Biography

Albert Dekker

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A stage actor from 1927, 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 (1946). From 1944-46 he served a term in the California legislature representing the Hollywood district. As he got older Dekker, unlike many actors, turned to the stage rather than television, and achieved great success there and on the college lecture circuit. His last role, in The Wild Bunch (1969), was one of his most memorable: the tough railroad detective Harrigan, who hires a murderous group of bounty hunters to track down and kill a gang of outlaws who've been robbing his company's trains.
- IMDb mini biography by: frankfob2@yahoo.com

Accidentally hanged himself. On May 5, 1968, Dekker was found dead in his Hollywood apartment 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 around his neck that was looped around the shower curtain rod. He was handcuffed, blindfolded, gagged and had sexually explicit words scrawled on his body in red lipstick. The coroner ruled his death accidental stating, "We have no information that Mr. Dekker planned to take his own life." Dekker was cremated and his remains were interred at Garden State Crematory in North Bergen, N.J.
Survived by a son Benjamin and a daughter Jan. Another son, 16-year-old John, was found dead of a gunshot wound in 1957; the police called his death accidental.
Although he was a major star in the 1940s, he is probably best remembered by modern audiences for his relatively small, but memorable, role as Harrigan, the tough railroad detective out to destroy The Wild Bunch in The Wild Bunch (1969), which was his final film.
In 1940, he hired modernist Los Angeles architect Rudolf Schindler to design and build a house for him and his wife Esther in Canoga Park, California. In the late 1940s, the house was sold to screenwriter A.I. Bezzerides.
Served in California legislature 1944-46 as the Democratic Assemblyman from the 57th District (Hollywood).

The theater is a horrible place in which to make a living. They sit you on the shelf for years. They take you off and brush you off and later you have to find your way back to that shelf.