Want to know the best Errol Flynn movies? How about the worst Errol Flynn movies? Curious about Errol Flynn’s box office grosses or which Errol Flynn movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Errol Flynn movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place.
Even though I consider myself a pretty knowledgeable movie buff, I knew very little about Errol Flynn before researching and writing this page. I basically knew two facts about Errol Flynn. One, he is the most famous Robin Hood of all-time and two, he made some pirate movies.
After a month of reading numerous books, checking out websites and watching a few documentaries on him, I am now much more familiar with the life and career of Errol Flynn. I would highly recommend checking out the Errol Flynn Blog for even more information on the life and times of Errol Flynn….just follow this link….The Errol Flynn Blog.
Errol Flynn (1909-1959) was born in Tasmania. As a child he used to play with a wooden sword that his parents told him had belonged to Fletcher Christian. Many times he would play on his grandfather’s boat…acting out Douglas Fairbanks pirate movies. This training would come in handy when he turned his attention to acting. He would appear in his first film when he was 24. By the time he was 26 he had already secured his first starring role in a big budget movie, Captain Blood. Captain Blood was a huge success and turned Flynn into a star. At 28 he turned into a superstar with his performance as Robin Hood in 1938’s The Adventures of Robin Hood.
From 1935 to 1950 Flynn was one of the most successful actors in Hollywood. However his “playboy lifestyle” began to catch up with him. Starting around 1950 his movie career started to stall as his off screen lifestyle started to impact his health. He would regularly smoke at least a pack of cigarettes a day and drank heavily. Problems with his liver and heart eventually led to a fatal heart attack in 1959. Errol Flynn has 64 acting credits from 1933-1959. In the table below Ultimate Movie Rankings ranks 50 of his movies in 7 different sortable columns. Television roles, cameos, and shorts were not included in the rankings.
Errol Flynn Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Errol Flynn Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort Errol Flynn movies by co-stars of her movies
- Sort Errol Flynn movies by adjusted box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Errol Flynn movies by adjusted worldwide box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)… **** If the domestic totals are the same as the worldwide totals…then worldwide totals are unknown
- Sort Errol Flynn movies by how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Errol Flynn movie received.
- Sort Errol Flynn movies by Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
- Blue link in Co-star column takes you to that star’s UMR movie page
10 Possibly Interesting Facts About Errol Flynn
1. Errol Flynn was the first actor to play Fletcher Christian in a film that had sound. He played Christian in 1933’s The Wake of the Bounty…..later Clark Gable, Marlon Brando and Mel Gibson would play the same part.
2. Errol Flynn and the Perry Mason connection. One of his first Hollywood movies was The Case of the Curious Bride…which was one of the first ever Perry Mason movies. Flynn got to play the corpse. Later Flynn would co-star with Raymond Burr in Mara Maru….Burr would later go on to fame playing Perry Mason on the television series.
3. Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland were one of the screen’s most popular couples. They would appear in 9 movies together from 1935 to 1943. Olivia de Havilland is still very much alive as she approaches the century mark.
4. Errol Flynn was married 3 times in his life. His first marriage to Lila Damita produced a son named Sean. His second marriage to Nora Eddington produced two daughters named Deirdre and Rory. His final marriage to Patrice Wymore produced one daughter named Arnella.
5. His son Sean, followed in his dad’s footsteps and has 10 IMDB credits to his name. His most famous movie role was in The Son Of Captain Blood (1962). The Son of Captain Blood was a sequel to the movie that made Errol Flynn famous, Captain Blood(1935). Later Sean Flynn turned towards a career as a freelance photojournalist. Sadly, Sean Flynn went missing while on assignment in Cambodia in 1970.
6. The saying …”In Like Flynn” became popular when Flynn was tried for statutory rape in 1942 but was acquitted….during the very high profile case, comedians of the day started to use the saying and it caught on.
7. His drinking was legendary.…he would inject oranges with vodka and eat them during his breaks so no one would know he was drinking on the set….during a play in the late 1950s his assistant would stage alcohol throughout the set, so Flynn could drink while performing.
8. Errol Flynn and Alan Hale Sr. (one of my favorite character actors) appeared in 11 movies together. Alan Hale Sr. was the father of Alan Hale Jr….better known as The Skipper on Gilligan’s Island.
9. The movie My Favorite Year is based on Mel Brooks’ encounter with Flynn on a television show in the 1950s….in that movie Peter O’Toole played the Flynn character. Also Jude Law portrayed Errol Flynn in The Aviator.
10. Check out Errol Flynn’s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Steve’s Epic Errol Flynn You Tube Video
If you do a comment….please ignore the email address and website section.
Thanks for the new page,Bruce. I’ve been offline much of the last two days and only got your message this afternoon.
I love Errol Flynn movies. My favourite movie, you can probably guess, is The Adventures of Robin Hood. All of his pairings with Olivia DeHaviland I love and have watched multiple times. All his swashbuckling films are fun, but he made a film noir early in his career that was wonderful and, I think, underrated for his acting ability.
I know virtually everything about Flynn’s life. He died in Vancouver, by the way. He always wanted to spend all his money instead of having it just sit in the bank. Sure enough, he had $10.00 in his pocket when he died. I have seen his bio several times.
If I haven’t seen all his pairings with Alan hale, it must be just one or two.
I find that the curser won’t let me move up an down quickly, so I am just goin gto leave this first comment as is. I would to see mine disappear with the wrong click.
So this ends message number 1.
Message number two will deal with rankings, etc.
Hey Flora….comment 1. I knew very little about him before..but wow did he manage to create a huge legacy of stories and adventures behind me. I did read that he was in Vancouver to sell his beloved yacht because he was broke. Only 10 bucks…that is sad. In one of the documentaries I watched they had an interview with David Niven. Niven said he discovered Flynn’s yacht many years later and it was in horrible shape…but it was a place where many memories occured.
I have only seen one of the Flynn/deHavilland movies…Robin Hood…so I have 8 more to look forward to….I have done much better with the Flynn/Hale movies…as 4 of the 5 Flynn movies I have seen had Hale in them….Dive Bomber, Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk and Gentlemen Jim.
You really do your research. I am enjoying all of your pages along this line. They are so interesting.
Hey GlimmerTwinFan…thanks for the very nice compliment and the visit…both are greatly appreciated.
Coge….Errol Flynn! Wow…Now that is going back some! Another great actor from the era that now gives us “The Great Classics.”
So many actors were heavy hitters on the booze! I’ve often wondered how the heck they made it through a movie and maintained their performances……It might be very interesting to watch a few classics with Errol….and pay close attention to the “difference” from the start of the movie to the end……….OR, maybe they just “called it a day,” when the actor got so Sh**-faced he couldn’t speak properly!!! LOL..
50 movies seems like a lot for that many years ago, doesn’t it? Poor Errol must have worked non-stop….and spent all his spare time with a huge hangover!!! UP +++ Great page as always, Coge
Hey fpherj48….thanks for checking out my Errol Flynn hub….I think it is safe to say that he was a functional alcoholic….making 50 films in 25 years had to mean he showed up for work most of the time. By the time he was really struggling with his health and drinking….that was the type of roles he was playing….essentially playing himself.
I think you are correct in thinking that many of the actors back then were heavy into the drink and smoking. I think in a five year span…the cinema lost Bogart, Cooper, Flynn and Tyrone Power…all died way too young. I appreciate the comment and the votes.
I have no doubt that I am older than you are, so I have a little advantage over you with this actor. He was a dashing fellow, wasn’t he? And a serious alcoholic by all accounts.
I loved his movies when I was a kid and I’ve actually see quite a few of these. He was HUGE in Hollywood, and you did a great job of summarizing his career. Well done my friend! I can see why you are so popular!
Thanks for the nice words Billybuc…they are greatly appreciated.
Bruce, great page – I just love Errol’s movies, he was an amazing leading man. I still think his Robin Hood is the best. He starred a lot of the time with Olivia De Havilland. I read her biography many years ago and she had a bit of a tricky time with him at times.
Hey Jools99….I have watched more Errol Flynn movies in the last 48 hours than I did my first 45 years…but I have to admit I have liked his performances…I just watched The Sea Hawk and I thought he and the movie were excellent. Others I now want to watch…Dodge City, Captain Blood, Charge of the Light Brigade and Objective, Burma!.
From what I read….Flynn fell in love with de Havilland but she was able to resist him….more from the fact that he was married than anything else…..thank you for the comment.