As I sit in Florida, only a hundred yards or so from one of Errol’s favorite vacation homes and hideaways in Florida, I watch and wait for signs of Hurricane Dorian, which, no matter how historically notable it becomes, will never reach the league of Category 5 Flynn.
“He truly was an encyclopedia of knowledge about the wild and woolly world we both loved. He mentioned a song — “Errol Flynn,” by Amanda McBroom — and I admitted I hadn’t heard it. He said, “Do you mind if I play it?” He sat at his trusty old Wurlitzer, and tore my heart out. At one point he leaned back at me mid-song and made eye contact. It was a strategic move, because he knew the line that was coming would get me. The topper was that he had a tear streaming down his face. By the end of the song, so did I.”
“He had roles in a handful of films, including the Sam Peckinpah-directed Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, and Convoy. He also appeared in the 1976 version of A Star Is Born, and his most recent on-screen role was in the 2012 film Jayne Mansfield’s Car, written and directed by Billy Bob Thornton.”
“His songs have been recorded by Charlie Rich, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dolly Parton, the Rolling Stones, Arthur Alexander, Lulu, Robert Plant, the Box Tops, and Sheryl Crow, among many others.”
Starring Errol Flynn, Ginger Rogers, Dorothy Lamour, Lana Turner, ~ a cast of approximately 170 more celebrities, and Fifty Thousand extras
On March 17, 1949, the iconic Shamrock Hotel opened with a huge shindig. Hollywood celebrities including Ginger Rogers and Errol Flynn came to town for the grand opening, and Houstonians paid $42 a head to go to the dinner. About 3,000 people showed up in total, a thousand more than organizers had expected. Rich and famous attendees, even Houston’s mayor, ended up dining on hallway floors. Although the Houston Chronicle described the night as “bedlam in diamonds,” it is still remembered as one of the biggest social events in Houston history.
“Besides the one-bedroom, two-bathroom main house, there are two guesthouses.
One, built as an office, has a cathedral ceiling, a full bathroom and French doors that lead to the gardens. The other guest suite, reached by a bridge and set above the garage, was sometimes used by “The Adventures of Robin Hood” star Errol Flynn.”
The Errol Flynns (Lili Damita) are sending all the way to London for the favors of their pirate party to be given as soon as he finishes Captain Blood for Warner Brothers.
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———- “The Errol Flynns” at the Trocadero celebrating Errol’s tremendous success in Captain Blood ————-
David: I spent some time today looking over your Flynn Blog. It really is extraordinary, the best blog on the internet. I’ve been fortunate enough to be allowed to post a few things about Flynn, and it’s been very gratifying. Flynn has popped up in my life at the oddest times.
I went to a school named Lawrenceville in NJ, and my math teacher, Mr. Parks, an old fossil but nice guy, occasionally would talk about Sean Flynn who he’d also taught at Lawrenceville. Errol visited once on parents day, and Mr. Parks met him and said he was friendly and proud of Sean. We were asked to pray for Sean at chapel (this was in 1972, my 8th grade year), as I think it was his birthday, and he was still missing in Cambodia.
I know a guy from Sean’s class who said Sean was a nice low key guy, who struggled (like everyone there) in class, but excelled on the swim team..I knew another fellow in London name Colin Crewe who told me he spent a day with Errol in the late 1950’s when he worked for Lloyds of London and was insuring Errol for a film and assigned to tag along with him for a day, and that Flynn wore this beautiful blue wool suit and Colin went out the next day and bought one.
Then there was Robin Moore whom I knew slightly, wrote French Connection, and he told me about hanging out with Flynn in Jamaica, teasing the native dogs and hitting on the native women, and how Flynn once fought with a young Chris Blackwell, the record magnate, whose family lived in Jamaica. Then there was an in depth article I wrote for Premiere Magazine all about the Garden of Allah, and there were sundry Flynn stories here; I interviewed everyone from Hal Roach to Cesar Romero to Billy Wilder to Glen Ford who had me over and we talked for hours and he thought Flynn was a man’s man but basically a sad guy.
Lastly, I once interviewed Charles Higham, who wrote the untold story, the weirdest most dysfunctional misanthropic con man I’ve ever spoken with, a sick guy who was into exploiting everyone to make a living; his book was sheer invention calculated to get on best seller lists everywhere, which it did.