[1] In 1888, Losey began his career as an elocutionist, impersonator, and character actor who interpreted the classics for general audiences.
[20][21] The latter reported, "Frederick D. Losey of New York carried his audiences by storm today...and is pronounced the greatest impersonator that has ever appeared on the Chautauqua platform in the state.
[23] In October 1892, Losey and his wife started giving classes and private lessons in elocution and physical culture two days a week in the studio in the Cox Building in Rochester.
[1][27][29] For the production, Losey called upon modern Shakespearian scholarship and restored a few pages of the play that Edwin Booth admitted.
[35] In June 1906, it was reported that Losey had resigned from Syracuse University "due to the decision of the faculty to graduate a man whom he declared deficient in studies.
[43] To raise the funds needed for the play, Losey gave a series of six Shakespearian recitals at the Elk's Auditorium, including Julius Caesar, Macbeth, and Othello.
[45] In 1910, Blackfriars performed Twelfth Night under the direction of Losey who also took the role Sir Toby Belch.
[47] Blackfriars presented their shows in Tuscaloosa and in cities such as Birmingham, Huntsville, Meridian, Mobile, Montgomery, and Selma, becoming "a powerful force for amateur dramatics in the state.
[41] In December 1915, Dr. George H. Denny, president of the University of Alabama, declined to recommend Losey to the board of trustees for re-election to his position.
[48] Denny cited "temperamental unfitness" and also mentioned friction between Losey and Charles H. Barnwell, head of the English department.
[50][49] Losey also sent their correspondences to the newspaper for publication, including his original claim that Denny was changing or obliterating grades on report cards to deceive parents.
"[50] During the hearing with the board, Dr. Barnwell admitted that Losey was right about Denny's treatment of report cards.
[23] Despite being a professor with a "vivid personality," Losey left academia in 1916 and devoted his time to Shakespearian lectures and recitals.
[1][41] One newspaper reported, "Professor Losey's love for the great literature, particularly for Shakespeare: his profound belief in democracy, and his conviction that the best that had been said or thought in the word is the rightful heritage of the common man, led him to abandon the university classroom after sixteen years of teaching and enter a wider educational field as lecturer and author.
"[54] Losey traveled to every state in the union, performing dramatic readings and lectures for hundreds of audiences consisting of students, high school teachers, literary clubs, college professors, and the general public.
[1] In 1922, he participated in teacher institutes for Pennsylvania's Department of Public Instruction, helping to "make a noticeable improvement in the teaching staff....[57] Losey's readings of Shakespeare included "a keen appreciation of dramatic effect...[with] sharply-chiseled portrayals.
"[55] A critic noted that this performance revealed "the art and human passion that the academic study of the text fails to disclose.
[5][56] Losey edited the Complete Poetic and Dramatic Works of Shakespeare, published in one volume by John C. Winston Company in 1926.
[1][69] In 1896, he signed a petition challenging the Fraternity of Delta Psi for revoking the charter University of Rochester chapter.
[68] In 1917, Losey started devoting half of his public speaking events in support of women's suffrage.
[8] After being ill for several months from heart failure, he died at his home at 227 Riverside Drive in New York City at the age of 65 on June 5, 1932.