Alwyn Kurts

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

Kurts' father, Donald Day, was a well-known radio personality from the 1930’s through to the early 1950’s. Kurts worked on breakfast radio on Perth station 6PR in 1942. He then became an accredited war correspondent reporting from Burma, New Guinea and the Philippines. After the war he moved to 3XY with his program Raising a Husband.

His television career started when he began hosting the HSV 7 show Wedding Day followed almost immediately with a version of his radio show Raising a Husband for GTV-9. Both of these shows, and many more, including then Hutton's Family Quiz, Don't Argue and Fighting Words. were made by Crawford Productions.

Kurts made the successful transition to drama in Homicide; 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. Kurts remained with the show for four years, after which he starred in another Crawfords production, the comedy The Last of the Australians. In 1982 he appeared in the Australian TV drama Cop Shop. For a brief time, he was the Beast in the Australian version of the television panel show Beauty and the Beast. Kurts also appeared in the 1979 movie Tim starring Mel Gibson. Late in life he had key roles in the films Spotswood and Road to Nhill.

Kurts supported the 1972 campaign for the election of Gough Whitlam and the Labor Party.

Kurts was married twice. His first marriage, to Jean Pember, lasted four and a half years and ended in divorce in November 1939, on grounds of his adultery. 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 in Melbourne, Australia, from liver failure.[ 14]

In 1979, Kurts won the Australian Film Institute Award for AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his role as the father of Mel Gibson's character in the film Tim.[ 15]