Errol Flynn Movies

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 in 1938's The Adventures of Robin Hood
Errol Flynn in 1938’s The Adventures of Robin Hood

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
Henry Daniell and Errol Flynn in 1940's The Sea Hawk
Henry Daniell and Errol Flynn in 1940’s The Sea Hawk

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

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143 thoughts on “Errol Flynn Movies”

  2. I remember the old pirate movies with Errol Flynn and some of the old war movies. What a character. He was handsome and debonaire. Too bad he checked out so early. Oranges with vodka. Who would have imagined it?

    Reply

    1. Hey PegCole17….lately I have been watching a ton of his movies….and the old pirate movies are the best….Captain Blood and The Sea Hawk stand out. I imagine the next you see someone eating oranges at work you wonder if those oranges are filled with vodka. Thanks for the visit

      Reply

  3. Hi Bruce; Errol Flynn is one of my favorite actors ever. I grew up loving his swashbucklers and action films. I have a 6-film Flynn DVd collection. He was the greatest Robin Hood and an under-rated actor. I recall hearing that Bette Davis didn’t want to work with him in “Elisabeth & Essex” because she thought of him as a no-talent pretty boy. Years later, she would revise her opinion and admit he was perfect for the role.

    Glad you wrote this movie page in tribute of one of the under-rated greats.

    Well done,

    Rob

    Reply

    1. Hey Rob…..Glad I picked one of your favorites for one of my latest pages. I am now up to 10 of his movies watched. Up from the 1 I had seen when I wrote this hub. So far Sea Hawk is the best new one that I have seen….although not as good as Robin Hood of course.

      I read the same thing about Bette Davis and Flynn….and that she later acknowledged that Flynn did better than expected after the movie was finished. It is not surprising that Elizabeth and Essex was the last time they worked together.

      Flynn had a great run….too bad his personal life caused that run to be pretty short. Thanks as always for the comment….glad to see you running around again.

      Reply

  4. I absolutely love Errol Flynn movies. I am an old movie buff and watch TCM all the time. He is the epitome of Robin Hood and no one else has ever come close. LOL Thanks for an informative and interesting page. I have seen a lot of his movies, but your charts are terrific. Very entertainting!

    Reply

    1. Hey suzettenaples….thanks for checking out my Flynn page….as is often the case…after I write a page on a classic actor/actress I seem to watch many of their movies….I am currently watching Virginia City as I type this comment. Which gives us the added bonus of Bogart playing a Mexican. I agree with you 100% he is the epitome of Robin Hood. Glad you like my charts….I think they offer some interesting stats.

      Reply

  5. I grew up watching old Errol Flynn movies with my Grandparents. He made so many great Pirate and Swashbuckler films, not to mention the other great films he made. It is a shame that he was an alcoholic though.

    Reply

    1. Hey daskittez69…thanks for visiting my Flynn hub….he was on top of the world for about 20 years….too bad his fall was so quick. I think Orlando Bloom is the Errol Flynn of our era…..his Will Turner in the Pirates movies really reminds me of Flynn in the Sea Hawk and other movies….Bloom named his child, Flynn….I just hope Mr. Bloom has his personal life in order compared to Flynn’s life.

      Reply

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