Frank Lovejoy

Acting

Frank Lovejoy

Born 1912-03-28 · Bronx, New York, USA

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. Lovejoy was born in the Bronx, New York City, and grew up in New Jersey. He worked on Wall Street as a teenager, but the Great Depression of 1929 cost him his job. He then turned to acting, appearing in touring companies throughout the Northeast. He made his Broadway debut in 1934 in the play They Knew What They Wanted. Lovejoy began his radio career in the early 1940s, appearing on such shows as Gang Busters and This Is Your FBI. He also starred in the radio drama Night Beat, which ran from 1949 to 1955. Lovejoy made his film debut in 1948 in the film Black Bart. He went on to appear in over 50 films, including In a Lonely Place (1950), The Hitch-Hiker (1953), Strategic Air Command (1955), and Goodbye, My Fancy (1956). Lovejoy also had a successful television career. He starred in the series Man Against Crime (1956-1957) and Meet McGraw (1957-1962). Lovejoy died of a heart attack in New York City in 1962, at the age of 50. He was posthumously awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

Acting credits

House of Wax poster
6.9

A sculptor opens a wax museum to showcase the likenesses of famous historical figures, but quickly runs into trouble when his business partner demands the exhibits become more extreme in order to increase profits.

House of Wax

1953

In a Lonely Place poster
7.6

A violent screenwriter and a female neighbor fall in love after she clears him of murder, but she begins to have second thoughts.

In a Lonely Place

1950

Mad at the World poster
5.9

A neighborhood is terrorized by group of young juvenile delinquents called The WolfPack. When a young father's infant child is seriously injured because of the WolfPack, he decides that the police aren't working fast enough to catch the ones who hurt his baby and sets out to infiltrate the gang himself and mete out the punishment they deserve.

Mad at the World

1955

The Sound of Fury poster
6.5

A family man – desperate for a job – latches onto a friend who encourages him into being a criminal.

The Sound of Fury

1950

Black Bart poster
4.9

Cheerful outlaw Charlie Boles leaves former partners Lance and Jersey and heads for California, where the Gold Rush is beginning. Soon, a lone gunman in black is robbing Wells Fargo gold shipments. One fateful day, the stage he robs carries old friends Lance and Jersey...and notorious dancer Lola Montez, coming to perform in Sacramento. Black Bart and Lance become rivals for both Lola's favors and Wells Fargo's gold.

Black Bart

1948

Men of the Fighting Lady poster
6.3

A writer visits an aircraft carrier during the Korean war to learn more about it and the way it's run. He also gets to find out more about the Navy and Marine aviators themselves, their internal and external conflicts and dangers of their job.

Men of the Fighting Lady

1954

The Winning Team poster
6.1

Poor health and alcoholism force Grover Cleveland Alexander out of baseball, but through his wife's faithful efforts, he gets a chance for a comeback and redemption.

The Winning Team

1952

Strategic Air Command poster
6.1

Air Force reservist Lt. Col. Robert "Dutch" Holland is recalled into active duty at the peak of his professional baseball career.

Strategic Air Command

1955

Three Secrets poster
6.5

A five-year-old boy is the sole survivor of a devastating plane crash in the mountains of California. When the newspapers reveal the boy was adopted and that the crash occurred on his birthday, three women begin to ponder if it's the son each gave up for adoption. As the three await news of his rescue at a mountain cabin, they recall incidents from five years earlier and why they were forced to give up their son.

Three Secrets

1950

The Hitch-Hiker poster
6.8

Roy and Gilbert's fishing trip takes a terrifying turn when the hitchhiker they pick up turns out to be a sociopath on the run from the law. He's killed before, and he lets the two know that as soon as they're no longer useful, he'll kill again. The two friends plot an escape, but the hitchhiker's peculiar physical affliction, an eye that never closes even when he sleeps, makes it impossible for them to tell when they can make a break for it.

The Hitch-Hiker

1953

Force of Arms poster
6.7

During the winter of 1943, the German Army halted the American advance in the mountains of Italy; back-and-forth combat decimates Joe Peterson's platoon. On leave in Naples, Joe meets WAC lieutenant Eleanor MacKay; initially cool, she begins to melt during a bombing raid. Their romance develops despite Joe's periodic returns to the front. But whether he'll come back in the end becomes more than doubtful.

Force of Arms

1951

Home of the Brave poster
6.7

A sensitive, educated black man's World War II-time problems. This is essentially the duplicate of his peace-time problems which are pointed up in a flashback of his life, and primarily of his war-time adventures with four white soldiers on a dangerous reconnaissance mission on a Japanese-held island.

Home of the Brave

1949

Top of the World poster
6.5

A team of Air Force servicemen become stranded after setting up a weather station on an island of ice in Alaska.

Top of the World

1955

The Charge at Feather River poster
5.9

A frontier scout leads prisoners on a death mission to save a railroad and rescue two women.

The Charge at Feather River

1953

Beachhead poster
5.7

On a Japanese-occupied island during World War II, only two soldiers remain alive after a mission attempt goes horribly wrong. Trapped on the island, they must escort a scientist and his daughter to the other side of the island where their ship awaits. They must battle nature, hard terrain, and advancing Japanese troops.

Beachhead

1954

The Americano poster
5.3

An American Rancher takes a small herd of Brahma bulls to Brazil where he has sold them for a small fortune. There, he finds himself in the middle of a range war......and in love. His concern, who are really his friends and who are his enemies

The Americano

1955

Retreat, Hell! poster
6.5

During the Korean War, a U.S. Marine battalion must fight its way out of a frozen mountain pass despite diminishing supplies, freezing temperatures and constant attacks by overwhelming numbers of Chinese soldiers.

Retreat, Hell!

1952

Three Brave Men poster
6.3

A lawyer takes the case of a Navy clerk who sues after he's fired for suspected Communist beliefs.

Three Brave Men

1956

Julie poster
5.9

A terrified stewardess is stalked by her psychotic estranged husband.

Julie

1956

I'll See You in My Dreams poster
4.9

Songwriter Gus Kahn fights to make his name, then has to fight again to survive the Depression.

I'll See You in My Dreams

1951

Goodbye, My Fancy poster
6.4

Agatha has fond memories of her romance with college president Dr. James Merrill, when she was a student and he was her professor, and wants to see if there is still a spark between them.

Goodbye, My Fancy

1951

Shack Out on 101 poster
6.0

A greasy spoon diner provides a base for a spy smuggling nuclear secrets.

Shack Out on 101

1955

I Was a Communist for the FBI poster
5.6

A fact-based story about a man who posed as an American Communist for years as part of a secret plan to infiltrate their organization.

I Was a Communist for the FBI

1951

Cole Younger, Gunfighter poster
6.6

An outlaw must decide whether to stick his neck out for an innocent man.

Cole Younger, Gunfighter

1958