Frank Lovejoy

Frank Andrew Lovejoy Jr. (March 28, 1912 – October 2, 1962) was an American actor in radio, film, and television. He is perhaps best remembered for appearing in the film noir The Hitch-Hiker and for starring in the radio drama Night Beat.

Early life

He was born in the

A successful radio actor, Lovejoy played Broadway Harry on the Gay Nineties Revue^[2] and 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.

In radio soap operas, Lovejoy played Dr. Christopher Ellerbe in

Lovejoy mostly played supporting roles in films of the 1940s and 1950s. Appearing in movies such as

.

In 1950, he had the lead role in Try and Get Me (aka Sound of Fury) as a struggling, out-of-work man who fell to crime to support his family; in a film noir combining crime and murder with social injustice, an irresponsible newspaper and equally criminal public mob reactions.[6] 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.

Television

Lovejoy starred in two short-run TV series, Man Against Crime and Meet McGraw.

Lovejoy's final television performances include the episode "County General" (March 18, 1962) on the

crime drama Target: The Corruptors! about the efforts of a New York City reporter to expose organized crime

.

Personal life

In 1940, Lovejoy married actress Joan Banks, with whom he had daughter Judith and son Stephen. On October 2, 1962, Lovejoy died of a heart attack in his sleep at the Warwick Hotel in New York City.^[7] He and Banks at the time had been performing together in a New Jersey production of Gore Vidal's play The Best Man.^[8]

Filmography

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1948	Black Bart	Mark Lorimer
1949	Home of the Brave	Sergeant Mingo
1950	In a Lonely Place	Detective Sergeant Brub Nicolai
	South Sea Sinner	Doc
	Three Secrets	Bob Duffy
	Breakthrough	Sgt. Pete Bell
	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
	Starlift	Himself
1952	Retreat, Hell!	Lieutenant Colonel Steve L. Corbett
	The Winning Team	Rogers Hornsby
1953	She's Back on Broadway	John Webber
	The Hitch-Hiker	Gilbert Bowen
	House of Wax	Lieutenant Thomas "Tom" Brennan
	The System	John E. 'Johnny' Merrick
	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
	Top of the World	Maj. Brad Cantrell
	Mad at the World	Police Capt. Tom Lynn
	Finger Man	Casey Martin
	Shack Out on 101	Professor Bastion
	The Crooked Web	Stanley Fabian
1956	Julie	Detective Lieutenant Pringle
1958	Cole Younger, Gunfighter	Cole Younger
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1957–1958	Meet McGraw	McGraw
1957	Cavalcade of America	Inspector Ed McCook	Ep. 'Chicago 2-1-2'
Radio
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1948	The Blue Beetle
1948	Box 13	Various support roles	-
1950	Escape		Episode: "Danger at Matecumbe"[9]
1950–1952	Night Beat	Randy Stone
1952	Gang Busters
1952	Hollywood Sound Stage		Episode: "One Way Passage"[10]
1952	Suspense	Joe Broady	Episode: "The Wreck of the Old 97"[11]
1952	Suspense	Billy the Kid	Episode: "The Shooting of Billy the Kid"[12]
1954	Suspense	Mr. Kedman	Episode: "The Man from Tomorrow"[13]

References

1. ^ US Census 1920, Woodridge, Bergen Co., New Jersey, enumerator's district 125, sheet 18A
2. ^ "Saturday's Highlights" (PDF). Radio and Television Mirror. Vol. 13, no. 4. February 1940. p. 52. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
3. ISBN 978-0810829572
   . p. 249.
4. ^ Senseney, Dan (September 1940). "What's New from Coast to Coast" (PDF). Radio and Television Mirror. Vol. 14, no. 5. pp. 36–37, 72. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
5. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3
   .
6. ISBN 9780879514792
   .
7. Newspapers.com
   .
8. ^ Digital Collections, The New York Public Library. "(still image) Frank Lovejoy and Shepperd Strudwick in the stage production The Best Man (touring company), (1962)". The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
9. ^ "Radio's Golden Age". Nostalgia Digest. Vol. 40, no. 1. Winter 2014. pp. 40–41.
10. Newspapers.com.
11. Newspapers.com.
12. Newspapers.com.
13. archive.org.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Frank Lovejoy.

• Official website
• Frank Lovejoy at
  IMDb
• Frank Lovejoy at AllMovie
• Frank Lovejoy at the Internet Broadway Database
• Frank Lovejoy at Find a Grave