Hollywood actor Errol Flynn: biography, filmography and personal life

Bright actor Errol Flynn lived a short but rich life. His role of noble bandits and brave heroes in the cinema for a long time to remember the audience. He was a real idol of Hollywood for 20 years. In total, he managed to play 30 notable roles, but each of them became an important page in the history of cinema.

early years

June 20, 1909 on the Australian island of Tasmania begins a new acting biography. Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn appeared in the family of a marine biology scientist, and Lily Mary Young, who, according to family mythology, led her family from the rebel of the famous Bounty ship Fletcher Christian. His parents were Australians of British descent. As a child, the future actor was a disobedient and restless child. His parents sent him to many of the best schools in the UK, but he was expelled everywhere for his bad behavior and poor progress, and from the Sydney School, where Errol studied in the same class as future Australian Prime Minister John Gorton, he was thrown out for his connection with a minor daughter of a school laundress. At the age of 15, he finally quit his studies, deciding to arrange a destiny at his own discretion.

Search yourself

At the age of 15, Errol Flynn was appointed clerk to a shipping company in Sydney, but the restless nature did not allow him to sit for long in one place. For several years he tried different professions: a cook, a policeman, a diver for pearls, a gold digger. Working in a tobacco company in New Guinea, he begins writing for the newspaper. At the age of 20 he gets his own yacht "Sirocco", where he travels with his friends from Australia to New Guinea. This fascinating seven-month journey Flynn will describe in a book that will be released in 1937. In 1930 Flynna with a yacht hired Dr. Herman Erben, who studied tropical diseases, together they travel along the longest river of New Guinea - Sepik, and they shoot a documentary about these little-known places. In 1933, Flynn returns to Australia in search of a new job, and at this time his photo portrait catches the eye of the producer, who recruited actors for the popular science film about Christian Fletcher, a participant in the mutiny on the Bounty ship. The appearance of Errol was the best suited for this story and he gets a small role in the adventure film. He liked this work so much that after shooting he went to London, where he worked for 1,5 years in several theaters, gaining mastery.

Test of strength

Flynn Errol (biography, whose career career interests many), had an appearance that corresponded to the then canons of male beauty: tall, courageous, with a charming smile and devilry in the eyes. Already in 1934, cinematographers noticed a novice actor and invited him to play a role in the film "Murder in Monte Carlo", where he made a very worthy debut in the feature film. After such a good start, he gets an invitation to Hollywood. Biography Flynn Errol was forever associated with the cinema. At first he gets second-rate roles with a fee for a week of shooting 150 dollars, his early work "Do not bet on blondes", "The case of a curious bride" allowed him to learn to hold in front of the camera. In 1935, luck smiles at Errol: he gets a role in the adventure thriller "The Odyssey of Captain Blood." He was invited to the place of the suddenly abandoned role of Robert Donat, and this was a huge success for the novice actor. In this picture, he first played in a pair with Olivia de Havilland - the future movie star of the 30-40's. This role became a star for Flynn, she took him to the first row of Hollywood movie stars. The picture receives 5 nominations for "Oscar" and collects full halls of cinemas.

Years of glory

In the late 30's Errol Flynn became one of the leading actors in Hollywood. He especially succeeds in heroic roles, in which his character is fully manifested. For five years, he was shot in several large paintings with huge budgets: "The Adventures of Robin Hood", "Light Horse Attack", "Prince and the Pauper", "Morning Patrol", "Dodge City". These adventure films create a role for him as a brave hero, a favorite of women and a defender of justice. Also Flynn plays several dramatic roles, revealing the fullness of his talents: "Sisters", "Green Light", "New Dawn" and tries his hand at comedies: "Four are already a crowd", "Perfect copies". They work a lot with Olivia de Havilland, who also became a big star.

In the early 40's Errol Flynn became the leading actor of Warner Bros. Entertainment. Charming handsome man with a slight squint and noble soul became the embodiment of women's ideas about the ideal man. He successfully performed roles in historical, costume pictures - "The Private Life of Elizabeth and Essex", in westerns - "Virginia City" and "The Road to Santa Fe", adventure tapes - "Sea Hawk". In 1940, he was recognized as the fourth most popular actor in the United States and the seventh in the UK, his royalties rose to $ 2,500 a week.

Military period

During the Second World War, new films with the actor appear. Errol Flynn does not change his role as a hero, but the subjects of the paintings acquire a patriotic coloring. The "Dive Bomber" band receives an Oscar for camera work, the drama "They died in their posts" became the eighth and last work in a duet with Olivia de Havilland. Flynn dreamed of getting to the front, but he was not allowed health, so he continues to act in film, embodying heroism on the screen. His roles in the drama "The Edge of Darkness", in the spy thriller "The Northern Chase", in the melodrama "Doubtful Glory" became brilliant. The tape "Goal - Burma", in which Flynn plays the role of the heroic captain Nelson, the leading American commandos for a combat mission behind enemy lines in Burma, received three Oscar nominations. The glory of Errol remains at the zenith, for 10 years he is removed in 11 films and earns huge for those times money - 200 thousand dollars a year.

Hollywood star of the late 40's - early 50's

The second half of the 40s is less productive for Errol Flynn. He is shot in significant films: "The lone wolf", "Never say good-bye", "Silver river", "Never leave me", "The Forsyte saga", "The adventures of Don Juan", in which his partners become Hollywood stars : Anne Sheridan, Greer Garzon, Ida Lupino, Barbara Sienvik.

But the early 50's again makes Flynn a very popular actor, for 5 years he was shot in 15 paintings, not all of them were masterpieces, but among them there are obvious successes: "Montana", "Crossed swords", "Master Ballantree." But the actor grows old and does not cause such a crazy love fanatok. In 1952, he terminated the contract with Warner Bros. And leaves for the UK, filmed in Europe, but the level of work is gradually reduced.

Personal life

Actor Errol Flynn is known as a reveler and lover of women. He was married three times. His first marriage happened in the early 30's, Lily Damita, the French actress, he took away from the director Michael Kertitsa, in 1935 they were married. In 1941, Lily gave birth to Flynn's son Sean, who was waiting for a tragic fate. He worked as an actor, filmed a little with his father, then became a photojournalist and disappeared without a trace in 1970 in Cambodia, where he was captured by partisans.

In 1943, the actor married Nora Edington, who was the daughter of a sheriff and moonlighted in the courtroom where the process was going on Flynn, selling candy and cigarettes. Later, she became an actress, a little shot in episodes in middle-level films. Nora gave birth to two daughters: Rory and Deirdre, both became actresses and starred in American cinema. In 1949, Nora left Errol and married actor Dick Heimes.

In 1950 Flynn again marries the actress Patricia Wymor, with whom she will live until the end of the day.

In addition to marriages, Flynn had a whole series of novels, including with famous women, for example, with the Romanian princess Ira Gika. The actor had a passion for travels all his life and traveled a lot on his yacht in different countries. In 1946, he sailed to Jamaica, where he bought a large house and land. Flynn was not very calm, he liked to drink and especially loved women.

Scandals and charges

Errol Flynn because of his character repeatedly became the initiator of scandals. So, in 1943 he falls under the court on charges of raping a minor. Despite numerous evidence of guilt, the jury recognizes him as innocent. The trial did not damage the career of the actor, Errol Flynn, films with the participation of which gathered full halls, becomes a real sex symbol of the era. In court, Flynn will later try to reduce the amount of alimony to Nora's ex-wife, which also became a subject of interest to the press. About the novel and drunken antics of Errol journalists wrote with special pleasure, they also inflamed the scandal from the friendship of the actor with Herman Erben, caught on cooperation with the Nazis.

Completion of the way

Since the mid-1950s Errol Flynn, whose filmography already numbered about 50 films, is being withdrawn less. Among the successful works can be called only "Too much, too soon", "And the sun rises", "Roots of the sky". In 1957, the television series "Errol Flynn's Theater" appeared on British television, consisting of 30-minute episodes on different romantic themes, 26 episodes in all, and the project was not very successful. The violent personal life and chronic heart disease, which once did not allow him to go to war, made themselves felt - October 14, 1959 Errol Flyn suddenly dies in Vancouver from a heart attack. But the work of the actor remained in the gold fund of cinema, in 1995 he even entered the hundred sexiest actors in the world, and his role Robin Hood takes 16th place in the ranking of the greatest movie heroes.