Albert Dekker
| Albert Dekker | |
|---|---|
 From the trailer for Gentleman's Agreement (1947) |
|
| Born | Albert Van Ecke December 20, 1905(1905-12-20) Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | May 5, 1968 (aged 62) Hollywood, California, U.S. |
| Other name(s) | Albert Van Dekker Albert van Dekker |
Albert Dekker (December 20, 1905 – May 5, 1968) was an American character actor and politician best known for his roles in Dr. Cyclops, The Killers, Kiss Me Deadly, and The Wild Bunch. He is sometimes credited as Albert Van Dekker or Albert van Dekker.
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Life
Born as Albert Van Ecke in Brooklyn, New York, he adopted his mother's maiden name of Dekker as his stage name. Dekker attended Bowdoin College and made his professional acting debut with a Cincinnati stock company in 1927. Within a few months, Dekker was featured in the Broadway production of Eugene O'Neill's play Marco Millions.
On April 4, 1929, Dekker married actress Esther Guernini. The couple had two sons and a daughter before divorcing.
After a decade of theatrical appearances, Dekker transferred to Hollywood in 1937, and made his first film, 1937's The Great Garrick.[1] He spent most of the rest of his acting career in the cinema, but also returned to the stage from time to time.
He replaced Lee J. Cobb as Willy Loman in the original production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, and during a five-year stint back on Broadway in the early 1960s, he played the Duke of Norfolk in Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons.
Dekker appeared in some seventy films from the 1930s to 1960s, but his four most famous screen roles were as a mad scientist in the 1940 horror film Dr. Cyclops, as a vicious hitman in the The Killers, as a dangerous dealer in atomic fuel in the 1955 film noir Kiss Me Deadly, and as an unscrupulous railroad detective in Sam Peckinpah's western The Wild Bunch. He was rarely cast in romantic roles, but in the film Seven Sinners, featuring a romance between Marlene Dietrich and John Wayne, Dietrich sails off with Dekker's character at the end of the film. Dekker's role as Pat Harrigan in The Wild Bunch would be his last screen appearance.
On May 5, 1968, Dekker was found dead in his Hollywood home after failing to answer numerous phone calls for two days. There were no signs of forced entry, but money and camera equipment were missing. He was 62 years old.[2]
He was interred at Garden State Crematory in North Bergen, New Jersey.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Albert Dekker has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6620 Hollywood Boulevard.
Politics
Dekker's off-screen preoccupation with politics led to his winning a seat in the California State Assembly for the 57th Assembly District in 1944. Dekker served as a Democratic member for the Assembly until 1946.
During the McCarthy era he was an outspoken critic of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy's tactics; to avoid being blacklisted he spent most of the blacklist working on Broadway rather than Hollywood.
Selected filmography
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 1937 | The Great Garrick | M. LeBrun | Credited as Albert Van Dekker |
| 1938 | Marie Antoinette | Comte de Provence | Credited as Albert Van Dekker |
| 1939 | Beau Geste | Legionnaire Schwartz | |
| The Great Commandment | Longinus | ||
| 1940 | Strange Cargo | Moll | |
| Seven Sinners | Dr. Martin | Alternative title: Cafe of the Seven Sinners | |
| 1941 | Among the Living | John Raden/Paul Raden | |
| 1942 | In Old California | Britt Dawson | |
| Wake Island | Shad McClosky | ||
| 1943 | In Old Oklahoma | Jim "Hunk" Gardner | Alternative title: War of the Wildcats |
| 1945 | Incendiary Blonde | Joe Cadden | |
| 1946 | The Killers | Big Jim Colfax | Alternative title: A Man Alone |
| 1947 | Cass Timberlane | Boone Havock | |
| Gentleman's Agreement | John Minify | ||
| 1954 | The Silver Chalice | Kester | |
| 1955 | East of Eden | Will Hamilton | |
| Kiss Me Deadly | Dr. G.E. Soberin | ||
| 1959 | Suddenly, Last Summer | Dr. Lawrence J. Hockstader | |
| These Thousand Hills | Marshal Conrad | ||
| Middle of the Night | |||
| 1966 | Gamera | Secretary of Defense | Alternative title: Gammera the Invincible |
| 1969 | The Wild Bunch | Pat Harrigan | |
| Television | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1951 | Celanese Theatre | 1 episode | |
| 1952 | Lights Out | 1 episode | |
| CBS Television Workshop | 1 episode | ||
| Studio One | Billy Bones | 1 episode | |
| 1956 | Climax! | Brewster | 1 episode |
| 1959 | Decoy | Otto Flagler | 1 episode |
| 1961 | Route 66 | Frank Ivy | 1 episode |
| 1964 | Kraft Suspense Theatre | Karl Hesse | 1 episode |
| The Defenders | Mark Vronis | 1 episode | |
| 1965 | Seaway | Captain Marland | 1 episode |
| The Trials of O'Brien | George Brewer | 1 episode | |
| 1966 | Mission: Impossible | Colonel Shtemenko | 1 episode |
| 1967 | The Man from U.N.C.L.E. | Harry Beldon | 1 episode |
| 1968 | Run for Your Life | Sir Harry Hiller | 1 episode |
| Judd, for the Defense | George Stuka | 1 episode | |
| I Spy | Indris | 1 episode | |
| Bonanza | Barney Sturgess | 1 episode | |
References
- ^ Monush, Barry (2003). Screen World Presents the Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors: From the Silent Era to 1965. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 187. ISBN 1-557-83551-9.
- ^ Parish, James Robert (2002). The Hollywood Book of Death: The Bizarre, Often Sordid, Passings of More Than 125 American Movie and TV Idols. Contemporary Books. pp. 260. ISBN 0-809-22227-2.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Albert Dekker |
- Albert Dekker at the Internet Movie Database
- Albert Dekker at the Internet Broadway Database
- Albert Dekker at TV Guide
- Albert Dekker at Find a Grave
| California Assembly | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Franklin J. Potter |
California State Assemblyman, 57th District 1945-1947 |
Succeeded by Charles J. Conrad |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Dekker, Albert |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ecke, Albert; Van Dekker, Albert; van Dekker, Albert |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Actor, politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 20, 1905 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 5, 1968 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
stock | retire | vm
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