Alwyn Cecil Kurts (28 October 1915 – 4 May 2000) was anAustralian drama and comedy actor of radio, television and film, best remembered for his role as gruff Inspector Colin Fox in the TV seriesHomicide.

Kurts' father, Donald Day, was a well-known radio personality from the 1930’s through to the early 1950’s.^[1]Kurts worked on breakfast radio on Perth station6PR in 1942. He then became an accreditedwar correspondent reporting from Burma, New Guinea and the Philippines.^[2] After the war he moved to3XY with his programRaising a Husband.^[3]

His television career started when he began hosting the HSV 7 showWedding Day^[4] followed almost immediately with a version of his radio showRaising a Husband for GTV-9.^[5] Both of these shows, and many more, including thenHutton's Family Quiz,Don't Argue andFighting Words.^[6] were made byCrawford Productions.

Kurts made the successful transition to drama inHomicide; after one 1968 appearance as criminal Frank Inglis, he took on the role of country-based Inspector Colin Fox for another episode the same year. He then returned as a core cast member the following year, playing Fox, now with the additional back story that he had worked in Homicide twenty years earlier and was seeking a change after the recent death of his wife. 'Colin Fox' formally assumed the Inspector role on 27 May.^[7] Kurts remained with the show for four years, after which he starred in another Crawfords production, the comedyThe Last of the Australians. In 1982 he appeared in the Australian TV dramaCop Shop.For a brief time, he was the Beast in the Australian version of the television panel showBeauty and the Beast.Kurts also appeared in the 1979 movieTim starringMel Gibson. Late in life he had key roles in the filmsSpotswood andRoad to Nhill.

Kurts supported the1972 campaign for the election ofGough Whitlam and theLabor Party.^[8]

Kurts was married twice. His first marriage, to Jean Pember,^[9] lasted four and a half years and ended in divorce in November 1939, on grounds of his adultery.^[10] His second marriage, to 'champion footrunner' Eileen O'Hehir, took place in August 1940^[11] and sustained until his death.^[12] Kurts had three children: one from his first marriage and two, Michael and Elizabeth, from his second.^[13]

Kurts died on 4 May 2000, aged 84 inMelbourne, Australia, from liver failure.^[14]

In 1979, Kurts won theAustralian Film Institute Award forAACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his role as the father ofMel Gibson's character in the filmTim.^[15]

• Alwyn Kurts atIMDb

• 1915 births
• 2000 deaths
• Australian male television actors
• Australian male radio actors
• Male actors from Melbourne
• 20th-century Australian male actors

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