Background
De Kova was born in New York City and taught at a school in New York before joining a Shakespeare repertory group.
De Kova was born in New York City and taught at a school in New York before joining a Shakespeare repertory group.
He made his Broadway debut in Detective Story, and was discovered by director Elia Kazan. Moving to Hollywood, he appeared in Viva Zapata! (1952) as the Mexican Colonel, and The Big Sky (1952) with Kirk Douglas. He played Abiram in The Ten Commandments, appeared in Cowboy (1958) with Glenn Ford and Jack Lemmon, and in The Mechanic (1972) with Charles Bronson and January-Michael Vincent and the Ralph Bakshi film American Population
His best-known television role was as "Chief Wild Eagle", chief of the Hekawi tribe, on the western comedy F Troop (1965–1967).
He also guest-starred in the American Broadcasting Company/Warner Brothers drama, The Roaring 20s. In 1981, de Kova died of heart failure in his sleep at his home in Sepulveda, California.
He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, California.