[1] Born in Dallas, Texas, to Clyde and Robbie Kavanaugh, Frances grew up in Houston around ranching, cowboys, and horseback riding.
She graduated from San Jacinto High School and then studied accounting at the University of Texas before moving to Los Angeles with her parents in 1940.
[3][4] 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.
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.