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.
Sean Flynn was born Sean Leslie Flynn on May 31, 1941 in Los Angeles, California. To say that Sean’s parents had a rocky relationship at best
is an understatement. The elder Flynn and Damita had had an on again, off again
relationship and had been separated for years when Damita, after a brief
reconciliation announced her pregnancy to her husband with the following statment (according to
the elder Flynn in his autobiography): “Fleen, you think you have screwed every
dame in Hollywood,
but now I have screwed you, my friend! You will have a child!†That
being said, exactly a year after Sean’s birth she divorced Flynn and won a huge alimony
and child support settlement which she used to move herself and her son to Palm Beach, Florida
to keep Sean as far away from his father as she possibly could. Sean
grew up the subject of a years-long custody battle between his parents and saw little
of his father during his early formative years. When he did see his father it was within
the magic confines of the world of filmmaking.
Sean in his ill-fated real life role as a combat photographer.
Sean was raised primarily by his mother and in his book
about his two friends, “Two of the Missing…†author Perry Deane Young refers to
him as the son of Lili Damita and not of Errol Flynn, as the rest of the world
did. Lili raised him primarily by herself and kept him away from his father as
much as she could, but did allow him to visit his father on summer vacations at
Mulholland Farm, the Flynn estate. Errol had made the place suitable for family living after
having moved his second wife, Nora and their two daughters there.) Sean’s
earliest experiences visiting his father at about the ages of 9 and 10 were on
the sets of his movies, “The Adventures of Don Juan†(1948) and “Kim†(1950)
where the younger Flynn would be dressed up in costumes resembling his father’s;
even down to being outfitted with a fake thin moustache, like his father’s. Sean
also had his first experience in front of the camera through his father. In the summer of 1956, when Sean was 15, he went to England
to visit his father who was filming the television series, “The Errol Flynn Theatreâ€.
Errol was not only the host of this half hour anthology series, but also appeared as star
in some of the episodes. In one such episode titled, “StrangeAuction†Errol not only starred but also had Sean given a featured role in this episode along with his
then wife, Patrice Wymore. The episode is about a recent American widow, Laura Bateman
(played by Patrice Wymore) and her teen-age son, Shawn (played by Sean) who have moved
to Ireland
to a farm they inherited after the death of her husband.Enter Errol as Trace McGarry, a transient who“auctions†his services to the highest bidder. The widow
Bateman (Wymore) then “wins†Trace as a hired hand to help her on the farm for three
months. As Trace begins to work around the farm he becomes the father-figure young Shawn is sorely
lacking and needing. He also becomes a male presence “around the houseâ€, so
sorely missed by widow Bateman. When it comes time for Trace to leave, young Shawn
wants to go with him much to the objections of his mother.
Once on the road though, Trace makes the “discovery†that his wandering days are over because he has
found what he’s been searching for in this ready made family and returns young
Shawn home to his mother and makes her his wife. The episode seems to have been
tailored-made for the Flynns. Errol’s role is that of a charming vagabond, a once
highly respected “university man†or as one of the other characters describes
him a “shameless rascalâ€. Sean’s character is that of a spoiled and angry
teenager hiding his insecurities by acting as he thinks a man is supposed to
act until a real man (in the form of Trace) shows him how. Sean’s performance
shows his inexperience, but as he is only on camera for a few short scenes at a
time, he is mostly adequate in the role. Thus Sean had his first taste of
“actingâ€.