Before heading into radio, Lovejoy started his career on the stage touring in various shows before debuting on Broadway in 1934 in Judgment Day as Jorga. In addition to his Broadway career, Lovejoy also started working in golden age of radio. He appeared in all kinds of old radio shows, mysteries, soap operas, comedies, and police shows. A couple of his regular radio gig's included Gang Busters, a show featuring dramatizations of actual FBI cases and Box 13 where he played several different characters. He also starred on radio as the Blue Beetle and as Randy Stone in Night Beat.Like many radio stars, he worked in movies and on television in addition to working in radio. Lovejoy made his movie debut in 1948 as Mark Lorimer in the movie Black Bart. During his movie career, he was often cast as one of the main supporting characters and was considered one of the best character actors around because he played his characters as very human. When ordering soldiers into battle to die, you could see the conflict he brought to the character just like you could hear the conflict, anger, or sympathy when he played Randy Stone on Night Beat.
Lovejoy did star in the movie I Was a Communist for the FBI, a title many old-time radio fans will recognize. The movie and the radio show was based on the book by Matt Cvetic who allegedly was deep undercover in the United States communist party. He also starred in many war movies. His television career also consisted of mostly supporting roles though he did star in two short-lived shows, Meet McGraw and Man Against Crime.Throughout his career, Lovejoy worked steadily. He died of a heart attack while he was working in a play with his wife, Joan Banks, in 1962.