Frances Kavanaugh (February 5, 1915 – January 23, 2009) was an American

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

known for penning B-

Westerns The Western is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated wit ...

Biography

Beginnings

Born in Dallas, Texas, to Clyde and Robbie Kavanaugh, Frances grew up in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

around ranching, cowboys, and horseback riding. She graduated from San Jacinto High School and then studied accounting at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

before moving to Los Angeles with her parents in 1940. She was married and divorced some time before 1940.

Hollywood career

She began writing scenarios after attending a workshop held by director Max Reinhart, and her scripts soon caught the eye of director

Robert Emmett Tansey Robert Emmett Tansey (June 28, 1897 – June 17, 1951) was an American actor, screenwriter, film producer and director. He was active in cinema in various roles from the 1910s to the 1950s. He was credited under at least 15 pseudonyms, such as Ch ...

. He gave her a job at his production company, and she eventually proved her talent for screenwriting. Due to her prolific output of Western scripts in the 1940s, Kavanaugh was dubbed "the Cowgirl of the Typewriter." In fact, she penned more than 30 scripts over the course of the decade, including '' Song of Old Wyoming'' and ''

Cattle Queen ''Cattle Queen'' is a 1951 American Western film directed by Robert Emmett Tansey and starring Maria Hart, Drake Smith and William Fawcett.Pitts p.57 It was shot at the Iverson Ranch. Sets were designed by the art director Vin Taylor. It w ...

''.

Personal life

She married fellow screenwriter Robert Hecker in 1951, after the pair met at a writing course at Hollywood High's night school, and the pair wrote several TV scripts together before Kavanaugh retired to raise her children. Once her children were grown, Kavanaugh attended Cal State Northridge and earned degrees in psychology and art; she'd later work as an art therapist for children. She died in 2009 after a lengthy battle with lymphoma.

Selected filmography

* ''

'' (1951) * ''

The Fighting Stallion ''The Fighting Stallion'' is a 1950 American Western film directed by Robert Emmett Tansey. Plot Cast * Bill Edwards as Lon Evans *Doris Merrick as Jeanne Barton *Forrest Taylor as Martin Evans * Don C. Harvey as Commander Patrick * Robert C ...

'' (1950) * '' Forbidden Jungle'' (1950) * '' The Enchanted Valley'' (1948) * ''

Wild West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...

'' (1946) * '' Stars Over Texas'' (1946) * ''

Driftin' River ''Driftin' River'' is a 1946 American Western film directed by Robert Emmett Tansey and written by Frances Kavanaugh. The film stars Eddie Dean, Roscoe Ates, Shirley Patterson, Lee Bennett, William Fawcett, Dennis Moore, Lottie Harrison, Rob ...

'' (1946) * '' Tumbleweed Trail'' (1946) * '' Colorado Serenade'' (1946) * '' The Caravan Trail'' (1946) * ''Romance of the West'' (1946) * '' God's Country'' (1946) * '' Song of Old Wyoming'' (1945) * '' Saddle Serenade'' (1945) * '' Wildfire: The Story of a Horse'' (1945) * '' Springtime in Texas'' (1945) * '' Sonora Stagecoach'' (1944) * ''Outlaw Trail'' (1944) * '' Arizona Whirlwind'' (1944) * '' Westward Bound'' (1944) * '' Blazing Guns'' (1943) * ''

The Law Rides Again ''The Law Rides Again'' is a 1943 American Western (genre), Western film, directed by Alan James and starring Ken Maynard and Hoot Gibson. Plot Cast *Ken Maynard as U.S. Marshal Ken Maynard *Hoot Gibson as U.S. Marshal Hoot Gibson *Jack L ...

'' (1943) * ''

Trail Riders ''Trail Riders'' is a 1942 American Western film directed by Robert Emmett Tansey. The film is the eighteenth in Monogram Pictures' " Range Busters" series, and it stars John "Dusty" King as Dusty, "Davy" Sharpe and Max "Alibi" Terhune, wi ...

'' (1942) * ''Where Trail Ends'' (1942) * '' Arizona Roundup'' (1942) * '' Western Mail'' (1942) * '' Lone Star Law Men'' (1941) * '' Riding the Sunset Trail'' (1941) * '' Dynamite Canyon'' (1941)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kavanaugh, Frances American women screenwriters 1915 births 2009 deaths 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American screenwriters Screenwriters from Texas California State University, Northridge alumni 21st-century American women