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Top 10 Sensational Facts about Errol Flynn

Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn was born on 20 June 1909 and died on 14th October 1959. She was an Australian-born actor.

1. Achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood

Author; Warner Bros. Pictures- Wikimedia

Considered the natural successor to Douglas Fairbanks, known as the Australian Casanova, he achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Olivia de Havilland, and reputation for his womanising and hedonistic personal life.

His most notable roles include the eponymous hero in ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood’ (1938), which was later named by the American Film Institute as the 18th greatest hero in American film history, the lead role in ‘Captain Blood‘ (1935), Major Geoffrey Vickers in ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade‘ (1936), and the hero in a number of Westerns such as ‘Dodge City‘ (1939), ‘Santa Fe Trail‘ (1940), and ‘San Antonio’ (1945).

2. Flynn appeared first as a performer at only age 9

Image by Merio from Pixabay

Flynn received his early schooling in Hobart. He attended The Hutchins School, Hobart College, The Friends School and Albura Street Primary School and was expelled from each one.

He made one of his first appearances as a performer in 1918, aged nine, when he served as a page boy to Enid Lyons in a queen carnival.

In her memoirs, Lyons recalled Flynn as “a dashing figure—a handsome boy of nine with a fearless, somewhat haughty expression, already showing that sang-froid for which he was later to become famous throughout the civilized world”.

She further noted: “Unfortunately Errol at the age of nine did not yet possess that magic for extracting money from the public which so distinguished his career as an actor. Our cause gained no apparent advantage from his presence in my entourage; we gained only third place in a field of seven.”

3. He was once classmates with Australia’s prime minister, John Gorton

John Gorton- Author; Sievers-Clary- Wikimedia

In 1926, he returned to Australia to attend Sydney Church of England Grammar School (known as “Shore”), where he was the classmate of a future Australian prime minister, John Gorton.

His formal education ended with his expulsion from Shore for theft, although he later claimed it was for a sexual encounter with the school’s laundress.

4. At 18 years old, Errol sought his fortune from tobacco planting and gold mining

Tobacco Plants- Author; South Australian Government- Wikimedia

After being dismissed from a job as a junior clerk with a Sydney shipping company for pilfering petty cash, he went to Papua New Guinea at the age of eighteen, seeking his fortune in tobacco planting and gold mining in the Morobe Goldfield.

He spent the next five years oscillating between New Guinea and Sydney.

5. Errol’s first film was not a box office success but it opened doors for him in the film industry

Author; Allmoviescollection- Wikimedia

Australian filmmaker Charles Chauvel was making a film about the ‘mutiny on the Bounty, ‘In the Wake of the Bounty’ (1933), a combination of dramatic re-enactments of the mutiny and a documentary on present-day Pitcairn Island.

Chauvel was looking for someone to play the role of Fletcher Christian. There are different stories about the way Flynn was cast.

According to one, Chauvel saw his picture in an article about a yacht wreck involving Flynn. The most popular account is that he was discovered by cast member John Warwick.

The film was not a strong success at the box office, but Flynn’s was the lead role, and his fate was decided. In late 1933 he went to Britain to pursue a career in acting.

6. His fist gig in Britain was when he worked as an extra in a film produced for Warner Bros

Author; Archive.org- Wikimedia

Flynn got work as an extra in a film, ‘I Adore You’ (1933), produced by Irving Asher for Warner Bros.

He soon secured a job with the Northampton Repertory Company at the town’s Royal Theatre, where he worked and received his training as a professional actor for seven months.

Northampton is home to an art-house cinema that was named after him, the Errol Flynn Filmhouse, from 2013 to 2019. He performed at the 1934 Malvern Festival and in Glasgow, and briefly in London’s West End.

7. Errol was once dismissed after throwing a female manager down the stairs

In 1934 Flynn was dismissed from Northampton Rep. after he threw a female stage manager down a stairwell. He returned to London.

Asher cast him as the lead in ‘Murder at Monte Carlo,’ a “quota quickie” made by Warner Brothers at their Teddington Studios in Middlesex.

The movie was not widely seen (it is a lost film) but Asher was enthusiastic about Flynn’s performance and cabled Warner Bros in Hollywood, recommending him for a contract. Executives agreed and Flynn was sent to Los Angeles.

8. He was voted 14th most popular star in the U.S and 7th most popular in Britain

Author; Wim van Rossem- Wikimedia

At the peak of his career, Flynn was voted the fourteenth most popular star in the U.S. and the seventh most popular in Britain, according to Motion Picture Daily.

According to Variety, he was the fourth-biggest star in the U.S. and the fourth-biggest box-office attraction overseas as well.

Another financial success was the Western ‘Santa Fe Trail’ (1940), with de Havilland and Ronald Reagan and directed by Curtiz, which grossed $2,147,663 in the US, making it Warner Brothers’ second-biggest hit of 1940. 

9. He consistently ranked among Warner Bros top stars

Warner Bros Studios- Author; LiAnG- Wikimedia

Flynn consistently ranked among Warner Bros. top stars. In 1937, he was the studio’s No. 1 star, ahead of Paul Muni and Bette Davis.

In 1938, he was No. 3, just behind Davis and Muni. In 1939, he was No. 3 again, this time behind Davis and James Cagney.

In 1940 and 1941, he was Warner Bros.’ No. 1 top box-office draw. In 1942, he was No. 2, behind Cagney.

In 1943, he was No. 2, behind Humphrey Bogart . Warners allowed Flynn a change of pace from a long string of period pieces in a light-hearted mystery, ‘Footsteps in the Dark’ (1941).

Los Angeles Times’ Edwin Schallert wrote: “Errol Flynn becomes a modern for a change in a whodunit film and the excursion proves eminently worthwhile… an exceptionally clever and amusing exhibit …”

10. Flynn became a naturalised American in 1942

Flynn in 1952- Author; Jrodsquad- Wikimedia

Flynn became a naturalised American citizen on 14 August 1942. With the United States fully involved in the Second World War, he attempted to enlist in the armed services but failed the physical exam due to recurrent malaria (which he contracted in New Guinea), a heart murmur, various venereal diseases and latent pulmonary tuberculosis.

Flynn was mocked by reporters and critics as a “draft dodger” but the studio refused to admit that their star, promoted for his physical beauty and athleticism, had been disqualified due to health problems.