20th June: Errol Flynn

The actor Errol Flynn was born on this date in 1909. 10 things you might not know about Errol Flynn:

1. He was born in Australia. Hobart, Tasmania, to be exact. Both of his parents were native-born Australians of Irish, English, and Scottish descent. He went to school in England for a time - South-West London College, a private boarding school in Barnes, London.
2. He was somewhat of a naughty boy. Back in Australia, he was expelled from school for theft and romancing the school's laundress. He was fired from one of his early jobs, as a junior clerk with a Sydney shipping company, for pilfering petty cash.
3. As an amateur actor, he appeared in the lead role of an Australian film about the Mutiny on the Bounty, playing Fletcher Christian. He'd got the acting bug by now, and returned to England to pursue acting as a career. He worked at Northampton Repertory Company for seven months before getting fired again for having a violent argument with a female stage manager which ended with her falling down some stairs.
4. He had a reputation for being a ladies' man. He was married three times: to actress Lili Damita from 1935 until 1942; Nora Eddington from 1944 until 1949 and to actress Patrice Wymore from 1950 until his death. When he died, it appeared he had his eye on wife number four, Beverly Aadland, a young actress, just fifteen when they met. He cast her in his final film, Cuban Rebel Girls. Aadland claimed he planned to leave his wife and marry her, but he died before it could happen.
5. Rumours abounded that Flynn was also involved with Olivia de Havilland, with whom he co-starred eight times. Flynn admitted that he did fancy her, but Olivia de Havilland says there was no romance. He didn't get on so well with Bette Davis. They quarrelled off screen, and at least one face slap in a film was rather harder than it needed to be! Flynn responded with a certain amount of swagger, suggesting that she disliked him because he didn't fancy her. Others said that Davis didn't think he deserved equal billing with her because he wasn't a proper actor. Although when watching their film, Elizabeth and Essex, Olivia de Havilland heard Davis admit, "Damn it! The man could act!"
6. Flynn was a writer as well as an actor. As well as working as a war correspondent in Spain in 1937 he wrote three books, Beam Ends, an autobiographical account of his sailing experiences as a youth around Australia; an adventure novel, Showdown,and an autobiography, My Wicked, Wicked Ways with the aid of ghostwriter Earl Conrad, as Flynn was suffering from depression and alcoholism by then, and had lost the discipline to write. The book concentrated on his private life rather than his film career and was intended to shock. Flynn wanted to call the book In Like Me, in reference to an expression, "in like Flynn" but the publisher refused.
7. The author Charles Higham published a biography of him in 1980 which made some highly controversial claims, which were refuted by his friends and family. A libel lawsuit against Higham was rejected on the grounds that Flynn was dead. Higham's claims include that Flynn was a Nazi spy and bisexual, but Higham, by his own admission, had no documentation to prove any of it.
8. Flynn became an American citizen in 1942, and as such became eligible for the military draft. Like many actors of the time, Flynn attempted to join up - but Flynn was rejected because of he had a whole raft of health problems including a heart murmur, recurrent malaria (contracted in New Guinea), chronic back pain, chronic tuberculosis, and venereal disease. This posed problems for his image. On the one hand, the swashbuckling hero was criticised for not joining up, but admitting he'd tried but been turned down on account of his health would damage his professional reputation.
9. Flynn died of a heart attack, probably brought on by deep venous thrombosis in his legs. He'd flown to Vancouver to negotiate the lease of his yacht, as by now he had financial troubles. On the drive to the airport to catch his flight home, he started complaining of back and leg pains. The businessman George Caldough, who was driving him, had a friend who was a doctor so he took Flynn to the doctor's home. The doctor diagnosed degenerative disc disease and spinal osteoarthritis; gave him a pain relief injection and a leg massage and told him to rest for a few minutes. Flynn said he felt much better and the doctor left him alone. Twenty minutes later, Beverly Aadland went to check on him and he was unresponsive. The doctor did all he could, and called an ambulance, but Flynn was declared dead at Vancouver General Hospital.
10. Errol Flynn has been the inspiration for comic book characters. Artist Don Heck based Tony Stark (Iron Man)'s look on Flynn, and Stan Lee based one of Thor's companions, Fandral, on Flynn as well. Actor Joshua Dallas, who played Fandral in the film Thor, based his portrayal on Flynn.