The Golden Age Of Hollywood

Errol Flynn (1909 - 1959)




Flynn was the greatest swashbuckler of the sound era, he always looked great in period clothes and played such roles with a winning enthusiasm and panache. He wasn't considered much of an actor but others never looked as dashing or as suitable as Flynn in these roles, his films are pure entertainment and must have been an inviting escape for audiences of the time weary of Depression and war. Sadly Flynn had trouble seeing their worth and by extension his worth as an actor, the fifty years of his life he spent really drinking, drug taking and womanising himself into oblivion. On the surface he had everything but Flynn had fatal character flaws.

He had a most promiscious early life if his boasting is to be believed but was first noticed by the general public when he starred in Michael Curtiz's Captain Blood (1935) the first of a series of exciting swashbucklers and action films they made together : The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) (the best action movie of all for many), Dodge City (1939) and The Sea Hawk (1940). Both director and star despite these successes hated each other, Flynn's leading lady in many of them was Olivia de Havilland. Their last film together They Died With Their Boots On (1941) a typical Hollywood version of the story of General Custer had an extra poignancy.

In the early Forties Flynn's run of great action movies seemed to dry up and he got himself into serious trouble when he was charged with raping a minor. He was aquitted but was likely guilty, sadly this lucky escape just seemed to accelerate his dependencies on drink and drugs. By the time he starred in Adventures of Don Juan (1949) the last of his fine swashbucklers Flynn's lifestyle was showing in his face, he and Alan Hale had to be held up on their horses.

Ironically in his last years Flynn got some critical plaudits for playing drunks such as John Barrymore in Too Much, Too Soon (1958) but it was too late to really boost his flagging ego. At the age of fifty his heart gave up the struggle but he remains forever vibrant and vital in those action classics of the Thirties and Forties.


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Written content copyright Derek McLellan,2005.
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