Frank Lovejoy

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Frank Lovejoy bigraphy, stories - Film

Frank Lovejoy : biography

March 28, 1912 – October 2, 1962

Frank Lovejoy (March 28, 1912 – October 2, 1962) was an American actor in radio, film, and television. He was born Frank Andrew Lovejoy Jr. in Bronx, New York, but grew up in New Jersey. His father, Frank Lovejoy Sr., was a furniture salesman from Maine. His mother, Nora, was born in Massachusetts to Irish immigrant parents.US Census 1920, Woodridge, Bergen Co., New Jersey, enumerator’s district 125, sheet 18A

Partial filmography

Film
Year Film Role Other notes
1949 Home of the Brave Sergeant Mingo
1950 In a Lonely Place Detective Sergeant Brub Nicolai
Try and Get Me! Howard Tyler aka The Sound of Fury
1951 I Was a Communist for the FBI Matt Cvetic
Goodbye, My Fancy Matt Cole
Force of Arms Major Blackford
I’ll See You in My Dreams Walter Donaldson
1952 Retreat, Hell! Lieutenant Colonel Steve L. Corbett
The Winning Team Rogers Hornsby
1953 The Hitch-Hiker Gilbert Bowen
House of Wax Lieutenant Thomas "Tom" Brennan
The Charge at Feather River Sergeant Charlie Baker
1954 Beachhead Sgt. Fletcher
Men of the Fighting Lady Lieutenant Commander Paul Grayson
1955 The Americano Bento Hermany
Strategic Air Command General Ennis C. Hawkes
The Crooked Web Stanley Fabian
1956 Julie Detective Lieutenant Pringle
1958 Cole Younger, Gunfighter Cole Younger
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1957-58 Meet McGraw McGraw
1957 Cavalcade of America Ep. ‘Chicago 2-1-2’ Inspector Ed McCook
Radio
Year Title Role
1952 Gang Busters
1950-52 Nightbeat Randy Stone
1948 The Blue Beetle
1948 Box 13 Various support roles

Films

In films of the 1940s and 1950s, Lovejoy mostly played supporting roles. Appearing in movies such as Goodbye, My Fancy (1951) with Joan Crawford, and The Hitch-Hiker (1953) directed by Ida Lupino, Lovejoy was effective playing the movie’s everyman in extraordinary situations. He was in several war movies, notably Joseph H. Lewis’ Retreat, Hell! (1952) which portrayed the United States Marine Corps’ retreat from the Chosin Reservoir (aka the Changjin Reservoir) during the Korean War. In 1951, he had the title role in I Was a Communist for the FBI with co-stars Ron Hagerthy, Paul Picerni, and Philip Carey.

Death

On October 2, 1962, Frank Lovejoy died of a heart attack in his sleep at his residence in New York City. His wife, Joan Banks, called for medical help after she was unable to wake him. The couple had been appearing in a New Jersey production of the Gore Vidal play The Best Man.

Television

Lovejoy starred in two short-run TV series, Man Against Crime and Meet McGraw. Episodes of these two series have never been released commercially on DVD or VHS and never aired on reruns. Meet McGraw episodes were screened at the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention.

Lovejoy was first married to Frances Williams (1901–59) but divorced in the late 1930s. In 1940, Lovejoy married actress Joan Banks (1918–1998), with whom he had a son and a daughter.

Among Lovejoy’s last performances was with Donald May in the episode "County General" (March 18, 1962) on the ABC series Bus Stop with Marilyn Maxwell in the role of Grace Sherwood, owner of a diner in Sunrise, Colorado. That same season, he appeared on the ABC crime drama Target: The Corruptors! about the efforts of a New York City reporter to expose organized crime.

Radio

A successful radio actor, Lovejoy was heard on the 1930s crime drama series Gang Busters. Lovejoy was a narrator (during the first season) for the show This Is Your FBI. He played the title character on the syndicated The Blue Beetle during the 1940s, and starred in the later newspaper drama series Nightbeat in the early 1950s and in episodes of Suspense in the late 1950s.