Frank Dekova (March 17, 1910 in New York City – October 15, 1981 in Sepulveda, California) was an Italian-American character actor.
Dekova taught school (primarily languages) 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 Jan-Michael Vincent.
He did a lot of television work, including a role as Mafia hitman Jimmy Napoli in The Untouchables. Probably his best-known television role was "Chief Wild Eagle", chief of the Hekawi tribe, on the Western comedy F Troop (1965–1967). His craggy face was well adapted to the ethnic roles he favored.
Frank Dekova died of natural causes at his home in his sleep in 1981.
