Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn June 20 1909 October 14 1959 was an AustralianAmerican actor and writer He is popularly remembered as a charismatic romantic hero in the eight films he starred in with Olivia de Havilland Flynns most iconic role came as Robin Hood in The Adventures of Robin Hood 1938 After signing with Warner Bros Pictures in January 1935 Flynns rise to stardom was swift The studio decided to take a risk casting the unknown 26yearold as the lead in Captain Blood 1935 The film established Flynn as a major Hollywood star and the natural successor to Douglas Fairbanks The smash hit was followed up by The Charge of the Light Brigade 1936 and The Adventures of Robin Hood 1938 the most expensive film Warner Bros had made up to that time In spite of his Australian accent Flynn starred in the enormously successful westerns Dodge City 1939 Virginia City 1940 Santa Fe Trail 1940 and They Died with Their Boots On 1941 The popularly of these westerns played a part in the genres revival In late 1942 Flynn was charged with statutory rape of two 17yearold girls Despite his acquittal press coverage of the trial led to the ubiquity of the expression In like Flynn With Americas involvement in WWII Flynn had tried to enlist but was rated 4F due to his enlarged heart latent pulmonary tuberculosis and recurrent malaria contracted in New Guinea During the war he made several films with the director Raoul Walsh These include Gentleman Jim 1942 one of Flynns favorite roles and war films such as Desperate Journey 1942 and Objective Burma 1945 Embittered by his public image as a womanizer and his inability to serve in the war Flynn further descended into a life of drugaddiction and alcoholism His slow deflation became apparent in the waning success of his films and his aging physical appearance By the late 50s Flynn mounted a comeback with his turns in The Sun Also Rises 1957 Too Much Too Soon 1958 and The Roots of Heaven 1958 In 1959 he died of a heart attack in Vancouver Canada Flynns notorious autobiography My Wicked Wicked Ways 1959 was posthumously published He also wrote two novels Beam Ends 1937 and Showdown 1946
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