 10
The Man from Laramie1955
As Padre
TMDb 7.2 / 10
Those Calloways1964
As Nigosh
TMDb 6.5 / 10
The Brothers Karamazov1958
As Capt. Vrublevski
TMDb 6.5 / 10
The Big Sky1952
As Moleface (uncredited)
TMDb 6.6 / 10
American Pop1981
As Crisco (voice)
TMDb 6.9 / 10
The Lone Ranger1956
As Chief Red Hawk
TMDb 6.2 / 10
Coonskin1975
As Managan (voice) / Ruby (voice) (uncredited)
TMDb 6.1 / 10
Day of the Outlaw1959
As Denver, Bruhn's Gang
TMDb 6.8 / 10
Cowboy1958
As Alcaide
TMDb 6.5 / 10
Heavy Traffic1973
As Angelo "Angie" Corleone (voice)
TMDb 6.5 / 10
Kiss of Death1947
As Con Library (uncredited)
TMDb 7.1 / 10
The Don Is Dead1973
As Giunta
TMDb 5.9 / 10
Machine-Gun Kelly1958
As Harry
TMDb 6.0 / 10
Follow That Dream1962
As Jack (as Frank de Kova)
TMDb 6.1 / 10
Arrowhead1953
As Chief Chattez
TMDb 6.1 / 10
Run of the Arrow1957
As Red Cloud (as Frank De Kova)
TMDb 6.1 / 10
King of the Khyber Rifles1953
As Ali Nur
TMDb 5.9 / 10
Pillars of the Sky1956
As Zachariah
TMDb 5.5 / 10
The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond1960
As Syndicate Chairman
TMDb 6.1 / 10
The Jayhawkers!1959
As Evans
TMDb 6.1 / 10
Hey Good Lookin'1982
As Old Vinnie (voice)
TMDb 5.5 / 10
Atlantis: The Lost Continent1961
As Sonoy the Astrologer
TMDb 5.1 / 10
Passion1954
As Martinez (as Frank de Kova)
TMDb 5.4 / 10
Apache Territory1958
As Lugo (as Frank deKova)
TMDb 6.5 / 10
Strange Lady in Town1955
As Anse Hatlo
TMDb 4.9 / 10
The Wild Country1970
As Two Dog
TMDb 6.0 / 10
Drum Beat1954
As Modoc Jim
TMDb 6.1 / 10
Valley of the Kings1954
As Akmed Salah (uncredited)
TMDb 4.9 / 10
All the Brothers Were Valiant1953
As Stevenson
TMDb 6.1 / 10
Santiago1956
As Jingo
TMDb 5.8 / 10
Raiders of the Seven Seas1953
As Captain Romero
TMDb 6.1 / 10
Ride Out for Revenge1957
As Chief Yellow Wolf
TMDb 5.7 / 10
Mafia on the Bounty1980
As Rupolo
TMDb 3.7 / 10
Teenage Cave Man1958
As The Black-Bearded One
TMDb 4.0 / 10
Johnny Moccasin
Johnny Moccasin1956
As Brave Scout
Split Second1953
As Dummy
TMDb 6.4 / 10
The Slams1973
As Capiello
TMDb 6.5 / 10
Cat in the Cage1978
As Rachid Khan
TMDb 3.8 / 10
Shack Out on 1011955
As Prof. Claude Dillon
TMDb 6.0 / 10
Holiday for Sinners1952
As The Wiry Man
TMDb 6.3 / 10
Appointment with a Shadow1957
As Dutch Hayden
TMDb 5.7 / 10
The Sword of Ali Baba1965
As Old Baba
TMDb 7.2 / 10
The White Squaw1956
As Yellow Elk
TMDb 6.8 / 10
Fighter Attack1953
As Benedetto
TMDb 4.5 / 10
Reprisal!1956
As Charlie Washackle
TMDb 6.9 / 10
They Rode West1954
As Isatai
TMDb 6.5 / 10
Frasier, the Sensuous Lion1973
As The Man
TMDb 6.5 / 10
The Desert Song1953
As Mindar
TMDb 6.8 / 10
Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes1974
As Big Tony (as Frank deKova)
TMDb 3.9 / 10
Crossfire1975
As Albert Ambrose
TMDb 8.0 / 10
Not One Shall Die1957
As Egyptian Official
TMDb 6.0 / 10
Johnny Firecloud1975
As White Eagle
TMDb 5.0 / 10
The Legend of the Boy and the Eagle1967
As Narrator (voice)
Hold Back Tomorrow1955
As Priest
TMDb 6.4 / 10
Filmography and biography: TMDb