Errol Flynn

Errol Flynn was born Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn in Battery Point, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania. His father was a respected lecturer and professor in Biology at the University of Tasmania. In his biography, My Wicked, Wicked Ways, Flynn described his mother’s family as “seafaring folk” and possibly as descendants of the Bounty mutineers. While this was unlikely, Flynn was an unruly child and was expelled from nearly every school he attended from primary school to college. At the age of eighteen, he went to Papua New Guinea where he worked a series of odd jobs including gold miner, tobacco planter and tour guide. 

Flynn’s first screen role came in the Australian production, In the Wake of the Bounty (1933). The film was a combination of dramatic re-enactments and documentary footage of Pitcairn Island. The lead role as Fletcher Christain allowed Flynn the opportunity to pursue an acting career in Britain. He worked as an extra in the musical comedy I Adore You (1933) then received formal training in acting at the Northampton Repertory Company. He next landed the lead in Murder at Monte Carlo. While the film is today considered to be lost, Flynn’s performance impressed producer Irving Asher enough that he recommended Flynn for a contact with Warner Brothers and sent him to Los Angeles. 

After a few small roles, Flynn was cast in Captain Blood (1935). The film was an enormous success and catapulted Flynn and co-star Olivia de Havilland to stardom. The pair were reunited the next year in The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), which proved to be another huge success for Warner Brothers. Flynn was now a hot commodity, starring in four films the next year, Green Light (1937), The Prince and the Pauper (1937), Another Dawn (1937) and The Perfect Specimen (1937). These films spanned a variety of genres from swashbuckler to melodrama to screwball comedy. 

Flynn’s most famous film role came the following year in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), where he once again starred with Olivia de Havilland. The film was the 6th highest grossing film of the year and was Warner Brothers’ first large budget color film. Like Captain Blood, the climax featured a duel between Flynn and Basil Rathbone. Flynn and Rathbone led the cast of Flynn’s next project, The Dawn Patrol (1938), where Flynn gave an impressive dramatic performance. 

In 1939, Flynn was paired with de Havilland twice. Dodge City (1939) was the first western for either of them and led to several more including Santa Fe Trail (1940) and the George Armstrong Custer biopic, They Died With Their Boots On (1942). The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) also starred Betty Davis who famously quarreled with Flynn over top billing with a man she felt could not act in anything beyond swashbucklers. There was no doubt he was great in swashbuckling roles as The Sea Hawk (1940) proved to be another enormous success. 

During the early 1940s, Flynn appeared in several World War II films including Desperate Journey (1942), Edge of Darkness (1943), Northern Pursuit (1943) and Objective, Burma (1945). Most were successful at the box office. He also made one of his favorite films, Gentleman Jim (1942) in which he portrayed boxer James Corbett. However, during filming, Flynn collapsed from what he later claimed was a mild heart attack. It was during this same period that Flynn was a accused by two separate 17-year-old girls of statutory rape. Flynn was acquitted but the scandal permanently damaged his screen image. 

Flynn remained a box office draw, but his personal life was catching up with him. His drinking on the set sometimes meant filming could not continue past noon. Films like Adventures of Don Juan (1948), That Forsyte Woman (1949), Kim (1950) and Against All Flags (1952) were all popular and financially successful. However, by 1953, Warner terminated their contract with him. 

After a five-year self-imposed exile to Europe, Flynn began a brief Hollywood comeback in 1957. He received offers to appear in several films including the highly successful The Sun Also Rises (1957). This led to a series of roles where Flynn played aging alcoholics. However, his attempt to form his own production company in the early 1950s led to financial difficulties. He was in Vancouver, British Columbia to negotiate the lease of his yacht when he began complaining of back and leg pain. He died that day of what was ruled a heart attack with several contributing factors. 

Errol Flynn was also famous for his lifestyle offscreen. Having contracted malaria and tuberculosis early in life, Flynn experienced heart and other health issues his entire life. He often quipped that he would not live to old age and planned to experience life to the fullest. The expression “In Like Flynn” was said to have referred to the ease with which he seduced women. He claimed to have slept with at least 10,000 women during his life. In addition to his reputation for womanizing, he was a chain smoker and narcotics user. His drinking was the stuff of Hollywood legend, resulting in issues with his acting, directors refusing to work with him and being thrown out of many Hollywood parties. He also had an adventurous streak which led him to Spain during the Spanish Civil War and to Cuba during the Cuban Revolution where he submitted stories as a war correspondent.