Errol with his mom and dad. Errol's dad called him a Leprechaun always getting into mischief, which is how he was remembered by all who knew him.
Climbing a sailboat mast under sail is an act of true courage, something attempted by only the bravest among us. Irish-American Errol Flynn was born in Australia but grew up in Tasmania where his father was a professor. Errol had worked on a plantation in his teens and early 20's from which he caught Malaria which was to plague him the rest of his life.
Errol was as reckless and brave off screen as he was on screen. To the total shock of Warner Brother's Studio Chief Jack Warner, Errol took part in the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930's on the side of the Republican forces. He was wounded and earned the respect of his fellow freedom fighters. Ernest Hemingway who served with him, called him a true hero.
Immediately after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Errol applied for American citizenship so he could fight for US in World War II. Jack Warner learned of this and secretly released to the Department of Defense Errol's last studio medical exam which disclosed that Errol had recurring malaria, an enlarged heart, cirrhosis of the liver, from excessive drinking, and congestive heart failure. Errol was turned down for military service but a Hollywood Gossip Reporter told him that it was Jack Warner who sabotaged his patriotic service.
Errol immediately began his own campaign against Jack Warner. He would call his dad in Tasmania 8,000 miles away on a studio phone between filming scenes for his latest movie never hanging up even when he went back to shoot the next scene, these calls were hugely expensive. In the early 1940's long distance between LA and Tasmania cost $50 for a three minute call, the average wage in the US was $1400 a year at the time. These calls ran into $10,000's.
Errol was accused of statutory rape in the early 1940's, but beat the charges because his attorney Jerry Geisler convinced the jury that Errol did not know two of his "dates" were underage. Geisler was able to show that one of the girls had had an abortion prior to meeting Errol and both had been described as promiscuous by friends and family, the other serving time in juvenile. Geisler took considerable time in cross examining the girls to question their hair styles and clothes chosen by the DA/Police, which were designed to make them look much younger than they were. One of the girls showed up in court in pigtails, which Geisler got her to admit she had not worn for over five years, since she was 12-years-old. Geisler forced the girls to admit they constantly lied about their ages and had offered sex to various people, including sailors on shore leave. Jurors said that every lie the girls told on questioning by the district attorney, trying to portray them as innocent virgins, revealed by Geisler's questioning totally destroyed their testimony.
Coincidentally, at the same time a scandal broke in the LA papers that the LA District Attorney's Office was corrupt, extorting money from the studios to cover up scandals for a fee. When Jack Warner did not come up with the money, the DA charged Errol with the crime.
A book came out in the 1970's which claimed, a total fabrication, that Errol Flynn was a Nazi Spy, No one who fought against Franco and the Nazi Condor Legion in Spain would spy for them in the US.
One of Errol's closest friends and neighbors in Jamaica was Naval Commander and MI6 Agent Ian Fleming the creator of James Bond, 007, shown here with Sean Connery.
Errol did get into tax trouble in his later years and semi-retired to Jamaica where he opened a hotel. He continued to sail the world taking his sailboat to Vancouver to sell it. He had a massive heart attack and died at the age of 50-years-old.
Errol Flynn's son Sean became an actor when he was young appearing several Hollywood films before choosing journalism as profession. He became a reporter and photographer in Vietnam in the late 1960's until he was captured and executed by the Viet Cong/North Vietnamese. Reckless Courage ran in the family.
Sean's friends described him as fearless and a real reporter/photographer. He undertook every dangerous assignment he was given without flinching. Errol's grandson Sean Flynn later became an actor following his grandfather's footsteps.
Whatever anyone believed about Errol, they would have to admit that he loved his kids, Sean, Rory and Deirdre.
Footnote: 18-year-old Charlie Starkweather America's first spree/serial killer, took his 13-year-old girlfriend Caril Fugate with him during his crime spree. Charlie at first covered-up for Caril, then admitted that she was an active participant in the murder of one girl, whom she repeatedly stabbed after Charlie raped and shot the girl and her boyfriend. He also claimed she knew exactly what happened as it happened during the spree proven because she never attempted to get away from him until they were caught in Wyoming. The DA and Police made Caril cut her hair to make her look much older than her 13-years to help convict her. Looking back at the evidence and testimony, they didn't need to do that, which I consider totally dishonest, just like the DA in Errol's case making the girls wear pig tales and school girl clothes in order to convict Errol. Knowing the facts I would have voted to convict Caril for the murders too even with long hair.
Another Great Hero: King Christian X of Denmark
During WWII, King Christian X of Denmark did the strangest thing. Before the war, he had taken a cavalry detachment of several 100 horseback soldiers and paraded through the capital of Copenhagen every day, like the English changing of the guard. After Hitler's Nazi invasion of Denmark in 1940, King Christian X continued to ride his horse from the royal palace through the capital city of Copenhagen, but he made the choice to ride alone among his people. Christian X made a point of returning the salute of anyone who offered him their salute, whether a 10-year-old boy or a 90-year-old retiree. At first, in the first days of Nazi occupation, Christian X rode all alone, then as Nazi occupation continued, 100's of boys, then girls, then people of all ages on bicycle would join him. Then crowds would gather on the sidewalks and streets of the capital to show their support.
It is known that this bothered Germany Army Commanders and the Gestapo immensely, but the King's popularity with his people was such that they feared doing any reprisals. When Hitler sent the king a birthday greeting in 1942, the King sent a Danish colloquialism which meant he could go **** himself. In secret King Christian X helped the resistance organize all the boats of the country to secretly sail Jews to neutral Sweden, leading to over 90% of Denmark's Jews surviving the war. Denmark was the only country in German occupied Europe which could say anything close to that number survived. King Christian X was a true leader who cared about his people. Whenever I hear an Evangelical from the Bible Belt smear liberal Denmark, I always tell this true story. Christian X is one of my pantheon of heroes. Thank you, Denmark and King Christian X.
I could only hope that I would have had that kind of courage as the Danes and King Christian X had under similar circumstances.
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