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Flynn's Last Fling

Near the end of his life, Hollywood's greatest swashbuckler embarked on one final adventure-the Cuban revolution

Gaspar González
From the Print Edition:
Tom Selleck, Nov/Dec 2007

Perhaps because he feared for his safety—FBI reports from the time note that Flynn was harshly questioned by Cuban secret police upon his return to the island in 1959—or maybe because his pride wouldn't allow him to publicly admit how wrong he had been, the actor participated in one last homage to the revolution. He filmed an introduction to independent producer Victor Pahlen's celebratory semi-documentary on the rise of Castro, Cuban Story. (The film, originally titled The Truth About Fidel Castro Revolution, was shown in Moscow in the early 1960s and not seen again until its rediscovery in 2001.)

Only a few months after his final Cuba trip, on October 14, 1959, Flynn suffered a fatal heart attack in Vancouver. He had gone there with Aadland to sell his beloved yacht, the Zaca, to a Canadian businessman before the IRS could put a lien on it. It was an ignominious exit for a star who, at his height, had been as big as Gable, Bogart or Cooper.

But then, that's probably not the way Flynn would have chosen to be remembered. "I think he felt his films were the least interesting part of his life," says Rory Flynn, now 60 and living in Los Angeles. "Cuba was a happy ending. He was in the middle of a revolution, tramping through the hills with a beautiful girl." And, of course, he got to be Errol Flynn—one last time.

Gaspar González is a Miami-based writer and filmmaker.

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