Errol Flynn

The son of a wealthy biologist, Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn came into the world on June 20, 1909, in Tasmania (Australia). Since his childhood, he was distinguished by his lack of discipline, which caused his expulsion from all the schools he attended. The same happened to him in Great Britain, when his family moved there. As a young man he was still in his family, confronted his parents, and left home to lead a bohemian life. He subsisted with jobs as varied as cattle groomer or supervisor of a tobacco plantation. At that time he was a charismatic young man who did not go unnoticed, which caught the attention of an Australian producer, who hired him for a small film role in In the Wake of Bounty .. Flynn was delighted and decided that he had found the ideal profession to satisfy his vanity, so he decided to improve his acting skills by joining a theater company.

In the mid-1930s, Flynn embarked on the Hollywood boarding, and Warners hired him. The company bet heavily on him, as a last-minute replacement for Robert Donat in Michael Curtiz ‘s Captain Blood , where he shared the lead with Olivia de Havilland , then an unknown. This pirate story, a milestone in adventure cinema of all time, had unprecedented success, making Flynn popular. He developed a great friendship with his co-star Olivia de Havilland, and shared a huge colonial-style mansion with Clark Gable ., where both organized the most frivolous and wild parties that are remembered in Hollywood. Director Michael Curtiz continued to bet on him, pairing him again with Olivia de Havilland in The Charge of the Light Brigade , Dodge, Lawless City , The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex , Santa Fe Trail and above all, Robin de the woods . In this one, Curtiz replaced William Keighley at the last minute , who had already filmed some scenes. Undisputed summit of the epic and adventurous genre, with a colorful setting and dynamic editing, the script exuded imagination and a sense of humor. Without Olivia de Havilland, Curtiz, known for being responsible forCasablanca , he also directed Flynn, in The Sea Hawk . All of these titles made Flynn the heir to Douglas Fairbanks , who in the silent era was the undisputed king of adventure movies.

In 1935, Flynn married actress Lili Damita , who had starred in titles such as Esta es la noche . As a result of the marriage, Sean was born, Errol’s first son, who would later try unsuccessfully to succeed in the cinema, starring in Captain Blood’s Son , and who died while working as a press photographer in the Vietnam War. Far from settling down by marrying, like Clark Gable by joining Carole Lombard , Flynn became more of a reveler than before. His friendship with Gable broke up because he was given the role of Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind., to the detriment of Flynn, who at first was going to be the protagonist. Although according to Warner’s propaganda department, the actor intended to enlist in the army, it seems that he had to stay home due to health problems. At that time it was rumored that Flynn was collaborating with the Nazis, acting as a spy, a theory with even less credibility than the rumor that he injected vodka into oranges to consume during filming. Several women accused him of rape, although after a long process he was acquitted. In any case, he retained an opposite image on screen, where he continued to play heroes like the leads in They Died With Their Boots On , Gentleman Jim , and Target: Burma , all under the command ofRaoul Walsh . After divorcing Damita, he reunited for a short time with Nora Eddington, who had a brief role in El burlador de Castilla , and Patrice Wymore , co-star of Cerco de fuego , a correct western. His last big hit was India’s Kim , but then his decline began in the 50s, and his contract with Warner ended. The interpreter chained successive failures in films such as The New Orleans Tavern , Guillermo Tell or The Lord of Ballantry . When Hollywood turned its back on him, he went to seek a better fortune in Europe, where he made the Italian film Il maestro don Giovanni .and the UK’s Lilacs in the Spring . After a long period of rest, dedicating himself to traveling the world on his sailboat, Flynn launched himself to reconquer Hollywood with more complex and dramatic roles than those that had made him famous, often alcoholic, similar to the actor himself. He played an American drinker on a tour of Europe in Fiesta , an adaptation of a Hemingway play whose filming lasted two years, during which the actor went through France and Spain. In our country, Flynn hit the bottle in the company of his co-star Ava Gardner , another heavy drinker. The tape went unnoticed although it obtained better results The roots of heavenby Master Huston. His supporting role as an ex-serviceman who helps an idealist in his quest to preserve African elephants garnered rave reviews. His last film, written and produced by him, was Cuban Rebel Girls , an allegation against Fidel Castro , where he played an American correspondent on the island. When he was cementing his prestige as a dramatic actor, he died in 1959 due to a heart attack. That same year his autobiography was published. At that time he was in very poor condition, because although he was only 50 years old, he seemed much older.