Screenwriter, dramatist, actor.
Agnes Gavin's early life requires further research. In August 1890, in Paddington, she married Barney Kurtz. Kurtz sought a divorce from his wife, born Agnes Wagenheim, in early 1897, putting into evidence a letter, signed 'A. Adele', that seemed to admit adultery, but the divorce was not granted. A divorce was granted in late 1897, at the petition of Agnes Kurtz. (See 'A Singular Letter'.)
After the divorce, Agnes appears to have formed part of an acting company, the Princess Comic Opera Company, in company with (among others) an Emma Wagenheim (likely a relative). The company primarily worked a regional circuit, and reported as far apart as Grenfell (April 1898) and Moree (August 1898). Agnes, who appeared under the name 'Agnes Adele', was credited as a comedienne.
Much of Agnes Gavin's career was spent working in close association with her (second) husband, the actor/director/filmmaker John Gavin, whom she married in Sydney in 1898 (giving her name as Agnes Adele Kurts). Although she appeared in several of his films as an actress, it was as a writer that she made the most impact. Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper (1980) note that the Gavins made 'a team with more enthusiasm and stubborn persistence than talent [but] occasionally hit upon the right formula for commercial success, most notably with The Martyrdom of Nurse Cavill (1916).' Most of their films were, however, 'quickies'.
Agnes Gavin's credits as a screenwriter appear only to be associated with her Australian career. They include The Assigned Servant, Keane of Kalgoorlie, Assigned to His Wife, Ben Hall and His Gang, Frank Gardiner, The King of the Road, The Drover's Sweetheart (all 1911); The Martyrdom of Nurse Cavell and An Interrupted Divorce (1916); The Murder of Captain Fryatt (1917); and His Convict Bride (1918, aka For the Term of Her Natural Life). It is also likely that she was involved in writing or co-writing the screenplay for Thunderbolt (1910). Her known acting roles were in Moonlite (1910, aka Captain Moonlite), The Assigned Servant, Keane of Kalgoorlie, and Assigned to His Wife.
Sometime around 1918, Gavin and her husband moved to Los Angeles, with a view to pursuing John's acting career. In 1921, Gavin wrote to Australian newspapers, indicating that 'Mr. Gavin has at last made good over here. It has been A HARD, UPHILL GAME, but perseverance and good old Australian plus have at last attained their end' ('Australians Abroad'): Gavin indicates in the article that they had been in the United States for around three years by this time. Between 1923 and 1927, Jack Gavin appeared in at least 38 films for American studios, all in relatively small roles. They must have returned to Australia before 1928, when they made Trooper O'Brien and Jack appeared in Norman Dawn's The Adorable Outcast. A newspaper from Darwin in 1930 (copying an as-yet-untraced article from Film Weekly) identifies Agnes Gavin as 'a successful scenario writer, both in Australia and Los Angeles' ('The Late Lon Chaney'), but no American-made films can yet be attributed to Gavin.
After this point, little further involvement in the film industry has been traced for either Gavin or her husband. Applications for registration of copyright show that Gavin was still producing screenplays, including the following:
- Outlaw Ned Kelly and His Gang (deposited 27 December 1917).
- Golden Heart; or Odds On (deposited 14 February 1923).
- Money Down Brown (deposited 25 January 1926).
- Binda's Mistress; or, The Girl of the Soil (deposited 24 February 1930).
No other trace of these works has yet been found.
As a dramatist, little is yet known of Gavin's creative output other than her 1917 play Captain Fryatt; Or, For King and Country, which was adapted for, or from, the film The Murder of Captain Fryatt.
