Frank Lovejoy Biography

Actor Frank Lovejoy was linked to show business before he was even born; his father was a salesman for the Pathe Film studio. After working as a Wall Street page, Lovejoy attended NYU, then acted in stock companies. He made his first Broadway appearance in 1934's Judgment Day. One of the busiest "Golden Age" radio actors, Lovejoy was heard in hundreds of soap operas, mystery programs and dramatic anthologies: from 1950 through 1952, he starred in the weekly radio crime drama Nightbeat. After his 1948 film debut in Black Bart, Lovejoy specialized in tough, cynical roles, such as the leading character in I Was a Communist For the FBI. From 1957 through 1959, he starred in the TV private eye series Meet McGraw. Frank Lovejoy died of a heart attack while appearing in a New Jersey production of The Best Man with his actress wife Joan Banks. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi