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Errol Flynn
(1909–59)

Other names: Errol Leslie Flynn

Biographical

An Australian-American actor, Errol Flynn had early years marked by turbulence, leading to expulsion from school in Sydney after an unruly childhood spent drifting between multiple schools in Hobart before briefly enrolling at South Western London College. Lacking direction, he took a job in a Sydney shipping office in 1927 but soon abandoned it to train as a district officer in New Guinea, only to leave that behind as well. Instead, he pursued a variety of ventures, managing a copra plantation, co-owning a charter schooner business, and trying his luck as a gold prospector. In 1930, he bought the cutter Sirocco and embarked on a seven-month voyage back to New Guinea, where he ran a tobacco plantation at Laloki while writing about local life for the Sydney Bulletin, material that later shaped his first book. Though sailing remained a lifelong passion, financial troubles in New Guinea forced his return to Sydney in 1932, where he landed a role in Charles Chauvel's In the Wake of the Bounty. The following year, he moved to England, performed with the Northampton Repertory Company, and soon after secured a contract with Warner Bros. His Hollywood breakthrough came in 1935 with Captain Blood, launching a career that made him one of the most charismatic and agile actors of his time, particularly in adventure films. His peak years, from 1936 to 1942, cemented his reputation in swashbuckling roles, but while his presence on screen was commanding, his immense popularity had more to do with his striking appearance and effortless charm than with any great acting ability. He was granted American citizenship in 1942 and never returned to Australia or New Guinea. Restless in later years, he lived aboard his schooner Zaca, increasingly consumed by alcohol and narcotics. Though best known for adventure films such as The Sea Hawk and The Adventures of Robin Hood, he attempted to break from typecasting with his role in The Sun Also Rises, playing a drunken adventurer. His 1945 film Objective, Burma! was withdrawn from British cinemas after protests over its portrayal of him single-handedly winning the Burma campaign. Off-screen, his personal life mirrored his on-screen persona, with multiple legal entanglements, including alimony disputes and paternity suits. At the start of the Cuban Revolution, he visited Fidel Castro’s rebel forces and reportedly witnessed combat, with some accounts suggesting he was wounded in a skirmish with government troops. His final book, My Wicked, Wicked Ways, was published posthumously, offering an unfiltered account of his adventurous and often scandalous life.

Place of birth: Hobart, Tasmania
Place of first marriage: Yuma, Arizona
Place of second marriage: Acapulco, Mexico
Place of third marriage: Monte Carlo, Monaco
Place of death: Vancouver

Son of Theodore Thomson Flynn and Lily Mary Young, he was married firstly to Lili Damita in 1935 (divorced 1942), with issue (Amelia, *1952; Sean [1941–1970], a photo-journalist for Time magazine, he disappeared assignment in Cambodia, believed to have been executed by the Khmer Rouge), secondly to Nora Eddington in 1943 (divorced 1948), with issue (Deidre, *1944, Mexico City; Rory, *1947, Burbank, Ca.), and thirdly to Patrice Wymore in 1950 (with issue, Arnella †1998 (from a drug overdose), had issue [Luke Flynn, actor and model, by Carl Stoecker]).

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