The Errol Flynn Blog

Dear fellow Flynn fans,

today marks the 100th birthday of Nathaniel Adams Coles commonerly known as Nat King Cole. Born in Montgomery Alabama the son of a butcher turned  Baptist pastor had a professional band  at age 16. Having moved to the South Side of Chicago he engaged in a prolific musical battle with his piano idol Earl “Fatha” Hines. “Sweet Lorraine” was his first hit with many more to come like “Mona Lisa” and “Straighten up and fly right”, once he was signed by Capitol Records, then a young label.

The King of Jazz was nominated four times for a Grammy and finally received his first in 1959, playing at the Sands Casino of Las Vegas for many years. The broad smilin’ entertainer with the honey covered vocal cords found himself opposed to very similar obstacles in later life like our man Flynn, who he met in Istanbul on the backlot of Universal Studios. In order to pay back back taxes caused by incompetent management he was forced to constantly touring and n’erending TV appearances. That a a whole lotta chain smoking lead to his untimely death at 45.

27 years after he posthumely would receive seven more Grammys for the duet across time and space with his daughter Natalie.

Much obliged for any post of all you knowledgeable Flynnions here if King Nat commented on his working with Errol.

Unforgettable,

— shangheinz

Der fellow Flynn fans,

I share with you a rare document, which shows the Hollywood studio executives ways of thinking when it comes to casting and cashing in on a movie in the making. It further shines a light on why Flynn wasn’t in in GONE WITH THE WIND. While the frantic search for the leading lady is common knowledge, it was new to me, that Gary Cooper was also considered for the lead role. Either way the film would have turned out ok. Let’s post your favourite photo of an iconic scene of GWTW and let our imaginary eye insert Errol into the picture. But keep in mind that Gable brought a lot to the table…

Enjoy,

— shangheinz