Frank Lovejoy

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Frank Andrew Lovejoy Jr. (born March 28, 1912 in the Bronx , New York , † October 2, 1962 in New York City , New York) was an American actor.

life and career

Frank Lovejoy was born in the Bronx , the son of a salesman who also worked intermittently for the Pathé film studio . During Black Thursday he was a messenger boy on Wall Street and, in retrospect, called this an early drama lesson as he could observe naked emotions. After attending New York University , he began his acting career in the theater. In September 1934 he made his Broadway debut in the play Judgment Day , where he appeared more frequently in the years that followed. However, he first achieved prominence through his roles in hundreds of radio plays, in which he participated from the 1930s until his death. In the NBC crime series Night Beat , he spoke the lead role of an honorable newspaper reporter from 1950 to 1952.

From the late 1940s, Lovejoy was also active in Hollywood, where he received substantial supporting roles and was sometimes able to appear as a leading actor. He played particularly often in film noirs , often cynical or tough guys. In Nicholas Rays A Lonely Place (1950) he portrayed a policeman friend of Humphrey Bogart ; in Gordon Douglas ' I Was FBI Mann MC (1951) he impersonated a spy within the Communist Party who is at risk of death; and in Ida Lupino's The Hitch-Hiker (1953) he is kidnapped by a murderous psychopath. However, he also took on roles in other genres, such as an admirer of Joan Crawford in the comedy Goodbye, My Fancy (1951) or as a policeman in the 3D horror film The Cabinet of Professor Bondi (1953) alongside Vincent Price .

From the 1950s on Lovejoy also appeared on television and was, in addition to many guest roles, leading actor in the short-lived series Man Against Crime (1956) and Meet McGraw (1957-1958). For his participation in a television adaptation of Woman Without a Conscience at the Lux Video Theater , he was nominated at the Primetime Emmy Awards in 1955 in the category of Best Actor Single Appearance. In the last years of his life, Lovejoy turned more to the theater and played an unscrupulous politician in the successful Broadway comedy The Best Man by Gore Vidal .

After a brief marriage with Frances Williams from 1939 to 1940, he married the actress Joan Banks (1918-1998) in the year of divorce . The two had two children and remained married until Lovejoy's death. He suddenly died of a heart attack at the age of only 50 . Lovejoy is remembered by a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the television category .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Google Groups (obituary cited from the New York Times). Retrieved February 17, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Frank Lovejoy | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos | AllMovie. Retrieved February 17, 2018 .
  3. ↑ The Broadway League: The Best Man - Broadway Play - Original | IBDB. Retrieved February 17, 2018 .
  4. ^ Google Groups (obituary cited from the New York Times). Retrieved February 17, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Lovejoy, Frank
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lovejoy, Frank Andrew junior (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actor and radio drama speaker
DATE OF BIRTH March 28, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Bronx , New York
DATE OF DEATH 2nd October 1962
Place of death New York City , New York