Errol Flynn Was Old Hollywood's Golden Boy Who Also Lived A Bawdy Life
Known for roles in old Hollywood classics like The Adventures of Robin Hood and Captain Blood, Errol Flynn was one of the most popular film stars of the 1930s and 1940s. However, the debonair star's real life differed from that of his movies as he led a life full of scandals, alcohol, underage romances, and other bad behavior. Flynn was one of many Hollywood legends who took advantage of his fame and got caught up in the Hollywood system, but his stories about his antics go beyond pranks and play, entering into harassing and criminal.
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Flynn Was Expelled from Almost Every School He Attended
Born in Hobart, Australia, in 1909, Errol Flynn was the son of a successful marine biologist and had access to elite schools because of it.
When his father began teaching in England, Flynn was enrolled at the Southwest London College, an experience he described as the "most dismal two years of his life."At school, his rambunctious spirit didn't make Flynn a good student, and he was caught up in trouble wherever he went. In his autobiography, Flynn claimed one of the teachers at Southwest London College made sexual advances toward him, and that when he was expelled, it was because he had skipped too many classes, pranked the headmasters too much, and spent too many nights off campus.
He was sent back to Australia, where he attended grammar school in Sydney. He was supposedly expelled after he got into a fight with another boy over a girl. There were also rumors that he had been caught sleeping with the laundress' daughter, and that he was a bully who stole money from other students. After this expulsion, he had to find his own schools in Australia: his father taught in England and his mother lived in France with her sister.
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Flynn Bounced Around From Job To Job And Slept With Many Women
Flynn's education didn't pan out, so he began to work. He worked odd jobs and got engaged to a woman named Naomi for a time, but it was as short-lived romance.
In 1927, Flynn took up boxing and gained some local notoriety. His next move was to chase gold in New Guinea. He arrived in New Guinea in October 1927. He spent most of his time swimming and playing sports, on one occasion taking up with a woman named Maura. Maura was married and, after her husband found out, he beat them both.
- Photo: Trailer screenshot / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
Once He Got To England, His Acting Career Took Off
After moderate financial success in New Guinea, a brief return trip to Australia, and trips from the South China Sea to the Mediterranean, Flynn arrived in England in 1933. Flynn had done his first bit of successful film work during this time, playing a mutineer in In the Wake of the Bounty. This allegedly inspired him to pursue acting.
In England, Flynn looked for work but was unable to find a job until the Northampton Repertory Company hired him in 1933. He managed to get some acting work in a few British films and signed a contract with Warner Brothers in Hollywood. His big break came when lead actor Robert Donat backed out of the film Captain Blood in 1935 and Flynn took his place. His physique and on-screen appeal led to him being typecast into more roles where he played a swashbuckling adventurer, including The Adventures of Robin Hood in 1938.
- Photo: Roisterer / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
The Phrase 'In Like Flynn' Describes His Personal Escapades
Onscreen, Flynn was dashing, charismatic, and appealing, and offscreen it was very much the same. Flynn romanced women at every stop along the way of his rise to stardom. He earned a reputation in Hollywood for excessive drinking and womanizing. His sexual pursuits were successful, however, and maybe it's not a coincidence the phrase "in like Flynn" indicates quick and easy success.
- Photo: Unknown / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
Flynn May Have Slept With Men And Women
There were rumors in later years in Hollywood that Flynn hooked up with Tyrone Power, Howard Hughes, and Truman Capote.
He Was Tried And Acquitted For Statutory Rape In 1943
In 1942, Errol Flynn went out with 17-year-old Betty Hansen. Hansen had too much to drink and details about the rest of the night are scarce. The following day, Hansen told her sister that Flynn had seduced her. The District Attorney at the time, Thomas Cochran, recalled a similar complaint had once been made against Flynn (by a woman named Peggy Satterlee) but was thrown out. Cochran decided to pursue Hansen's allegations.
Flynn was arrested in October and went to trial for statutory rape in January 1943. The trial was overwhelmed with fans and Flynn's lawyer, Jerry Geisler, stacked the jury with nine women to benefit his client. When he cross-examined Hansen, Geisler confused her and made her out to be a criminal. When Cochran called Satterlee to the stand, she testified that although Flynn knew she was underage, when they were on his yacht he "got into bed with me and completed an act of sexual intercourse." Geisler discredited Satterlee by getting her to admit that she had lied about her age in the past, been involved in an adulterous affair, and had once had an abortion.
The next day, the jury found Flynn not guilty. According to the jury foreman, "We felt there had been other men in the girls' lives. Frankly, the cards were on the table and we couldn't believe the girls' stories."
- Photo: Dell Publishing Company / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
His Second Wife Worked At The Courthouse Where His Trial Took Place
While his trial was underway, Flynn spent breaks flirting with a young woman who worked in the courthouse (or was a waitress who served him lunch, depending on the source). Nora Eddington was 18 or 19 at the time and, the following year, the two got married. They were married until 1949.
His House Was A Voyeuristic Palace For Play
Errol Flynn's house represented his personality with its tricks and trades. Located on Mulholland Drive, the house was full of secret passages, one of which "opened directly into a cramped triangular sitting room with a view through another two-way mirror into the women's bathroom ... Flynn's first voyeuristic device."
According to actor Robert Douglas, he went behind a two-way mirror with Flynn to see two people sleeping in a bed. Flynn pushed a button and a screen came up, waking the couple. Douglas recalled they were naked, pornography began to play on the screen, and the all four of them watched for a time before Flynn and Douglass went downstairs to the bar.
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He Had Gonorrhea More Than Once
While in New Guinea, Flynn contracted both malaria and gonorrhea. He was allegedly terrified when he was diagnosed with black pox, as gonorrhea was then known in Australia, and spent several days in the hospital getting "permanganate potash injections in his urethra." He decided he wasn't getting appropriate treatment in New Guinea and returned to Sydney for treatment.
Flynn Claimed To Have Spent 12,000 – 14,000 Nights Making Love
According to Flynn, his life was full of hooking up. He claimed he had been with thousands of women and spent 12,000 to 14,000 nights sleeping with them. With three marriages and countless girlfriends, it's unclear if he actually achieved this number.
- Photo: Iberia Airlines / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0
He May Never Have Said That He Liked 'His Whiskey Old And His Women Young,' But Both Were True
No one knows if Flynn actually said that he liked "his whiskey old and his women young," but by all indications, the sentiment was true. Late in life, Flynn began a relationship with 15-year-old Beverly Aadland. Aadland worked at Warner Brothers and was asked to dinner by Flynn in 1957.
He told her it was to read for a part but at their first meeting, Aadland recalled, "I just thought he was just trying to kiss me. He knew so many women who would say yes that when I was saying no, no, no, he thought I meant yes." Flynn called the next day to apologize and the two went out again, beginning a two-year relationship. Aadland was with Flynn when he had a heart attack and died in 1959.
