Albert dekker actor biography sampler

American actor and politician (–)

Albert Dekker
Dekker in In Old Oklahoma ()
In office January 8, – January 6,
Preceded by	Franklin J. Potter
Succeeded by	Charles J. Conrad
Born	Thomas Albert Ecke Van Dekker ()December 20, Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
Died	May 5, () (aged&#;62) Hollywood, California, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Esthr Guerini &#; &#; (m.&#;; div.&#;)&#;
Children	3
Occupation	Actor, politician

Thomas Albert Ecke Van Dekker (December 20, – May 5, ) was an American actor and politician known for his roles in Dr.

Cyclops, The Killers (), Kiss Me Deadly, and The Wild Bunch.

Paul stewart actor

Albert Dekker - Biography - IMDb

Early life and career

Dekker was born in Brooklyn, New York City, the only child of Thomas and Grace Ecke Van Dekker. He attended Richmond Hill High School, where he appeared in stage productions. He then attended Bowdoin College, where he majored in pre-med with plans to become a doctor. On the advice of a friend, he decided to pursue acting as a career.

He made his professional acting debut with a Cincinnati stock company in Within a few months, Dekker was featured in the Broadway production of Eugene O'Neill's play Marco Millions.^[1]

After a decade of theatrical appearances, Dekker transferred to Hollywood in and made his first film, 's The Great Garrick.^[2] He spent most of the rest of his acting career in the cinema but 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 s, he played the Duke of Norfolk in Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons.

Dekker appeared in some 70 films from the s to the s, but his four famous screen roles were as a mad scientist in the horror film Dr.

Cyclops, as a criminal mastermind in 's The Killers, as a dangerous dealer in atomic fuel in the Kiss Me Deadly, and as an unscrupulous railroad detective in Sam Peckinpah's Western The Wild Bunch, released in In , he played a Texas Ranger in The Wonderful Country.

Albert dekker A stage actor from , Albert Dekker was an established Broadway star when he made his film debut ten years later. Tall and with rugged good looks, he often played aggressive character roles, a prime example being his double-crossing gang leader in the classic The Killers ().

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 was an often memorable guest star – usually a villain – in numerous TV series from the s through , such as Rawhide, The Man From UNCLE, Mission: Impossible, Climax!, Bonanza, and I Spy.

Dekker's role as Pat Harrigan in The Wild Bunch was his last screen appearance; he died over a year before it was released.

Personal life

On April 4, , Dekker married former actress Esther Guerini. The couple had two sons, and named them John and Benjamin, and their daughter whom they named Jan, but they divorced in ^[3][4]

In April , Dekker's year-old son, John, fatally shot himself with a rifle.

This happened at the family's home in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. The entire year he had been working on a silencer for the rifle. That death was ruled accidental.^[4]

In his book-length account of the production of The Wild Bunch, writer W.K. Stratton describes Dekker as "completely nuts," and possibly the most troubled person on a set filled with eccentrics.^[5] According to actor R.G.

Armstrong, Dekker showed up to the remote Mexican shooting location of that film in with a year-old girl he described as his wife, telling people (falsely) that he was a medical doctor, and that after filming he would retire from acting to help impoverished Africans.^[6]

Politics

Dekker's off-screen interest in politics led to his winning a seat in the California State Assembly for the 57th Assembly District in Dekker served as a Democratic member of the Assembly until ^[7]

During the McCarthy era, he was an outspoken critic of U.S.

Senator Joseph McCarthy's tactics. As a result, Dekker was blacklisted in Hollywood and spent most of the blacklist period working on Broadway rather than in Hollywood (but he did work throughout the s, including a part in Kiss Me Deadly).^[8]

Death

On May 5, , Dekker was found dead in his Hollywood home by his fiancée, fashion model and future Love Boat creator Jeraldine Saunders.

Albert dekker actor biography sampler Thomas Albert Ecke Van Dekker (December 20, – May 5, ) was an American actor and politician known for his roles in Dr. Cyclops, The Killers (), Kiss Me Deadly, and The Wild Bunch. Dekker was born in Brooklyn, New York City, the only child of Thomas and Grace Ecke Van Dekker.

He had hanged himself in his bathroom while dressed in women's lingerie. His body was covered in explicit words and drawings in red lipstick.^[9]

Money and camera equipment were missing, but there was no sign of forced entry. Police, calling it "quite an unusual case",^[10] originally said it was suicide but the deputy coroner found no evidence of foul play nor any indication that he planned to take his life and ruled his death accidental, the result of autoerotic asphyxiation.^[8][11][12] Dekker was cremated, and his remains interred at the Garden State Crematory in North Bergen, New Jersey.^[13]

Dekker has a star in the motion picture category on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at Hollywood Boulevard.^[14]

Filmography

References

Sources

• Lamparski, R. () Lamparsaki's Hidden Hollywood, Simon & Schuster: New York. ISBN&#;
• Monush, B. () Screen World Presents the Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors: From the Silent Era to , Applause Theatre & Cinema Books: New York. ISBN&#;

External links