John F. ('Jack') Gavin | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of John F. Gavin, published in 1925. | |
| Born | John Francis Gavin 9 February 1874 Sydney, Australia |
| Died | 6 January 1938 (aged 63) Bronte, Sydney |
| Occupation(s) | film director and producer; actor |
| Spouse | Agnes Adele Kurtz (née Wangenheim) |
| Parent | Francis Gavin & Catherine (née O'Brien) |
John F. Gavin (9 February 1874 – 6 January 1938) was a pioneer Australian film actor and director, one of the early filmmakers of the 1910s. He is best known for making films about bushrangers such as Captain Thunderbolt, Captain Moonlite, Ben Hall and Frank Gardiner. Known informally as 'Jack', Gavin worked in collaboration with his wife Agnes, who scripted many of his films.
Film historians Graham Shirley and Brian Adams have written; "although Gavin was prolific his later surviving work shows that his entrepreneurial talent outweighed any he might have had as director."[1]
Amongst several claims made later in life or soon after his death was one that he had made Australia's first animated short, an advertising film which featured a koala "lapping up a cough remedy".[2]
- ^ Graham Shirley and Brian Adams, Australian Cinema: The First Eighty Years, Currency Press, 1989, p39
- ^ Australian Movie Pioneers, The Bulletin (Sydney), Vol. 60 No. 3077 (1 February 1939), page 38.