Frank Lovejoy
Encyclopedia
Frank Lovejoy was an American actor in radio, film, and television. He was born Frank 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.
. Lovejoy was a narrator 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 crime drama
series Nightbeat
in the early 1950s.
(1951) with Joan Crawford
, and The Hitchhiker
(1953) 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
.
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 two children (a boy and a girl).
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
.
play The Best Man
.
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. His father, Frank Lovejoy Sr., was a furniture salesman from Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
. His mother, Nora, was born in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
to Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
immigrant parents.
Radio
A successful radio actor, Lovejoy was heard on the 1930s crime drama series Gang BustersGang Busters
Gang Busters was an American dramatic radio program heralded as "the only national program that brings you authentic police case histories." It premiered as G-Men, sponsored by Chevrolet, on July 20, 1935.-History:...
. Lovejoy was a narrator for the show This Is Your FBI
This is Your FBI
This Is Your FBI was a radio crime drama which aired in the United States on ABC from April 6, 1945 to January 30, 1953 for a total of 409 shows. FBI chief J...
. He played the title character on the syndicated The Blue Beetle
Blue Beetle
Blue Beetle is the name of three fictional superheroes that appear in American comic books published by a variety of companies since 1939.-Publication history:...
during the 1940s, and starred in the later crime drama
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
series Nightbeat
Nightbeat
Nightbeat was a radio drama series that aired on NBC from February 6, 1950 until September 25, 1952, sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer and Wheaties....
in the early 1950s.
Films
In films of the 1940s and 1950s, Lovejoy mostly played supporting roles. Appearing in movies such as Goodbye, My FancyGoodbye, My Fancy
Goodbye, My Fancy is a 1951 Warner Bros. film starring Joan Crawford, Robert Young, and Frank Lovejoy in a light tale about a woman and her old flame. The screenplay by Ivan Goff was based upon a 1948 play by Fay Kanin. The film was directed by Vincent Sherman and produced by Henry Blanke...
(1951) with Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
, and The Hitchhiker
The Hitchhiker
The Hitchhiker is a mystery anthology series that aired from 1983 to 1987 on HBO and First Choice in Canada. The series later moved to the USA Network from 1989 to 1991.-Synopsis:...
(1953) Lovejoy was effective playing the movie's everyman
Everyman
In literature and drama, the term everyman has come to mean an ordinary individual, with whom the audience or reader is supposed to be able to identify easily, and who is often placed in extraordinary circumstances...
in extraordinary situations. He was in several war movies, notably Joseph H. Lewis
Joseph H. Lewis
Joseph H. Lewis was an American B-movie film director whose stylish flourishes came to be appreciated by auteur theory-espousing film critics in the years following his retirement in 1966...
' Retreat, Hell!
Retreat, Hell!
Retreat, Hell! is a 1952 American film about the 1st Marine Division in the Korean War directed by Joseph H. Lewis.-Plot:The film is the story of the putting together of a Marine Battalion sent to Korea who are gathered from various sources...
(1952) which portrayed the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Marine Corps' retreat from the Chosin Reservoir (aka the Changjin Reservoir) during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. In 1951, he had the title role in I Was a Communist for the FBI
I Was a Communist for the FBI
I Was a Communist for the FBI is the name of a series of stories written by Matt Cvetic that appeared in the Saturday Evening Post. The stories were later turned into a best-selling book, an American espionage thriller radio series and motion picture in the early 1950s.The story follows Cvetic, who...
with co-stars Ron Hagerthy
Ron Hagerthy
Ronald F. "Ron" Hagerthy is a former American actor known primarily for his guest-starring and supporting roles on television westerns. In 1952, he portrayed Clipper King in the modern western series, Sky King, with Kirby Grant in the title role of Clipper's uncle, Schuyler "Sky" King, pilot of...
, Paul Picerni
Paul Picerni
-Life and career:Picerni was born in New York City, New York. He was an Eagle Scout who joined the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, where he served as a B-24 Liberator bombardier in the China-Burma-India Theater. He flew 25 combat missions with the 493rd Bomb Squadron of the 7th...
, and Philip Carey
Philip Carey
-Biography:He was born as Eugene Joseph Carey in Hackensack, New Jersey. A former U.S. Marine, Carey was wounded as part of the ship's detachment of the USS Franklin during World War II and served again in the Korean War....
.
Television
Lovejoy starred in two short-run TV series, Man Against CrimeMan Against Crime
Man Against Crime , one of the first television programs about private eyes, ran on CBS, the DuMont Television Network and NBC from October 7, 1949 to August 26, 1956. The show was created by Lawrence Klee and was broadcast live until 1952...
and Meet McGraw
Meet McGraw
Meet McGraw is an American dramatic television series starring Frank Lovejoy in the role of the hard-hitting detective McGraw, a man specifically given no first name in the program. Forty-one half-hour episodes aired on NBC during the 1957-1958 season, sponsored by Procter & Gamble. The series was...
. 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
Joan Banks
Joan Banks was an American film, television, stage and radio actress who often appeared in dramas with her husband, Frank Lovejoy....
(1918–1998), with whom he had two children (a boy and a girl).
Among Lovejoy's last performances was with Donald May
Donald May (actor)
Donald May is an American actor best known for replacing Wayde Preston as the lead in the 1957 television series Colt .45. May played "Sam Colt, Jr.," cousin to Preston's character Christopher Colt, and the program ran on the BBC under the title The Colt Cousins...
in the episode "County General" (March 18, 1962) on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
series Bus Stop
Bus Stop (TV series)
Bus Stop is a 26-episode drama which aired on ABC from October 1, 1961, until March 25, 1962, starring Marilyn Maxwell as Grace Sherwood, the owner of a bus station and diner in the fictitious town of Sunrise in the Colorado Rockies...
with Marilyn Maxwell
Marilyn Maxwell
Marilyn Maxwell , born Marvel Marilyn Maxwell, was an American actress and entertainer.Noted for her blonde hair and sexually alluring persona, she appeared in several films and radio programs, and entertained the troops during World War II and the Korean War on USO tours with Bob Hope.-Career:She...
in the role of Grace Sherwood, owner of a diner in Sunrise, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
. That same season, he appeared on the ABC crime drama Target: The Corruptors!
Target: The Corruptors!
Target: The Corruptors! is a 35-episode crime drama starring Stephen McNally as newspaper reporter Paul Marino, which aired on ABC from September 29, 1961 to June 8, 1962. The character Jack Flood, Marino's undercover agent, was portrayed by Robert Harland...
about the efforts of a New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
reporter to expose organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
.
Death
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 VidalGore Vidal
Gore Vidal is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. His third novel, The City and the Pillar , outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality...
play The Best Man
The Best Man (play)
The Best Man is a 1960 play by American playwright Gore Vidal. The play premiered on Broadway at the Morosco Theatre on March 31, 1960, and ran for 520 performances before closing on July 8, 1961.Vidal adapted it into a film with the same title in 1964....
.
Partial filmography
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | Other notes |
| 1949 | Home of the Brave Home of the Brave (1949 film) Home of the Brave is a 1949 film based on a 1946 play by Arthur Laurents. It was directed by Mark Robson and stars Douglas Dick, Jeff Corey, Lloyd Bridges, Frank Lovejoy, James Edwards, and Steve Brodie... |
Sergeant Mingo | |
| 1950 | In a Lonely Place In a Lonely Place In a Lonely Place is a film noir directed by Nicholas Ray, and starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame, produced for Bogart's Santana Productions. The script was adapted by Edmund North from the 1947 novel In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes.Bogart stars in the film as Dixon Steele, a... |
Detective Sergeant Brub Nicolai | |
| Try and Get Me! | Howard Tyler | aka The Sound of Fury | |
| 1951 | I Was a Communist for the FBI I Was a Communist for the FBI I Was a Communist for the FBI is the name of a series of stories written by Matt Cvetic that appeared in the Saturday Evening Post. The stories were later turned into a best-selling book, an American espionage thriller radio series and motion picture in the early 1950s.The story follows Cvetic, who... |
Matt Cvetic | |
| Goodbye, My Fancy Goodbye, My Fancy Goodbye, My Fancy is a 1951 Warner Bros. film starring Joan Crawford, Robert Young, and Frank Lovejoy in a light tale about a woman and her old flame. The screenplay by Ivan Goff was based upon a 1948 play by Fay Kanin. The film was directed by Vincent Sherman and produced by Henry Blanke... |
Matt Cole | ||
| Force of Arms Force of Arms Force of Arms is a 1951 romantic drama film set in the Italian theater of World War II. It reteamed William Holden and Nancy Olson in the third of their four movies together , all released in 1950 or 1951... |
Major Blackford | ||
| I'll See You in My Dreams | Walter Donaldson | ||
| 1952 | Retreat, Hell! Retreat, Hell! Retreat, Hell! is a 1952 American film about the 1st Marine Division in the Korean War directed by Joseph H. Lewis.-Plot:The film is the story of the putting together of a Marine Battalion sent to Korea who are gathered from various sources... |
Lieutenant Colonel Steve L. Corbett | |
| The Winning Team The Winning Team The Winning Team is 1952 film directed by Lewis Seiler. It is fictionalized biography of the life of major league pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander starring Ronald Reagan as Alexander, Doris Day as his wife, Aimee and Frank Lovejoy as Rogers Hornsby... |
Rogers Hornsby Rogers Hornsby Rogers Hornsby, Sr. , nicknamed "The Rajah", was an American baseball infielder, manager, and coach who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball . He played for the St. Louis Cardinals , New York Giants , Boston Braves , Chicago Cubs , and St. Louis Browns... |
||
| 1953 | The Hitch-Hiker | Gilbert Bowen | |
| House of Wax House of Wax (1953 film) House of Wax is a 1953 American horror film starring Vincent Price. It is a remake of Warners' Mystery of the Wax Museum without the comic relief featured in the earlier film, and was directed by André de Toth... |
Lieutenant Thomas "Tom" Brennan | ||
| The Charge at Feather River The Charge at Feather River The Charge at Feather River is a 1953 Western film directed by Gordon Douglas, was originally released in 3D with lots of arrows, lances, and other weapons flying directly at the audience in several scenes.... |
Sergeant Charlie Baker | ||
| 1954 | Beachhead Beachhead (film) Beachhead is a 1954 Technicolor war film based on Captain Richard G. Hubler USMCR's 1945 novel I've Got Mine. It was filmed in Kauai by Aubrey Schenck Productions, released through United Artists and directed by Stuart Heisler.-Plot:... |
Sgt. Fletcher | |
| Men of the Fighting Lady Men of the Fighting Lady Men of the Fighting Lady is a 1954 Korean War drama film starring Van Johnson, Walter Pidgeon, Keenan Wynn, and directed by Andrew Marton. The screenplay was written by Harry A. Burns. The original music score was composed by Miklós Rózsa.-Synopsis:... |
Lieutenant Commander Paul Grayson | ||
| 1955 | The Americano | Bento Hermany | |
| Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command The Strategic Air Command was both a Major Command of the United States Air Force and a "specified command" of the United States Department of Defense. SAC was the operational establishment in charge of America's land-based strategic bomber aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic... |
General Ennis C. Hawkes | ||
| The Crooked Web The Crooked Web The Crooked Web is a 1955 film directed by Nathan Juran. It stars Frank Lovejoy and Mari Blanchard.-Cast:*Frank Lovejoy as Stanley Fabian*Mari Blanchard as Joanie Daniel*Richard Denning as Frank Daniel*John Mylong as Herr Koenig... |
Stanley Fabian | ||
| 1956 | Julie | Detective Lieutenant Pringle | |
| 1958 | Cole Younger, Gunfighter | Cole Younger Cole Younger Thomas Coleman "Cole" Younger was an American Confederate guerrilla during the American Civil War and later an outlaw with the James-Younger gang... |
|
| Television | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1957-58 | Meet McGraw | McGraw | |
| 1957 | Cavalcade of America Cavalcade of America Cavalcade of America is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented a musical, such as an adaptation of Show Boat, and condensed biographies of popular composers. It was initially broadcast on radio from 1935 to 1953, and later on... Ep. 'Chicago 2-1-2' |
Inspector Ed McCook | http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0537681/ |
| Radio | |||
| Year | Title | Role | |
| 1952 | Gang Busters Gang Busters Gang Busters was an American dramatic radio program heralded as "the only national program that brings you authentic police case histories." It premiered as G-Men, sponsored by Chevrolet, on July 20, 1935.-History:... |
||
| 1950-52 | Nightbeat Nightbeat Nightbeat was a radio drama series that aired on NBC from February 6, 1950 until September 25, 1952, sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer and Wheaties.... |
Randy Stone | |
| 1948 | The Blue Beetle Blue Beetle Blue Beetle is the name of three fictional superheroes that appear in American comic books published by a variety of companies since 1939.-Publication history:... |
||
| 1948 | Box 13 Box 13 Box 13 was a syndicated radio series about the escapades of newspaperman-turned-mystery novelist Dan Holliday, played by film star Alan Ladd. Created by Ladd's company, Mayfair Productions, Box 13 premiered in 1947... |
Various support roles | |
External links
- Frank Lovejoy at the Notable Names Database