Albert Dekker was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 character actor

Character actor

A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...

 and politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 best known for his roles in Dr. Cyclops

Dr. Cyclops

Dr. Cyclops is a science fiction horror film directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack, starring Thomas Coley, Victor Kilian, Janice Logan, Charles Halton, Frank Yaconelli, and Albert Dekker, and released by Paramount Pictures.- Plot summary :...

, The Killers

The Killers (1946 film)

The Killers is a 1946 American film noir directed by Robert Siodmak. It is based in part on the short story of the same name by Ernest Hemingway. The film features Burt Lancaster in his screen debut, as well as Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien, and Sam Levene...

, Kiss Me Deadly

Kiss Me Deadly

Kiss Me Deadly is a 1955 film noir drama produced and directed by Robert Aldrich starring Ralph Meeker. The screenplay was written by A.I. Bezzerides, based on the Mickey Spillane Mike Hammer mystery novel Kiss Me, Deadly. Kiss Me Deadly is often considered a classic of the noir genre. The film...

, and The Wild Bunch

The Wild Bunch

The Wild Bunch is a 1969 American Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah about an aging outlaw gang on the Texas-Mexico border, trying to exist in the changing "modern" world of 1913...

. He is sometimes credited as Albert Van Dekker or Albert van Dekker. He was a member of the Democratic Party

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

.

Early life and career

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

Bowdoin College

Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...

 and made his professional acting debut with a Cincinnati

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

 stock company in 1927. Within a few months, Dekker was featured in the Broadway production of Eugene O'Neill

Eugene O'Neill

Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...

's play Marco Millions.

After a decade of theatrical appearances, Dekker transferred to Hollywood

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California

Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...

 in 1937, and made his first film, 1937's The Great Garrick

The Great Garrick

The Great Garrick is a motion picture directed by James Whale and starring Brian Aherne and Olivia de Havilland. It also features Lionel Atwill, Edward Everett Horton, and Melville Cooper. Lana Turner has a bit part...

. 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

Lee J. Cobb

Lee J. Cobb was an American actor. He is best known for his performance in 12 Angry Men his Academy Award-nominated performance in On the Waterfront and one of his last films, The Exorcist...

 as Willy Loman in the original production of Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller

Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...

's Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman is a 1949 play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was the recipient of the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. Premiered at the Morosco Theatre in February 1949, the original production ran for a total of 742 performances.-Plot :Willy Loman...

, and during a five-year stint back on Broadway in the early 1960s, he played the Duke of Norfolk

Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk

Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was a prominent Tudor politician. He was uncle to Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, two of the wives of King Henry VIII, and played a major role in the machinations behind these marriages...

 in Robert Bolt

Robert Bolt

Robert Oxton Bolt, CBE was an English playwright and a two-time Oscar winning screenwriter.-Career:He was born in Sale, Cheshire. At Manchester Grammar School his affinity for Sir Thomas More first developed. He attended the University of Manchester, and, after war service, the University of...

's A Man for All Seasons

A Man for All Seasons

A Man for All Seasons is a play by Robert Bolt. An early form of the play had been written for BBC Radio in 1954, and a one-hour live television version starring Bernard Hepton was produced in 1957 by the BBC, but after Bolt's success with The Flowering Cherry, he reworked it for the stage.It was...

.

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

1940 in film

The year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney classics Pinocchio and Fantasia.-Events:*February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released....

 horror film Dr. Cyclops

Dr. Cyclops

Dr. Cyclops is a science fiction horror film directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack, starring Thomas Coley, Victor Kilian, Janice Logan, Charles Halton, Frank Yaconelli, and Albert Dekker, and released by Paramount Pictures.- Plot summary :...

, as a vicious hitman in The Killers

The Killers (1946 film)

The Killers is a 1946 American film noir directed by Robert Siodmak. It is based in part on the short story of the same name by Ernest Hemingway. The film features Burt Lancaster in his screen debut, as well as Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien, and Sam Levene...

, as a dangerous dealer in atomic fuel in the 1955 film noir

Film noir

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...

 Kiss Me Deadly

Kiss Me Deadly

Kiss Me Deadly is a 1955 film noir drama produced and directed by Robert Aldrich starring Ralph Meeker. The screenplay was written by A.I. Bezzerides, based on the Mickey Spillane Mike Hammer mystery novel Kiss Me, Deadly. Kiss Me Deadly is often considered a classic of the noir genre. The film...

, and as an unscrupulous railroad detective in Sam Peckinpah

Sam Peckinpah

David Samuel "Sam" Peckinpah was an American filmmaker and screenwriter who achieved prominence following the release of the Western epic The Wild Bunch...

's western The Wild Bunch

The Wild Bunch

The Wild Bunch is a 1969 American Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah about an aging outlaw gang on the Texas-Mexico border, trying to exist in the changing "modern" world of 1913...

. He was rarely cast in romantic roles, but in the film Seven Sinners, featuring a romance between Marlene Dietrich

Marlene Dietrich

Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...

 and John Wayne

John Wayne

Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...

, 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.

Personal life

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

Politics

Dekker's off-screen preoccupation with politics led to his winning a seat in the California State Assembly

California State Assembly

The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...

 for the 57th Assembly District in 1944. Dekker served as a Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 member for the Assembly until 1946.

During the McCarthy era

McCarthyism

McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...

 he was an outspoken critic of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy

Joseph McCarthy

Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...

's tactics; to avoid being blacklisted he spent most of the blacklist period working on Broadway rather than Hollywood.

Death

On May 5, 1968, Dekker was found dead in his Hollywood home after failing to answer numerous phone calls for two days. Although money and camera equipment were missing, there were no signs of forced entry. He was found naked, kneeling in his bathtub with a noose wrapped around his neck that was looped around the shower's curtain rod. He was also handcuffed, blindfolded, gagged and had sexually explicit words scrawled on his body in red lipstick

Lipstick

Lipstick is a cosmetic product containing pigments, oils, waxes, and emollients that applies color, texture, and protection to the lips. Many varieties of lipstick are known. As with most other types of makeup, lipstick is typically, but not exclusively, worn by women...

. The coroner's ruling was accidental death by autoerotic asphyxiation. Dekker was 62 years old.

He was interred at Garden State Crematory

Garden State Crematory

Garden State Crematory is located at 4101 Kennedy Boulevard in North Bergen, New Jersey. The back of the building overlooks the Weehawken Cemetery and it is adjacent to the Bergen Crest Mausoleum.-History:...

 in North Bergen, New Jersey

North Bergen, New Jersey

North Bergen is a township in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the township had a total population of 60,773. Originally founded in 1843, the town was much diminished in territory by a series of secessions. Situated on the Hudson Palisades, it is one...

.

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

Hollywood Walk of Fame

The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...

 at 6620 Hollywood Boulevard

Hollywood Boulevard

-Revitalization:In recent years successful efforts have been made at cleaning up Hollywood Blvd., as the street had gained a reputation for crime and seediness. Central to these efforts was the construction of the Hollywood and Highland shopping center and adjacent Kodak Theatre in 2001...

.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1937	The Great Garrick The Great Garrick The Great Garrick is a motion picture directed by James Whale and starring Brian Aherne and Olivia de Havilland. It also features Lionel Atwill, Edward Everett Horton, and Melville Cooper. Lana Turner has a bit part...	M. LeBrun	Credited as Albert Van Dekker
1938	Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette (1938 film) Marie Antoinette is a 1938 film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starred Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette...	Comte de Provence	Credited as Albert Van Dekker
1939	Beau Geste Beau Geste (1939 film) Beau Geste is a 1939 film produced by Paramount Pictures based on the novel of the same name by P. C. Wren. It was directed and produced by William A. Wellman from a screenplay by Robert Carson...	Legionnaire Schwartz
1939	The Great Commandment The Great Commandment The Great Commandment is a Christian film directed by Irving Pichel, which portrays the conversion to Christianity of a young Zealot, Joel, and the Roman soldier Longinus through the teachings of Jesus in his Parable of the Good Samaritan. It was co-produced by Rev. James K. Friedrich and released...	Longinus
1940	Strange Cargo Strange Cargo (1940 film) Strange Cargo is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer feature film starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable in a story about a group of fugitive prisoners from a French penal colony. The screenplay by Lawrence Hazard was based upon the 1936 novel, Not Too Narrow, Not Too Deep, by Richard Sale. The film was...	Moll
1940	Seven Sinners	Dr. Martin	Alternative title: Cafe of the Seven Sinners
1941	Among the Living Among the Living (film) Among the Living is a horror suspense film with Albert Dekker, Susan Hayward, and Frances Farmer.-Plot:Albert Dekker plays two twin brothers, John and Paul. Paul was supposed to have died when he was 10 years old, but actually went insane and was shut up in a secret room in his parents' mansion...	John Raden/Paul Raden
1942	In Old California In Old California (1942 film) In Old California is a 1942 film starring John Wayne as a Boston pharmacist who relocates to Sacramento during the Gold Rush. The movie was directed by William C. McGann.-Cast:* John Wayne ... Tom Craig* Binnie Barnes ... Lacey Miller...	Britt Dawson
1942	Wake Island Wake Island (1942 film) Wake Island is a 1942 American film written by W. R. Burnett and Frank Butler, and directed by John Farrow. The film tells the story of the United States military garrison on Wake Island and the onslaught by the Japanese following the attack on Pearl Harbor...	Shad McClosky
1942	Once Upon a Honeymoon Once Upon a Honeymoon Once Upon a Honeymoon is a 1956 musical sponsored film about a couple wishing for a new home. It starts off with a group of angels who decide to help a couple have a honeymoon. The husband tries to write a song, while the wife daydreams about a new home, and imagines what it would be like to have...	Gaston Le Blanc
1943	In Old Oklahoma In Old Oklahoma In Old Oklahoma is a 1943 American film starring John Wayne, Martha Scott, Albert Dekker, Gabby Hayes, Marjorie Rambeau, and Dale Evans. The movie was directed by Albert S. Rogell and is usually shown under the title War of the Wildcats...	Jim "Hunk" Gardner	Alternative title: War of the Wildcats
1945	Incendiary Blonde Incendiary Blonde Incendiary Blonde is a 1945 American musical drama film of 1920s nightclub star Texas Guinan. Filmed in Technicolor by director George Marshall, it starred actress Betty Hutton in the title role. The music was written by Robert Emmett Dolan...	Joe Cadden
1946	The Killers The Killers (1946 film) The Killers is a 1946 American film noir directed by Robert Siodmak. It is based in part on the short story of the same name by Ernest Hemingway. The film features Burt Lancaster in his screen debut, as well as Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien, and Sam Levene...	Big Jim Colfax	Alternative title: A Man Alone
1947	Cass Timberlane Cass Timberlane Cass Timberlane is a novel written by Sinclair Lewis, published in 1945. It is Sinclair Lewis' nineteenth novel and one of his last.It was made into a romantic drama film starring Spencer Tracy and Lana Turner, directed by George Sidney, and released in 1947.Timberlane is a minor character in...	Boone Havock
1947	Gentleman's Agreement Gentleman's Agreement Gentleman's Agreement is a 1947 drama film about a journalist who goes undercover as a Jew to conduct research for an exposé on antisemitism in New York City and the affluent community of Darien, Connecticut...	John Minify
1948	Lulu Belle Lulu Belle (film) Lulu Belle is a film released by Columbia Pictures starring Dorothy Lamour, George Montgomery, and Glenda Farrell.Directed by Leslie Fenton, the film was an adaption of a sensational 1920s hit play by Charles MacArthur and Edward Sheldon, about a mulatto songstress, a "man-trap" who bewitched...	Mark Brady
1949	Bride of Vengeance Bride of Vengeance Bride of Vengeance is a 1949 adventure film directed by Mitchell Leisen. Mary Grant designed the film's costumes. It stars Paulette Goddard and John Lund.-Cast:*Paulette Goddard as Lucrezia Borgia*John Lund as Alfonso d'Este...	Vanetti
1950	Destination Murder Destination Murder Destination Murder is an American crime film noir directed by Edward L. Cahn. The drama features Joyce Mackenzie, Stanley Clements and Hurd Hatfield.-Cast:* Joyce Mackenzie as Laura Mansfield* Stanley Clements as Jackie Wales...	Armitage
1951	Pulitzer Prize Playhouse Pulitzer Prize Playhouse The Pulitzer Prize Playhouse is an American television anthology drama series which offered adaptations of Pulitzer Prize winning plays, stories and novels. The distinguished journalist Elmer Davis was the host and narrator of this 1950-52 ABC series....	George Washington	Episode: "Valley Forge"
1952	Studio One	Billy Bones	Episode: "Treasure Island"
1954	The Silver Chalice The Silver Chalice (film) The Silver Chalice is a 1954 historical epic film from Warner Bros., based on Thomas B. Costain's 1952 novel of the same name.-Plot:A Greek artisan is commissioned to cast the cup of Christ in silver and sculpt around its rim the faces of the disciples and Jesus himself. He travels to Jerusalem and...	Kester
1955	East of Eden	Will Hamilton
1955	Kiss Me Deadly Kiss Me Deadly Kiss Me Deadly is a 1955 film noir drama produced and directed by Robert Aldrich starring Ralph Meeker. The screenplay was written by A.I. Bezzerides, based on the Mickey Spillane Mike Hammer mystery novel Kiss Me, Deadly. Kiss Me Deadly is often considered a classic of the noir genre. The film...	Dr. G.E. Soberin
1956	Climax!	Brewster	Episode: "Fear Is the Hunter"
1959	Suddenly, Last Summer Suddenly, Last Summer (film) Suddenly, Last Summer is a 1959 American Southern Gothic mystery film based on the play of the same title by Tennessee Williams. The film was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and produced by Sam Spiegel from a screenplay by Gore Vidal and Williams. The music score was by Buxton Orr using themes by...	Dr. Lawrence J. Hockstader
1959	These Thousand Hills These Thousand Hills These Thousand Hills is a 1959 Western film starring Patricia Owens, Alfred Hayes and Richard Egan, and based on the novel of the same name by A. B. Guthrie Jr.....	Marshal Conrad
1959	Decoy Decoy (TV series) Decoy is a groundbreaking American crime drama television series which was created for syndication and initially broadcast from October 14, 1957 to July 7, 1958, lasting for thirty nine 30-minute black-and-white episodes...	Otto Flagler	Episode: "High Swing"
1961	Route 66 Route 66 (TV series) Route 66 is an American TV series in which two young men traveled across America. The show ran weekly on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It starred Martin Milner as Tod Stiles and, for two and a half seasons, George Maharis as Buz Murdock. Maharis was ill for much of the third season, during which time Tod...	Frank Ivy	Episode: "The Newborn"
1964	Kraft Suspense Theatre Kraft Suspense Theatre Kraft Suspense Theatre, an anthology series, was telecast from 1963 to 1965 on NBC. Sponsored by Kraft Foods, it was seen three weeks out of every four and was pre-empted for Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall specials once monthly...	Karl Hesse	Episode: "The World I Want"
1965	Seaway	Captain Marland	Episode: "The 34th Man"
1965	The Trials of O'Brien The Trials of O'Brien The Trials of O'Brien was a 1965 television series starring Peter Falk as a seedy Shakespeare-quoting lawyer and featuring Elaine Stritch as his secretary and Joanna Barnes as his ex-wife. Falk often said that he actually liked this financially unsuccessful series much better than his later...	George Brewer	Episode: "Bargain Day on the Street of Regret"
1966	Gamera Gamera (film) is a 1965 daikaiju eiga about a giant turtle named Gamera. The film is similar in nature to the popular Godzilla films, and is also the first in a series of films about Gamera...	Secretary of Defense	Alternative title: Gammera the Invincible
1966	Mission: Impossible Mission: Impossible Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...	Colonel Shtemenko	Episode: "The Short Tail Spy"
1967	The Man from U.N.C.L.E. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...	Harry Beldon	Episode: "The Summit-Five Affair"
1968	Run for Your Life Run for Your Life (TV series) Run for Your Life is an American television drama series starring Ben Gazzara as a man with only a short time to live. It ran on NBC from 1965 to 1968. The series was created by Roy Huggins, who had previously explored the "man on the move" concept with The Fugitive.-Synopsis:Gazzara plays lawyer...	Sir Harry Hiller	Episode: "A Dangerous Proposal"
1968	Bonanza Bonanza Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...	Barney Sturgess	Episode: "The Bottle Fighter"
1969	The Wild Bunch The Wild Bunch The Wild Bunch is a 1969 American Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah about an aging outlaw gang on the Texas-Mexico border, trying to exist in the changing "modern" world of 1913...	Pat Harrigan

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