A few years back I was chatting with a couple of colleagues about Australian movie stars. We were debating who is the biggest today. Was it Russell Crowe or Mel Gibson or Nicole Kidman or Hugh Jackman? Smartarse me said that all of them combined still do not have the star power that Errol Flynn had in his day. The youngest of my fellow staffers asked who's Errol Flynn? I got over my initial shock and then told her he was Robin Hood, Captain Blood, the Sea Hawk and Don Juan. At the height of his Hollywood career he was the biggest movie star in the world and a household name anywhere where American movies were shown. The staffer asked when was he around, to which I replied in the '40s and '50s. She waves her hand and said "Oh, that was before my time". "It was before mine," I said sharply.
Being before your time is no excuse. Errol Flynn is Australia's greatest contribution to Hollywood entertainment. He changed and set the face of the romantic adventurer. He had that Australian type of accent - perhaps because he was a Tasmanian - that made him sound English to the ears of most non-Australians, thus he prances with mega-charming daring-do in that subtle Aussie way which at the time made him entrancingly different.
He's great to watch in action being a very physical performer. At first he looks like he was no great actor but there's a natural charm to him, an easy likeability, plus his roguish quality felt real, which it was. He was magnetic and attractive to both men and women. He also starred in some of the best and most successful Hollywood epics of the '30s. In the '40s, when older and wiser, and perhaps a little burnt out, he showed himself to actually be an actor capable of skilled performances.
It is the 50th anniversary of the passing of Errol Flynn at the age of 49. His legacy includes one of the best sword fights (against Basil Rathbone) in Captain Blood, one of the best hero entrances in Robin Hood when he fights off the guards with a stag over his shoulders, and one of the great screen partnerships of classic Hollywood. The chemistry between Flynn and Olivia de Havilland carried over the eight films they did together. He also proved himself a skilled writer with two well-received novels and what is still one of the very best Hollywood autobiographies with My Wicked Wicked Ways.
On and off the screen Flynn was the real deal. Yes, the saying In Like Flynn is derived from his exploits. And as he was fond of a Bloody Mary for breakfast, so raise your own glass of spiked tomato juice as we toast to the memory of Australia's brightest son, Errol Flynn.
"Oh Errol - I would give everything, just to be like him"
Errol Flynn was the best!He was the most handsome,magnetic,athletic,swashbuckler;both on and off screen!As his father said of him:"He lived the kind of life that all men would like to live,if they had the guts."As the old saying goes:"Men wanted to be like him,women wanted to be with him."Errol Flynn wasn't just the biggest Australian star,he was the biggest star,period!He was an extremely complex individual.Outwardly,he was confident,charismatic and charming;inwardly he was self-doubting and philosophical.He was a brilliant splash of colour in an often dull world!
I think you sum it up quite well.
Errol Flynn was way before my time, but my Aunt - who was more of a grandmother to me - loved him so much that she had me stay up late and watch his movies when i was a little girl - i grew up loving Errol Flynn and have so many wonderfully framed great photos of him on the walls in my household - i have a friend who by chance felt the same way about him and with him being an artist he has created pencil, charcoal, and oils of my favorite photos - my Aunt has since passed but every time i look at these pictures/paintings around my home i go back to those wonderful memories of Errol Flynn movies - and it never hurts that he was one of the most beautiful men ever. thank you for letting me post this....just finished watching "they died with their boots on" ..
Thanks. I really liked that story.
I love that anecdote...he too was way ahead of my time but thanks to TCM I discovered the Classics: All About Eve, It Happened One Night and of course Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn.He was captivating and they don't make movie stars like this anymore.