Albert Dekker

Infobox actor
bgcolour = silver
name = Albert Dekker


imagesize = 200px
caption = From the trailer for "Gentleman's Agreement" (1947)
birthdate = birth date|1905|12|20|mf=y
location = Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
deathdate = death date and age|1968|5|5|1905|12|20|mf=y
deathplace = Hollywood, California, U.S.
othername = Albert Van Dekker
Albert van Dekker
birthname = Albert Ecke

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" and "The Wild Bunch". He is sometimes credited as Albert Van Dekker or Albert van Dekker.

Early life and career

Born 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". [http://www.francesfarmersrevenge.com/stuff/archive/oldnews/albertdekker.htm Albert Dekker Suicide? Murder? What The Hell? ] ]

After a decade's worth of theatrical appearances, Dekker transferred to Hollywood in 1937, and made his first film, 1937's "The Great Garrick". 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 three most famous screen roles were as a mad scientist in the 1940 horror film "Dr. Cyclops", as a vicious hitman in the "The Killers", and as an unscrupulous railroad detective in Sam Peckinpah's western "The Wild Bunch".

Dekker was not typically cast in romantic roles. However, in the film "Seven Sinners", featuring a romance between Marlene Dietrich and John Wayne, Dietrich eventually abandons the macho Wayne to sail off with Dekker's character.

Dekker's role as Pat Harrigan in "The Wild Bunch" would be the actor's last screen appearance. [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0215260/bio Dekker's bio] - at IMDb]

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 during the McCarthy era, and became an outspoken critic of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy's tactics. Dekker served as an Assemblyman until 1946.

Personal life

On April 4 1929, Dekker married actress Esther Guernini. The couple had two sons and a daughter before divorcing.

At the time of his death, Dekker was engaged to actress Geraldine Saunders.

Death and Controversy

In May of 1968, Dekker was found strangled to death in his Hollywood home. His naked body was bound hand and foot, a hypodermic needle was jammed into each arm, and obscenities were scrawled all over the corpse. At first, it seemed that Dekker was a closet homosexual who had committed suicide (early reports suggested that the writings on his body were his bad movie reviews) or had died while having rough sex. However, there were also items stolen from his apartment, so it is also possible that he was murdered during the course of a robbery.

Filmography

*"The Great Garrick" (1937)
*"The Lone Wolf in Paris" (1938)
*"She Married an Artist" (1938)
*""Marie Antoinette"" (1938)
*"Extortion" (1938)
*"The Last Warning" (1938)
*"Never Say Die" (1939)
*"The Man In the Iron Mask" (1939)
*"Hotel Imperial" (1939)
*""Beau Geste"" (1939)
*"Rangers of Fortune" (1940)
*"Dr. Cyclops" (1940)
*"Seven Sinners" (1940)
*"Strange Cargo" (1940)
*"Reaching for the Sun" (1941)
*"You're the One" (1941)
*"The Great Commandment" (1941)
*"Honky Tonk" (1941)
*"Blonde Inspiration" (1941)
*""Among the Living"" (1941)
*"Buy Me That Town" (1941)
*"Star Spangled Rhythm" (1942)
*"A Night in New Orleans" (1942)
*"Yokel Boy" (1942)
*""In Old California"" (1942)
*"Once Upon a Honeymoon" (1942)
*""Wake Island"" (1942)
*"The Forest Rangers" (1942)
*"The Lady Has Plans" (1942)
*"The Kansan" (1943)
*"In Old Oklahoma" (1943)
*"Buckskin Frontier" (1943)
*"The Woman of the Town" (1943)
*"Experiment Perilous" (1945)
*"Salome, Where She Danced" (1945)
*"Hold That Blonde" (1945)
*"Incendiary Blonde" (1945)
*"The Killers" (1946)
*"Suspense" (1946)
*"Two Years Before the Mast" (1946)
*"The French Key" (1946)
*"California" (1946)
*"Slave Girl" (1947)
*"Wyoming" (1947)
*"The Pretender" (1947)
*"Gentleman's Agreement" (1947)
*"The Fabulous Texan"
*"Cass Timberlane" (1947)
*"Lulu Belle" (1948)
*"Tarzan's Magic Fountain" ((1949)
*"Search for Danger" (1949)
*"Bride of Vengeance" (1949)
*"The Furies" (1949)
*"Destination Murder" (1950)
*"The Kid From Texas" (1950)
*"As Young As You Feel" (1951)
*"Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie" (1952)
*"Leonardo da Vinci" (1952)
*""The Silver Chalice"" (1954)
*""East of Eden"" (1955)
*"Illegal" (1955)
*"Kiss Me Deadly" (1955)
*"She Devil" (1957)
*"Machete" (1958)
*"Middle Of the Night" (1959)
*"The Sound and the Fury" (1959)
*"These Thousand Hills" (1959)
*"The Wonderful Country" (1959)
*""Suddenly, Last Summer"" (1959)
*"Gammera the Invincible" (1965)
*"Ten Blocks On the Camino Real" (1966)
*"Come Spy with Me" (1967)
*"The Wild Bunch" (1969)

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0215260|name=Albert Dekker
*ibdb name|id=79177|name=Albert Dekker
*findagrave|6942

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, California, U.S.