Flynn, Errol

Flynn, Errol

▪ American actor
in full  Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn 
born June 20, 1909, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
died Oct. 14, 1959, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

      Australian actor, celebrated during his short but colourful lifetime as the screen's foremost swashbuckler.

 Flynn was the son of a prominent Australian marine biologist and zoologist. As such, he was sent to the best schools available—and was expelled from virtually all of them. Flynn's restless, rebellious nature carried over into his early adulthood, as he unsuccessfully pursued such professions as government official, plantation overseer, gold miner, and journalist. In 1933 an Australian film producer saw some photographs of Flynn and offered the ruggedly handsome 24-year-old the role of the mutineer Fletcher Christian (Christian, Fletcher) in the semidocumentary feature In the Wake of the Bounty. Encouraged by this experience to pursue acting as a career, Flynn joined England's Northampton Repertory Company, which led to a few roles in British films and ultimately to a contract with Warner Bros. (Warner Brothers) in Hollywood. When Robert Donat dropped out of the title role in the expensive adventure film Captain Blood (1935), Warners took a chance on Flynn, thereby assuring stardom for him. Typecast as a dashing, fearless adventurer, he went on to star in such colourful costume dramas as The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), and The Sea Hawk (1940) and also such big-budget westerns as Dodge City (1939) and They Died with Their Boots On (1941). Unable to serve in World War II because of various physical ailments, he instead acted the part of a soldier in such films as Desperate Journey (1942) and Objective, Burma! (1945).

      Almost as soon as he arrived in Hollywood, Flynn established a reputation as an irrepressible drinker, carouser, and womanizer. In 1942 he was charged with the statutory rape of two teenaged girls, but he was acquitted as a result of the flamboyant legal maneuvers of his attorneys. Inevitably, his self-indulgence caught up with him; in his later Hollywood films he appeared haggard, distracted, and far older than his years. He also lost a great deal of money in a variety of ill-advised business ventures and headed to England and Europe in hopes of revitalizing his career.

      Returning to America in 1956, he enjoyed a brief resurgence of movie popularity with his brilliant performances in The Sun Also Rises (1957), The Roots of Heaven (1958), and Too Much, Too Soon (1958); in each film, he played a wasted, self-destructive drunkard, and some critics suggested that he wasn't acting. He also hosted an Anglo-American television anthology, The Errol Flynn Theater (1957), the nature of which allowed him to display a hitherto untapped versatility. He wrote a remarkably candid (if often wildly inaccurate) autobiography, My Wicked, Wicked Ways (1959), and made a cheaply filmed paean to Fidel Castro, Cuban Rebel Girls (1959). Flynn was married three times and was the father of four; his son, Sean, was a photojournalist who disappeared in 1970 while covering the war in Southeast Asia.

Additional Reading
Tony Thomas, Rudy Behlmer, and Clifford McCarty, The Films of Errol Flynn (1969); Lionel Godfrey, The Life and Crimes of Errol Flynn (1977); Tony Thomas, Errol Flynn: The Spy Who Never Was (1990).

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Flynn, Errol — pseud. di Flynn, Errol Leslie Thomson …   Sinonimi e Contrari. Terza edizione

  • Flynn,Errol — Flynn (flĭn), Errol. 1909 1959. Tasmanian born American actor known for his swashbuckling roles in motion pictures such as Captain Blood (1935). * * * …   Universalium

  • FLYNN, Errol — (1909–1959)    Born in Australia, Errol Flynn, distinguished in speech and manner, starred in four big budget Westerns in the 1930s and 1940s. He first made his reputation in swashbuckler films like Captain Blood (1935), The Charge of the Light… …   Westerns in Cinema

  • Flynn, Errol — • ФЛИНН (Flynn) Эррол (20.6.1909 14.10.1959)    амер. актёр. Был моряком, боксёром. С 1933 на сцене в Великобритании. В кино с 1935 (ф. Мятеж на Баунти ). Загл. роль в ф. Капитан Блад (в сов. прокате Одиссея капитана Блада , 1935) принесла ему… …   Кино: Энциклопедический словарь

  • Flynn, Errol — (1909 1959)    Born Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn in Hobart, Tasmania, the future movie star worked as a lifeguard, model, boxer, miner, and sailor before entering acting in London, England, in 1933. After playing roles in theater and small films in …   Historical Dictionary of the Roosevelt–Truman Era

  • Flynn, Errol — ► (1909 59) Actor cinematográfico estadounidense. Destacó en películas de aventuras como Capitán Blood y Robin de los bosques, entre otras …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Flynn, Errol (Leslie Thomson) — born June 20, 1909, Hobart, Tas., Austl. died Oct. 14, 1959, Vancouver, B.C., Can. Australian U.S. film actor. He sought adventure in New Guinea before turning to acting in Australia and England. In 1935 Warner Brothers brought him to Hollywood,… …   Universalium

  • Flynn, Errol (Leslie Thomson) — (20 jun. 1909, Hobart, Tas., Australia–14 oct. 1959, Vancouver, Columbia Británica, Canadá). Actor de cine australianoestadounidense. Fue un aventurero en Nueva Guinea antes de dedicarse a la actuación en Australia e Inglaterra. En 1935 la Warner …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Flynn — Flynn, Errol …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn — Errol Flynn, 1940 Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (* 20. Juni 1909 in Hobart/Australien; † 14. Oktober 1959 in Vancouver/Kanada) war ein australisch US amerikanischer Filmschauspieler. In den 1930er und 1940er Jahren wurde er als Abenteuerheld in… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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