Frank Lovejoy

Biography

Square-jawed, intense, no-nonsense Frank Lovejoy played a succession of detectives, street cops, reporters, soldiers and such over his career. Born in the Bronx, New York, in 1912, he worked on Wall Street as a teenager, but the Great Stock Market Crash of 1929 cost him his job, and to make ends meet he got into acting. He played in touring companies throughout the Northeast before making his Broadway debut in 1934. His gritty, authoritative voice was perfect for radio, and he became a staple on such shows as "Gangbusters", "Night Beat" and "Damon Runyon Theater". Making his film debut in 1948, he worked steadily, mainly in supporting parts but also as a first or second lead (one of his best roles was as one of the hunters kidnapped by murderous psychopath William Talman in the classic The Hitch-Hiker (1953), directed by Ida Lupino). He played soldiers in such war pictures as Breakthrough (1950) and Retreat, Hell! (1952) and even showed up in a western or two. During the 1950s he starred in his own TV shows, "Man Against Crime" (1956) and "Meet McGraw" (1957). He died of a heart attack in New York City in 1962.