Forty years ago on April 6, 1970 two combat photojournalists
covering the Vietnam War were captured by factions of the Viet Cong and
Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and never heard from again. The news of their capture
received much attention in the media when the identity of the two was released. For taken along
with Dana Stone, a CBS correspondent was Sean Flynn, international film star
and the only legitimate son of legendary movie star, Errol Flynn and his first wife, French
actress, Lili Damita.The exploits, on and
off screen of Sean‘s dad, Errol Flynn have earned him a controversial, if not legendary status in Hollywood
history. His fame exceeded his starring roles in such Hollywood
classics as, “The Adventures of Robin Hood†(1938),“Captain Blood†(1935), “The Sea Hawk†(1940), “Dodge City†(1939) and
“The Adventures of Don Juan†(1948), but also as that of Hollywood’s premiere womanizer, bon vivant and scoundrel; the original “bad boy†of Hollywood.Flynn posthumously managed to leave one of the first, (if
not the first) tell-all memoirs of life in Hollywood.
Titled, “My Wicked, Wicked Waysâ€, it was to become an
autobiography to rival that of Casanova
(or some say Baron Munchausen).This was
the legacy he left his only son.His mother, Lili
Damita was a dancer, and fashion model turned actress with some prestigious
film credits of her own back in the late 1920s and early 1930s, but she gave all that up
when she married Errol. Before taking up the career of a combat photojournalist, Sean had dabbled in the “family business†and made a few very popular films in
Europe in the early 1960s that are largely unseen today and cast off as "cheesy trash". Even though his films were hugely popular in Europe, in American they were treated as cheaply-made "B" movies. Most barely saw release in his native country.
Mankiewicz and his wife Rosemary. (Photo: www.MI6.co.uk)
By Lee Pfeiffer
Screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz has died after a battle with cancer. He was 68 years old. Mankiewicz came from a legendary Hollywood family of screenwriters, directors and producers. He was a screenwriting novice when he was tapped by producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman to write the screenplay for the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever. The film was especially important for the franchise because it marked Sean Connery's return to the series after a one-film absence. Although most critics attribute the injection of overt (some would say "over-the-top") humor to Roger Moore's assumption of the role in Live and Let Die (1973), this trait was actually introduced by Mankiewicz in Diamonds Are Forever and continued through his other two Bond scripts: Live and Let Die and The Man With the Golden Gun. Although Bond purists tend to be critical of the Mankiewicz trilogy because it brought the character of Bond into the realm of the absurd, there is no denying the films scored with the public and each proved to be a major financial success. Mankiewicz would later serve as Creative Consultant and uncredited screenwriter on the Superman series, where his flair for humor was more readily accepted by fans. Mankiewicz also wrote and directed the hit 1987 big screen comedy version of Dragnet. For an in-depth look at his career, click here to visit the MI6 web site.
The web site for the magazine Western Clippings has updates on your favorite cowboy stars of yesteryear. Here we have a trio of popular actors from 50s and 60s TV Westerns: Ty Hardin (Bronco), Clint Walker (Cheyenne) and Will Hutchins (Sugarfoot) For more about the magazine, visit the site by clicking here
Cinema Retro columnist Steve Saragossi has launched an exciting new film-related blog, The Screen Lounge. Steve already has a coup: an exclusive interview with acclaimed character actor Ed Lauter, whose talents have enhanced such memorable films as Magic, The Longest Yard, Hickey and Boggs, Executive Action and so many more. Click here to read