Frances Agnew | |
|---|---|
 Agnew, Film Daily's Film Year Book 1926 | |
| Born | Frances C. Scheuing July 1, 1891 Anniston, Alabama, USA |
| Died | January 3, 1967 (aged 75) Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Occupation(s) | Screenwriter, journalist |
Frances Agnew (born Frances Scheuing) was an American screenwriter active during the 1920s.
Frances—known as Fanny Mae to family and friends [1] —was born in Anniston, Alabama, in 1891. She was the daughter of Harry Scheuing and Elizabeth Hocking; she had four brothers.
The family eventually relocated to New York City, where Frances became a journalist at The New York Telegraph. [2] In 1913, she appeared as an Indian Maid in a photoplay called Picnic in Dakota. She recorded her appearance in her 1913 book, Motion Picture Acting. [3]
In 1920, she moved to Los Angeles to cover entertainment for the publication after her co-worker, Margaret Ellinger, quit to become a scenarist for actress Bessie Love.
While on a European vacation in Rome, she caught up with the Ben Hur crew and was intrigued by the idea of writing movies. [4] In 1924, she left the newspaper business behind (for a while, anyway) when she was hired on at Paramount's Betty Bronson unit to write scenarios. [5] [6] One of her first screenplays was the 1925 adaptation of Alice Duer Miller's Saturday Evening Post story "Are Parents People?" [7] In 1926, she left Paramount to sign a contract with MGM. [8] She also worked for First National and Fox for a time. [9]
In 1926, she was charged by Allan Dwan to do an uncredited re-titling and re-editing of his film Summer Bachelors , and at this time became more interested in the idea of editing. [4] She continued writing and working on films through the end of the decade, working on scripts for films like The Joy Girl , Silk Legs , Syncopation , and The Rainbow Man .
By 1932, she had returned to working as a newspaper columnist, writing about the state of the film industry for publications like The Los Angeles Times . [10] She also wrote plays like Apples in Eden during the 1940s. [11]
During her later years, she was plagued by health troubles, including a broken hip sustained during a fall. She successfully sued her former physician and was awarded a hefty settlement after a jury agreed that her doctor's misdiagnosis had caused her permanent weakness in one of her legs. [12]
She died in Los Angeles on January 3, 1967. She had no children and never married.
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