Albert Dekker

Thomas Albert Ecke Van Dekker (December 20, 1905 – May 5, 1968), commonly known as Albert Dekker, was an American actor and politician. He starred in Broadway productions like Death of a Salesman (replacing Lee J. Cobb), An Enemy of the People, A Man for All Seasons, and The Devils. He was also a Hollywood character actor, notably playing memorable villains in films like Dr. Cyclops, The Killers (1946), Kiss Me Deadly (1955), and The Wild Bunch (1969).

As a Democrat, he served in the California State Assembly, representing the 57th district for a single term between 1945 and 1947.

For his contributions to the motion picture industry, Dekker has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

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 1927. Within a few months, Dekker was featured in the Broadway production of Eugene O'Neill's play Marco Millions.

After a decade 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 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 70 films from the 1930s to the 1960s. His four most famous screen roles were as a mad scientist in the 1940 horror film Dr. Cyclops, as a criminal mastermind in 1946's The Killers, as a dangerous dealer in atomic fuel in the 1955 Kiss Me Deadly, and as an unscrupulous railroad detective in Sam Peckinpah's Western The Wild Bunch, released in 1969. In 1959, he played a Texas Ranger in The Wonderful Country. 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 1950s through 1968, 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, 1929, Dekker married former actress Esther Guerini. The couple had two sons, and named them John and Benjamin, and their daughter whom they named Jan. They divorced in 1964.

In April 1957, Dekker's 16-year-old son, John, fatally shot himself with a .22 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. According to actor R.G. Armstrong, Dekker showed up to the remote Mexican shooting location of that film in 1968 with a 13-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.

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 1944. He served as a Democrat from 1945 to 1947. In 1948, Dekker supported former Vice President Henry A. Wallace for President.

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 1950s, including a part in Kiss Me Deadly).

Death On May 5, 1968, Dekker was found dead in his Hollywood home by his fiancée, fashion model and future Love Boat creator Jeraldine Saunders. 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.

Money and camera equipment were missing, but there was no sign of forced entry. Police, calling it "quite an unusual case", 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. Dekker was cremated, and his remains interred at the Garden State Crematory in North Bergen, New Jersey.

Dekker has a star in the motion picture category on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6620 Hollywood Boulevard.

Filmography + Film Year Title Role Notes 1937 The Great Garrick M. LeBrun credited as Albert Van Dekker She Married an Artist Whitney Holton 1938 Extortion Jeffrey Thompson credited as Albert Van Dekker The Lone Wolf in Paris Marquis Louis de Meyerson Marie Antoinette Comte de Provence credited as Albert Van Dekker The Last Warning Higgs the Butler 1939 Paris Honeymoon Amorous Drunk uncredited Hotel Imperial Sergeant Never Say Die Kidley's Second The Man in the Iron Mask Louis XIII Beau Geste Legionnaire Schwartz The Great Commandment Longinus 1940 Strange Cargo Moll with Clark Gable and Joan Crawford Dr. Cyclops Dr. Thorkel Rangers of Fortune George Bird Seven Sinners Dr. Martin with John Wayne; alternative title: Cafe of the Seven Sinners 1941 Blonde Inspiration Phil Hendricks You're the One Luke Laramie Reaching for the Sun Herman Honky Tonk Brazos Hearn with Clark Gable and Lana Turner Buy Me That Town Louie Lanzer Among the Living John Raden / Paul Raden 1942 The Lady Has Plans Baron Von Kemp Star Spangled Rhythm Himself uncredited Yokel Boy 'Buggsy' Malone In Old California Britt Dawson with John Wayne Night in New Orleans Police Lieutenant William Richards Wake Island Shad McClosky The Forest Rangers Twig Dawson Once Upon a Honeymoon Gaston Le Blanc 1943 Buckskin Frontier Gideon Skene The Kansan Steve Barat In Old Oklahoma Jim "Hunk" Gardner with John Wayne; alternative title: War of the Wildcats The Woman of the Town Bat Masterson with Claire Trevor as Dora Hand 1944 The Hitler Gang Narrator uncredited Experiment Perilous 'Clag' Claghorne 1945 Salome Where She Danced Von Bohlen Incendiary Blonde Joe Cadden Hold That Blonde! Police Inspector Callahan 1946 The French Key Johnny Fletcher Suspense Frank Leonard The Killers Big Jim Colfax alternative title: A Man Alone Two Years Before the Mast Brown 1947 California Mr. Pike Slave Girl Pasha Wyoming Duke Lassiter The Pretender Kenneth Holden Cass Timberlane Boone Havock The Fabulous Texan Gibson Hart Gentleman's Agreement John Minify with Gregory Peck and Celeste Holm 1948 Fury at Furnace Creek Edward Leverett Lulu Belle Mark Brady 1949 Tarzan's Magic Fountain Mr. Trask Bride of Vengeance Vanetti Search for Danger Kirk 1950 The Kid from Texas Alexander Kain Destination Murder Armitage The Furies Mr. Reynolds 1951 As Young as You Feel Louis McKinley 1952 Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie Lloyd Slocum 1954 The Silver Chalice Kester 1955 East of Eden Will Hamilton with James Dean Kiss Me Deadly Dr. G.E. Soberin Illegal Frank Garland 1957 She Devil Dr. Richard Bach 1958 Machete Don Luis Montoya 1959The Sound and the Fury Earl Snopes These Thousand Hills Marshal Conrad Middle of the Night Walter Lockman with Fredric March and Kim NovakThe Wonderful Country Texas Ranger Capt. Rucker Suddenly, Last Summer Dr. Lawrence J. Hockstader 1965 Once Upon a Tractor Colonel short 1966 Gammera, the Invincible Secretary of Defense 1967 Come Spy with Me Walter Ludeker 1969 The Wild Bunch Pat Harrigan Released posthumously; (final film role)

+ Television Year Title Role Notes 1951 Pulitzer Prize Playhouse George Washington episode: "Valley Forge" 1952 Studio One Billy Bones episode: "Treasure Island" 1955 Goodyear Television Playhouse episode: "The Chivington Raid" 1956 Climax! Brewster episode: "Fear Is the Hunter" 1959 Decoy Otto Flagler episode: "High Swing" 1960 The Witness Jimmy Hines episode: "Jimmy Hines" 1961 Route 66 Frank Ivy episode: "The Newborn" 1964 Kraft Suspense Theatre Karl Hesse episode: "The World I Want" 1965 Seaway Captain Marland episode: "The 34th Man" Rawhide Josh Breeden & Jonas Bolt episodes: Josh & Crossing at White Feather The Trials of O'Brien George Brewer episode: "Bargain Day on the Street of Regret" 1966 Mission: Impossible Colonel Shtemenko episode: "The Short Tail Spy" Death of a Salesman Uncle Ben CBS-TV production 1967 The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Harry Beldon episode: "The Summit-Five Affair" 1968 Run for Your Life Sir Harry Hiller episode: "A Dangerous Proposal" 1968 Bonanza Barney Sturgess episode: "The Bottle Fighter" 1968 I Spy Indris episode: "Shana"