He was born c. 1851, the place of his birth is unknown. He was a son of Dr. Alpheus Proctor, a practising physician of Dexter, Maine, who was probably descended from Robert Proctor of Concord and Chelmsford, Massachussets. His father's death, during the Civil War period, left his mother with a family of five to support on a limited income.
He studied at school, but gave it up to support his family.
After his father death Frederick went to Boston, where he got work as an errand boy in a dry-goods store. Becoming a leader among his mates in athletic sports, he finally attracted the notice of a veteran circus man and was induced to leave the store for a career as a professional acrobat. As "Fred Levantine" he repeatedly toured the United States and as a climax "made" the European circuit of music halls.
Entering the show business on his own account in 1886, he bought an interest in a popular-price theatre, New York. He remained there three years, at first in partnership and later as sole proprietor. Believing that the city of New York held better prospects for him, he opened a legitimate theatre on Twenty-third Street in 1889. That enterprise prospered and an alliance with Charles Frohman for two seasons was a later development.
In the early nineties Proctor was giving increasing attention to vaudeville. By 1895 he was turning all his energies to that form of entertainment. The "continuous performance" from noon to midnight for every element of the population had not yet captured New York. The next step was the opening of the "Ladies' Club Theatre" on Twenty-third Street, with a daily list of twenty acts, in progress from 11 A. M. to 11 P. M.
In course of time the moving picture demanded a place on his programs, which Proctor was quick to concede, but most of the original features of his bills were retained, including acrobatic "stunts, " in which Proctor himself had excelled in his youth. In the spring of 1929 the Proctor theatrical holdings were taken over by the Radio-Keith-Orpheum circuit.
Proctor was suffering from congestion of the lungs died at Larchmont, New York.
Frederick Francis Proctor was a well-known professional acrobat, opened a legitimate theatre on Twenty-third Street and "Ladies' Club Theatre" in New York. He developed the form of entertainment - vaudeville, in the result, The Proctor Pleasure Palace on East Fifty-eighth Street, with its program of fifteen acts, and a "sacred concert" on Sundays, appealed to Americans and became extremely sucessful. Proctor controlled twenty-five houses and road shows operated in New York, Albany, Troy, and other eastern cities.
He married Georgena Mills, they had two daughters.
