Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn
12 min read
Reading time
2,335
Words
Published
98
Film credits
1
Award
Errol Flynn, born in Hobart, Tasmania in 1909, skyrocketed to stardom after replacing Robert Donat in the title role of Captain Blood 1935. He became Hollywood’s undisputed king of adventure films, a title inherited from Douglas Fairbanks. Off-screen, his hedonistic lifestyle led to statutory rape trials and the phrase In Like Flynn. Despite career decline, he left a legacy as the quintessential swashbuckler.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Errol Flynn — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Errol Flynn by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Errol Flynn — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn was born on June 20, 1909, in Hobart, Tasmania, to Marrelle Young and biologist Theodore Flynn. He was expelled from every school he attended, including The Hutchins School and SHORE – Sydney Church of England Grammar School. In his late teens, he sought gold but found only odd jobs as a police constable, treasure hunter, and sheep castrator. Fleeing the law and jealous husbands, he moved to England, where he stumbled into acting.
Errol Flynn played Fletcher Christian in his first film, In the Wake of the Bounty 1933. Warner Brothers chose him to replace Robert Donat in Captain Blood 1935, launching his stardom. He starred in The Adventures of Robin Hood 1938 with Olivia de Havilland, securing his place as an adventure hero. Other notable films include The Charge of the Light Brigade 1936, Dodge City 1939, and They Died with Their Boots On 1941. His lifestyle eroded his looks, and his career declined. But he earned critical acclaim for The Sun Also Rises 1957.
Errol Flynn married three times: Lili Damita 1935-1942, Nora Eddington 1943-1949, and Patrice Wymore 1950 until his death. With Damita he had two children: Sean Flynn, a photojournalist who disappeared in Cambodia, and Rory Flynn. He also had a daughter, Deirdre, with Eddington. An affair with 15-year-old Beverly Aadland in his final years caused scandal.
Errol Flynn’s swashbuckling roles set the standard for adventure cinema. His performance as Robin Hood is ranked #16 on Premiere Magazine’s 100 Greatest Movie Characters. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His life inspired the phrase In Like Flynn. Despite controversies, he remains the quintessential cinematic adventurer.
The complete filmography of Errol Flynn — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Errol Flynn — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Errol Flynn — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
You Once Liked the Blissful Mobility, but Then You Wonder, Who’s the Real You? and Who’s the Chap on the Screen? You Know, I Catch Myself Acting Out My Life Like a Goddamn Script.
They’ve Great Respect for the Dead in Hollywood, but None for the Living.
I Do What I Like.
I Like My Whiskey Old and My Women Young.
I’ve Had a Hell of a Lot of Fun and I’ve Enjoyed Every Minute of It.
I Can’t Reconcile My Gross Habits with My Net Income.
I Intend to Live the First Half of My Life. I Don’t Care About the Rest.
The Public Has Always Expected Me to Be a Playboy, and a Decent Chap Never Lets His Public Down.
It Isn’t What They Say About You, It’s What They Whisper.
If I Have Any Genius It Is a Genius for Living.
I Felt Like an Impostor, Taking All That Money for Reciting Ten or Twelve Lines of Nonsense a Day.
Women Won’t Let Me Stay Single, and I Won’t Let Myself Stay Married.
I Allow Myself to Be Understood as a Colorful Fragment in a Drab World.
I’ve Made Six or Seven Good Films the Others, Not so Good.
My Job Is to Defy the Normal.
By Instinct I’m an Adventurer; by Choice I’d Like to Be a Writer; by Pure, Unadulterated Luck, I’m an Actor.
I Had Now Made About Forty Five Pictures, but What Had I Become? I Knew All Too Well: a Phallic Symbol. All Over the World I Was, as a Name and Personality, Equated with Sex.
I Had No Greatness, Only a Deadly Fear of Mediocrity.
I Still Had Some Will Left. Some of That I Directed to a Very Lovely Looking Redhead Who Occupied a Cubicle in the Lobby Entrance of the City Hall. Day by Day I Passed by Her and Watched How She Sold Chewing Gum.
Bette Was a Dynamic Creature, the Great Big Star of the Lot, but Not Physically My Type; Dominating Everybody Around, and Especially Me.
I Laughed. My Friends Laughed. I Had Pals. They Had Yachts. We Dined on Their Yachts or They Dined on Ours.
I Am Dangerous to Be with Because, Since I Live Dangerously, Others Are Subject to the Danger That I Expose Myself To. They, More Likely Than I, Will Get Hurt.
I Might Have Been Guilty as Hell Under the Law, That Is. but in the World of Day to Day Common Sense … Everybody Knew That the Girls Had Asked for It, Whether or Not I Had My Wicked Ways with Them.
I Have Been in Rebellion Against God and Government Ever Since I Can Remember.
I Make More Today Being a Shadow of My Former Self Than I Did When I Was My Former Self.
I Felt Used. Used by the Studio. Used to Make Money. Used by the Press for Fun. Used by Society as a Piece of Chalk to Provide the World with a Dab of Color.
Maybe I Haven’t Been Such a Loss After All. Anybody Who Can Bring a Few Moments of Happiness to Another Human Life Certainly Can’t Be Wasting His Time in an Otherwise Fear Ridden and Often Very Drab World. Maybe It Hasn’t All Been so Futile. Maybe It Wasn’t All a Waste.
Little-known facts about Errol Flynn — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
When banned from drinking on a film set, he would inject oranges with vodka and eat them during his breaks.
His son Sean Flynn appeared in a few films but didn’t like acting. He became a photojournalist during the Vietnam War and disappeared in Cambodia, inspiring The Clash song Sean Flynn 1981.
He met his second wife Nora Eddington while she worked at a snack counter during one of his rape trials.
His Mulholland Farm house was later owned by Ricky Nelson and eventually demolished in 1988. Justin Timberlake now owns a compound on the property.
Once stated his only regret was not participating in World War II.
He died at 50 from a heart attack in Vancouver while trying to sell his yacht The Zaca. His autopsy revealed the body of a 75-year-old man.
Often drank two or three quarts of vodka a day.
In early Hollywood he passed himself off as Irish, believing few knew of Australia. He moved to America owing huge debts to the Australian Taxation Office.
His mother reportedly had Polynesian ancestry from Tahiti, but modern research disproved his claim of descent from HMS Bounty mutineers.
At his funeral, his casket was carried by Raoul Walsh, Mickey Rooney, Guinn Big Boy Williams, Jack Oakie, Otto Reichow, and Mike Romanoff.
During filming of They Died with Their Boots On 1941, he fought off-camera with athlete Jim Thorpe, who knocked him out with one punch.
He nearly died from food poisoning after eating raw hamburger meat mixed with egg yolk in early 1959.
He appeared on the May 23, 1938 cover of Life magazine, a copy placed in the Westinghouse Time Capsule at the 1939 World’s Fair.
He and Olivia de Havilland acted together in nine movies, including The Adventures of Robin Hood 1938 and Captain Blood 1935.
In his final two years, he toured with 15-year-old mistress Beverly Aadland, subject of the film The Last of Robin Hood 2013.
His performance as Robin Hood ranks #16 on Premiere Magazine’s 100 Greatest Movie Characters.
He was granted a 4-F deferment during WWII due to a weak heart, exacerbated by malaria and tuberculosis.
He and director Michael Curtiz made great films but despised each other. Curtiz had been briefly married to Flynn’s first wife Lili Damita.
Through his mother, he claimed descent from Sir Richard Neville and the Black Prince, and he played the Black Prince in The Warriors 1955.
His father was head of the zoology department at the University of Tasmania.
He turned down a swashbuckling TV series in his last year, saying I knew it would be crap.
While in New Guinea in 1933, he was pursued by headhunters.
He was tried for statutory rape in 1942 and acquitted, spawning the term In Like Flynn.
In his final years he suffered from Buerger’s disease due to cigarette smoking.
He has one film in the National Film Registry: The Adventures of Robin Hood 1938.
He was Australian by birth with British and Irish descent.
Portrayed by Guy Pearce in My Forgotten Man 1993 and by Jude Law in The Aviator 2004.
His dream project was a biopic about outlaw Ned Kelly, nearly produced by Warner Brothers in the mid-1940s.
He is frequently mentioned in Marvel Comics’ X-Men as the idol of the character Nightcrawler.
Allegations that he was a Nazi spy were denounced by subsequent biographies; he was actually a left-wing supporter of the Spanish Republic and Fidel Castro.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Errol Flynn.
Celebrities similar to Errol Flynn — same craft, ranked by reach.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
