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My Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Autobiography of Errol Flynn

by Errol Flynn , Jeffrey Meyers

3.97 of 5 stars 3.97 · rating details · 1,225 ratings · 108 reviews

Known to millions as the preeminent swashbuckler of the silver screen, Errol Flynn was a complex man who lived a life far more adventurous than any of his films. In My Wicked, Wicked Ways, Flynn reveals himself to be a self-aware and cosmopolitan devotee of excitement and pleasure. With gusto, he recalls his years as a soldier of fortune in the South Seas, his trip to war- ...more

Paperback , 456 pages

Published November 4th 2002 by Cooper Square Press (first published 1959)

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its really like an adventure story, just like onw of his films... i guess most of it isn't even true.. but it doesn't matter :-) fun read...

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Jan 25, 2015 Dave Russell rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: autobiography , nonfiction

I've never read anyone wallow so gloriously in their own evil--and evil is the only word for it. The womanizing was apparently the least wicked thing he did. He was a slave trader in New Guinea, for God sakes!
So, I obviously didn't come away liking him as a person. But as a writer he was remarkably good, in a glib, raconteurish type of way. It reminded me of Humbert Humbert, the unctuous, self-justifying narrator of Lolita. He is describing his own evil acts, but doing it in such a way that yo ...more

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Feb 02, 2013 Christina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It was kind of a relief to finish this book. Reading it was kind of like having an extended visit from a drunken uncle who has great stories, zero self-awareness, some uncomfortable opinions, and ventures into TMI especially when talking about boobs. Uncle Errol never learns from his mistakes. He pinches your cheeks and causes a lot of awkward moments. He's sipping vodka and fondly believes you think it's water. After several shots from his "water bottle," he starts philosophizing like a drunk c ...more

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Nov 06, 2013 Christopher Roth rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Apparently he wanted to title it "In Like Me." In my quest for the sleaziest Hollywood memoir (Scotty Bowers's "Full Service" and Lever's "Me Cheeta" are top of the list so far), I found Errol Flynn's autobiography to be valuable in many more ways than this. Written at the age of 50 when he was washed up, drinking himself to death, living mostly on his Jamaican estate but also enjoying a second wind of film success playing layabouts and has-beens rather than swashbuckling heroes, My Wicked Wicke Apparently he wanted to title it "In Like Me." In my quest for the sleaziest Hollywood memoir (Scotty Bowers's "Full Service" and Lever's "Me Cheeta" are top of the list so far), I found Errol Flynn's autobiography to be valuable in many more ways than this. Written at the age of 50 when he was washed up, drinking himself to death, living mostly on his Jamaican estate but also enjoying a second wind of film success playing layabouts and has-beens rather than swashbuckling heroes, My Wicked Wicked Ways was published after Flynn's death shortly after. He led an amazing life: born in Tasmania, son of a famed naturalist who was the first person to bring platypuses to England for study, descendant on his mother's side from Bounty mutineers (with the sword arm to prove it), he ran tobacco plantations and engaged in shady dealings and battles with crocodiles and cannibals in New Guinea for four years--he was surreptitiously filmed dueling with a croc by some Hollywood location scouts and they hired him--as well as serving in both the Sino-Japanese War and the Spanish Civil War, traveling around the world, having an out-of-body experience in an opium den in Macau, having his stomach slit wide open by a rickshaw driver in Ceylon and surviving, befriending everyone from King Farouk to U.S. presidents, being turned on to marijuana by Diego Rivera, getting to know Fidel Castro personally in Cuba, screwing probably literally thousands of women etc. In fact, the book is so jam-packed that the Castro stuff only gets referred to, not told. Flynn also reveals himself as a confused, vulnerable, often self-loathing soul whose biggest regret was not having become a writer of a very intellectual stripe, which had been his first dream. He portrays the statutory-rape charges brought against him as politically motivated (something about being made an example of by a D.A. who had not received his kickbacks from the studios), and indeed they possibly were. In any event, he was humiliated, impoverished, and raked over the coals by self-proclaimed defenders of morals for something that wouldn't be a crime in most countries: a man in his early 30s having a consensual one-night stand with a 17-year-old hardly makes him a Polanski or an Arbuckle.

Flynn seems so self-aware, self-deprecating, and self-reflective that it's almost amazing he was actually an actor. Indeed, it is very tough not to like this fellow. It would have been fun to know him.

Turns out there's a huge literature ABOUT Flynn above and beyond this, including accusations that he was a Nazi, which does not really square with taking his life into his hands by fighting Franco's forces in Spain and sneaking into Cuba to meet Castro. There seems to be quite a cult of him. I'd appreciate any references to the best stuff written about him after his death. Not interested in the biopics, though. ...more

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Jan 17, 2014 Elisha rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What can one say about Errol Flynn after reading this book? He certainly led an incredible life and definitely the title of "my wicked wicked ways" fits perfectly. How much is actually true without embellishment I'm unsure of and therefore take it all with a grain of salt. Authenticity aside, he is a surprisingly good writer. He is blunt and open about his life and things he's done. One gets the impression that he spent his life searching for something that would have given him true happiness an ...more

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Apr 05, 2015 Renae marked it as did-not-finish

Shelves: books-i-own , read-in-2015 , century-20th , genre-nonfiction , setting-australia , setting-pacific

While he's not my favorite actor, I've always enjoyed Errol Flynn's films; they're just a lot of fun. However, his personal life and ideals are absolutely horrendous, especially towards women. He admits in this book that he believes they're "stupid" and "fatuous", and meanwhile he's writing in heavy detail about the breasts of every woman he meets and also speaking freely of his various instances of statutory rape (in one case, he was 50, she was 17). Furthermore, Flynn owned slaves and particip ...more

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Dec 06, 2008 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There was nobody like Errol Flynn. He was one-of-a-kind, a grown-up kid who, constantly looking for adventure, sailed through life on his good looks and innate charm.

He was really a "flake". He avoided responsibility, usually letting his "little head" dictate to the one on top of his neck.

No woman could hold him for very long.

You'd be a fool to loan Errol money, as his creditors back in his native Tasmania would be quick to tell you. He spent that green stuff like there was no tomorrow.

But, tomo ...more

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May 16, 2014 Matthew Sanchez rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book sticks with you in ways that will benefit and bring you down. The words make sense, and at the same time are self destructive. By the last page you'll feel like you're losing your best friend. Your soul will be compromised. Your mind will long for more.

Flynn will be in, and the "in" will send careless whispers through your mundane days.

The ups and downs will tickle your spirit.

You'll feel like a man -- woman -- a free spirit. You'll fist fight the fool. You'll charm the virginal to the ...more

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Mar 21, 2015 Alexandra rated it 3 of 5 stars

Errol Flynn describes himself as a "tormented" man. My impression from his book is, that he was not an altogether happy man. He wanted to be taken seriously and he didn't feel that people took him seriously. He had aspirations as a writer and despite getting published, he felt he failed in this too. He was a man who, perhaps surprisingly, thought deeply and felt much, but did not always choose a wise course in life. "I am a contradiction inside a contradiction", he wrote and I think that might h ...more

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May 30, 2014 L. Ramkey rated it 5 of 5 stars

Clay-footed Errol Flynn set me to thinking with his autobiography. Perhaps what struck me the most was the extreme contrast between the first half of his life, living in unpretentious, free-spirited, straightforward, poverty stricken, primitive, basic-human-level, wild west culture with Tasmania, Australia and New Guinea....And then fairly quickly being whisked to the most pretentious place on earth, Hollywood, with endless riches, glitz and glamour, inescapable contracts and obligations, contri Clay-footed Errol Flynn set me to thinking with his autobiography. Perhaps what struck me the most was the extreme contrast between the first half of his life, living in unpretentious, free-spirited, straightforward, poverty stricken, primitive, basic-human-level, wild west culture with Tasmania, Australia and New Guinea....And then fairly quickly being whisked to the most pretentious place on earth, Hollywood, with endless riches, glitz and glamour, inescapable contracts and obligations, contrived images, acceptable lies and liars, the value of money over authentic experience and art. It seemed that once Errol Flynn either figured out what was happening to him and/or got bored with the whole Hollywood experience, a fist fight then ensued within to reclaim his roots and his guiltless free spirit. I found it interesting that he was not really a drinker to much extent until he reached Hollywood. I think he could have walked away from fame and money fairly easily had it not been for obligations to the children he had by that time and the need to pay for the adventures he craved and seemed to need to doctor himself. Though he didn't claim to be a good father, I think he was the type of man who couldn't abandon them financially, thus strapping him to the Hollywood scene for the rest of his life.

In terms of evaluating his life, I recall a claim from him that "human nature" may not be the same all over the world as we like to think. In the world of his youth, men took young girls for wives or companions as common practice, they lived by their wits or the seat of their pants to survive what may be around the next corner. I would think head hunters and cannibals can take you to new heights of fear and clever tricks for survival. The lack of money and hunger (which was very real to him at times) and few boundaries handed down from his parents may have led to his crime sprees. The use of fists or other minor "crimes" was an acceptable medium for settling disputes. One indicator of that was a New Guinea conviction for him that called for jail time or a fine. Very civilized it would seem. He had no money so he took jail time....but the problem was, there was no jail. Things were different in New Guinea. Not to mention the desperation that might swell up in a young man from a "civilized" family who was essentially abandoned by his parents at age 15 and began to make his way alone by age 17. Cruelty doesn't always look like a head hunter. Experiences like these shape a young man deeply and forever.

What I liked about Errol Flynn most was his brutal honesty about himself and how he saw his world. In a particular passage he talks extensively about his many contradictions. By that time in the book, it was easy to see those in him. But I also saw so many of those contradictions in myself. So was Flynn really all that different from the rest of us with his inward struggles or was he just more honest about them? For his own reasons, I suppose, it seemed that he focused heavily on his "wicked, wicked ways", and seemed to allow those to overshadow his intellect and child-like curiosity, friendship, generosity and goodness to others, his peculiar brand of naiveté, his extraordinary talent and professional achievements. I thought the most "wicked" part of him was his sense of humor! Though far from perfect, I think he was a much better man than he gave himself credit for. I winced often but by the time I got to the end of his story, I was in his corner. ...more

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Nov 29, 2010 Tony rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography

Flynn, Errol. MY WICKED, WICKED WAYS: The Autobiography of Errol Flynn. (1959). ****. I’m not sure what drove Flynn to write this autobiography. It was either to provide the truth of his background and subsequent life, or to add further to his boxoffice image and build upon the popular press surrounding him. The book reads much like “The History of Tom Jones.” We learn that Flynn was not Irish; he was born in Tasmania. He attended several schools there and in Australia, mostly because his father Flynn, Errol. MY WICKED, WICKED WAYS: The Autobiography of Errol Flynn. (1959). ****. I’m not sure what drove Flynn to write this autobiography. It was either to provide the truth of his background and subsequent life, or to add further to his boxoffice image and build upon the popular press surrounding him. The book reads much like “The History of Tom Jones.” We learn that Flynn was not Irish; he was born in Tasmania. He attended several schools there and in Australia, mostly because his father, a famous marine biology professor had lots of pull. Errol didn’t do well in school, and was finally expelled from the last one he was able to get into. At the age of seventeen, he heard of the discovery of gold in New Guinea, and hied off to get in on the action. He never did get to dig for any of the gold, but managed to participate in a number of different endeavors that helped provide him with, barely, a living. Along the way, he met a succession of characters that soon became his best friends. He and another friend decided to volunteer for the Chinese army during the Sino-Japanese war. They both quickly bored of the whole thing, since they were given menial duties that didn’t match their need for heroics. They abandoned the army and sneaked off on a freighter that was headed for India. We learn of their adventures there. We also learn of Flynn’s penchant for good looking women, many of whom he managed to meet and seduce in every country he visited. Leaving India, Flynn ended up in England, where he broke into an acting career, mostly on the stages of Stratford-on-Avon. Through a chance meeting with an agent from Hollywood, he got an invitation to move to California and get a part in a film. While in Hollywood, he took advantage of his surroundings and managed to meet and, mostly, make friends with many of the better actors and actresses at the time. He also took lots of R & R. On one trip to Mexico, he met Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo at their home outside of Mexico City. Although their first meeting was hostile, they soon became good friends. He then married his first wife, Lili Damita, and soon recognized that he had made a mistake. Flynn was always better at short-term relationships than he was at marriages. He soon learned that divorce was a costly item, and continually complained about how much he was paying Lili over the years in alimony and child support. Money is a recurrent theme in Flynn’s tale. Although he made fabulous amounts of money during his career, he managed to blow it just as quickly, and ended up owning the government almost $1 million in back taxes. This doesn’t sound like a lot of money today, but back then, Flynn averaged $250,000 per year. What he devotes a full chapter to are the rape trials he had to go through. Both involved charges of statutory rape. Of course Flynn pled not guilty, but it took a long time for the courts to rule in his favor. Add the expenses of the trial and the lawyers to his already taut budget, and you begin tounderstand his monetary concerns. He takes us through his third marriage and ends his tale with a series of lessons he has learned about life. This is the only disappointing part of this chronicle. Otherwise, it’s a true adventure story of a man who tried to live life to its fullest, and who ultimately had to pay for all of it. Recommended. ...more

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Aug 02, 2008 Donald McCorquodale rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

With all the commotion about stars and starlets in the popular press today- it was refreshing to read about a real character. Although I have heard the wickedness admitted to in Errol's biography maybe exaggerated, by all measures it is more exciting that anything any actor or actress today could dream up. I thought the best part of this book was the first half- which covers Flynn's life up to his rise to popularity. After that- it becomes a sort of boo-hoo story of depression and desperation in ...more

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Dec 15, 2013 M.T. Sullivan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Whether chocked full of unfounded whimsy or genuine exploratory adventure (likely both), this book is entertaining from front to back. It reveals the complexities of a man many credit only as a sharp tongued, sword wielding, sex symbol. A man aware of his own contradictions, often accepting of such and just as often bewildered by the direction these contradictions took him through his experience called life. These experiences were varied, whether they be through seemingly (and at times humorousl ...more

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Sep 04, 2012 Leticia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was amazing. Errol Flynn is the original "Most Interesting Man in the World". From his childhood in Australia, Tazmania, and teens in New Guinea, he astonishes you with all he has gone through to survive. He owned a plantation, rigged cock fights, stole and killed all before the age of 25.
His writing is simple where he does not bog you down with historical landscapes. He just tells you what he did, where he did it and who was involved.
Once he gets to Hollywood he doesn't pull any punc ...more

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Sep 16, 2010 michael rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: home-shelf

absolute and unfettered entertainment from start to finish. i cannot recommend this book highly enough. i now have to read the motley crew autobiography to see if it can possibly compare. like a real showman, errol flynn gives you everything you want and none of what you don't. the outrageous-anecdote-to-page ratio runs about 1:1 all the way through. among some that will stick in my head- the final gag with john barrymore, the private steamboat cruise up the mississippi, the spanish teeth that n ...more

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Feb 16, 2014 Sean Peters rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hi

read this quite a while ago.

An interesting book, Errol did get up to so much trouble, and played hard, drank hard, partied hard, and sad to see his career go down hill so quickly.

good read

regards

Sean

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Apr 24, 2015 Sam rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hilarious and beautifully un-PC. This book would be shocking even if it came out today, so I can't imagine the reactions it provoked when it was published!

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Jul 08, 2014 Keegan King rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Beyond the fun stories and silly adventures of Errol fixing a cockfighting circuit in the Philippines, throwing strangers off his boat, and picking fights with the biggest baddest kids in school is a lonely drunk trying to find purpose. It was supposed to be his acting career, but you can only make some many mediocre movies before you lose yourself. His detail of Hollywood is as accurate as it gets, and if not more then himself, the most vile and wicked thing he encountered. As a Californian I u ...more

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Nov 18, 2014 Richard rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: show-business

Errol Flynn is one of the more colorful performers of his time in Hollywood. He burst onto the screen fully formed; in his debut movie, Captain Blood , he displays all of the confidence and dash that he'd show in his later films. Other than seeing his films, I knew very little about him. Is an autobiography the best way to learn about someone? Sometimes. But maybe not in this case.

Flynn (and/or his ghostwriter) certainly is a good storyteller. (I especially liked his story about how hard Bette Da ...more

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Aug 21, 2011 Robert J. Sullivan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: autobiography

The autobiography of Errol Flynn (1909-1959) is an extraordinary story of an iconic actor who starred in a string of swashbuckling movies in the 1930's and 1940's, including "Captain Blood", "The Charge of the Light Brigade", "The Sea Hawk", and "The Adventures of Robin Hood". A brawler, drinker, drug addict, and womanizer, he became a caricature of himself and, despite wealth, fame, multiple marriages and affairs, was a deeply unhappy man.

This is a warts-and-all book. There have been recent acc The autobiography of Errol Flynn (1909-1959) is an extraordinary story of an iconic actor who starred in a string of swashbuckling movies in the 1930's and 1940's, including "Captain Blood", "The Charge of the Light Brigade", "The Sea Hawk", and "The Adventures of Robin Hood". A brawler, drinker, drug addict, and womanizer, he became a caricature of himself and, despite wealth, fame, multiple marriages and affairs, was a deeply unhappy man.

This is a warts-and-all book. There have been recent accusations that he was a bisexual and a Nazi spy. Considering what he was willing to admit or bragged about, it seems unlikely that either is true. He grew up in Tasmania with a scientist father (who brought the first live platypus to London) and a mother that Flynn battled with for most of his life. He said he never loved her but he respected her. Considering that she beat regularly, once locked him in a storeroom for two days, and, when asked about her son when he brought them to the US, referred to him as 'a nasty little boy,' it's not hard to see where the actor's problems with women and authority figures came from.

Flynn's life after he ran away from home at 17 was as extraordinary if less savory than any of his movies. Sometimes living on the streets, he made his way to New Guinea where, in quick succession, he led a group of native policemen as part of a punitive expedition against natives who had murdered white gold miners, became a copra planter, played Fletcher Christian in a movie about the mutiny on the Bounty, became a tobacco planter, gold miner, slave trader, and sea captain.

Bumming his way across Asia in the company of a Dutch doctor, they lived cheap and made money by theft and cheating at gambling. Flynn went to England and worked in an acting company, made a couple of small movies, then was discovered by Hollywood, where he was an overnight success as "Captain Blood." He was 26.

He married the shallow, violent Lila Damita when she threatened suicide in 1935, and fled to Spain as a war correspondent with his Dutch doctor friend with the hope that he'd be killed. He returned to Hollywood and more movies, women, and drinking. His contract kept him swinging swords and riding horses in roles he despised. A bitter divorce cost him enormous sums and a crooked business manager cost him more.

As his harsh life took a toll on his looks, he started getting character roles that he actually liked, including playing his late friend and drinking companion, John Barrymore. He finished the book and died before it was published.

There is more in the book: his love of boats and the sea, his women (he admitted he didn't like women), his trial for statutory rape, fights, practical jokes, suicidal impulses, travel, and a love of learning. There is a lot distasteful about Errol Flynn: his predatory attitude toward women, his drinking and drug use, theft. He was also capable, charming, curious and yearned for something more out of life than being a parody of lust and swashbuckling. I could argue in the nature-vs.-nurture discussion that he was created or warped by some very unhealthy relationships, particularly with his mother, and difficult circumstances. If his life had been less bizarre, he could have been a great man. As to his stated wish not to lead a mediocre life, in that he succeeded.

4 stars. ...more

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Aug 16, 2013 James Perkins rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Errol Flynn was a movie star for about 20 years from the 1930s to the 1950s, as well-renowned for his filmed exploits as his off-screen derring-do. Here he tells his life story, from his humble beginnings as the son of a marine biologist in Tasmania, and the long road to fame through Oceania, Asia, Africa, Europe, and finally to America and Hollywood. When Warner Brothers took a risk on an unknown actor starring in their exciting pirate movie Captain Blood , Flynn was catapulted into the Hollywoo ...more

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Dec 27, 2012 K.K. Wootton rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Contains spoilers.

So, lets start off by saying that Errol Flynn was a slave-trader who purchased young girls from their families to do his sexual bidding - as well as to bathe him, led numerous people to their deaths, utterly neglected his children, and remorselessly cheated on his wives. His narcissism knows no limits.
For these and other reasons, his autobiography is un-put-down-able. It helps that his ghost writer was terrific. One gets the impression that the book really nails Flynn 's voice. ...more

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Apr 05, 2008 Judy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found this a compelling read, although parts are disturbing - not quite what I'd expected. Although there is some juicy Hollywood gossip, and a lot of humour, much of the book is quite dark and brooding.

It's supposed to be an amazingly frank autobiography (though actually written by a ghostwriter) and some parts do feel like that, but a lot of it seems like exaggeration or downright lies, especially some of Flynn's wild adventures in New Guinea in the first part of the book. This feels a bit t ...more

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Mar 09, 2013 Melinda Seyler rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Melinda by: newleaph@gmail.com

My Wicked, Wicked Ways by Errol Flynn
Earlier this year I read the Pirate's Daughter and it brought up many questions about Errol Flynn, so I decided to read his autobiography. It was very interesting. Born in Tasmania, he was a real "wild child". He was constantly in trouble in school, seduced by an older woman at 12, proficient at sailing and scamming from the earliest times. His father was an academic, whom Errol held in highest esteem and his mother a handsome woman who ignored and insulted E My Wicked, Wicked Ways by Errol Flynn
Earlier this year I read the Pirate's Daughter and it brought up many questions about Errol Flynn, so I decided to read his autobiography. It was very interesting. Born in Tasmania, he was a real "wild child". He was constantly in trouble in school, seduced by an older woman at 12, proficient at sailing and scamming from the earliest times. His father was an academic, whom Errol held in highest esteem and his mother a handsome woman who ignored and insulted Errol and, it is implied, carried on with other men while the father taught abroad for extended periods. After being thrown out of countless schools, Errol left to find his own way at 16. He lived on the streets of ?Melbourne, pulling various cons, making friends with older, more experienced con artists who took him under their wings. Errol made his way to New Guinea, working in gold fields, coca plantations, and other positions, including going into the jungle with a small platoon on behalf of the government, to retaliate against natives who had massacred Australian settlers. He captained a ship and even starred in a movie. Eventually he made his way to Asia and to England, where, by once again making up his credentials, found himself working as an actor in Shakespearean plays. After many ups and downs and LOTS of women, he signed a contract and went to Hollywood.
Errol's story of himself is really very interesting and in the telling of the early years, he comes across as a bit of a rogue, but a likable one. In the middle years, after he gets to Hollywood though, it becomes just sad: his relationships with women, wives, his children, alcohol and his acting career, all seem to be sad- even tragic. The real turning point seems to be the trial he went through for rape (of which he was acquitted) and which, he believes, was a set up to teach Warner Brothers Studios a lesson. After that he dives into too much mindless sex, too much alcohol, hating his roles- or realizing the studios will never give him any better roles- and being seen, as he says numerous times, as only a phallic symbol.
It's sad really. He was very intelligent, though mostly self educated. A good looking, interesting, accomplished man, who was belittled by his mother until the day he died at 50 years and never really trusted women. Supposedly he died in a whorehouse in Vancouver and was carried, under cloak of darkness, back to his boat. The book made me want to see a few of his films and look a bit more critically at them and to feel sorry that a man with so much was not really happy.
...more

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Oct 19, 2011 Jeremy Good rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: autobiography , cinema , mystery-suspense-thriller-adventure , tasmania

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 30, 2011 Apolla rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Any and all

I started laughing from the start and found myself amused throughout.

It's not nearly as candid as the blurb claims - there's no mention of his 15-year-old girlfriend, and all sorts of other naughty or outright scandalous bits of anecdote are left out - but the ghostwriter did a good job of echoing Flynn's style - he did fancy himself a writer did our Errol.

Is it an amusing snapshot of Hollywood in the 30s and 40s? Yes. Is it sometimes awfully sad? Sure. Is he just lying through his teeth? Oh yea ...more

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Feb 02, 2015 Liz rated it 3 of 5 stars

A quite interesting autobiography by Errol Flynn about his life told towards the end of his life. He didn't talk much about any of the movies he starred in, that didn't really seem to be a passion for him. He had a lot of exciting adventures around the world in his younger days and was happiest as he said when he was on a boat and by the sea. He did talk about his 3 wives and his rape trial.

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Aug 06, 2012 Denise rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction , auto-biography-memoir

I've waited a few years to read this book. Was it worth the wait? Yes. Unlike any autobiography I've read before, you finish thinking you really know the person as if you'd hung around with him for awhile. I'm sure he was a very likeable guy, but he also would have been like that exasperating friend we've all had at some point in our lives. Tall tales, unbelievable claims, name dropping, one upmanship, etc., but you can't dislike him. You have to take this personality as it is. He is a fantastic ...more

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Jul 17, 2014 Veronica Boeve rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography-memoir , read-in-2014 , nonfiction

Errol Flynn has become intertwined with our culture, even when most of us are unaware of his influence (notably, the phrase "in like Flynn"). However, while reading this book, I had a very hard time believing his fantastical life. I mean, a slave trader in New Guinea? A con man in Shanghai? Searching for gold in the South Pacific? And that's all before becoming a leading man in Hollywood. Needless to say, I read it with a huge grain of salt.

That being said, I enjoyed My Wicked, Wicked Ways (espe ...more

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Jul 18, 2007 Jack rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Young Adults

Maybe he wasn't the greatest actor in the world, but everyone loved him and everyone wanted to BE like him... to be "in, like Flynn."

Errol Flynn is one of my arch-types. Like my own life, he filled it with fascinating adventures and interests, but fulfillment always seemed to elude him.

The consummate swashbuckler, the ardent adventurer and a man's man. He writes here about his experiences from about age 16 to his move to America to become one of the biggest movie stars of his era. He was a schoo ...more

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Jul 30, 2007 Wilson rated it 2 of 5 stars

Recommends it for: dandies

According to Errol Flynn, Errol Flynn was a wild degenerate with stints as a petty thief and a slave trader in the Pacific before ultimately becoming an actor and a bankrupt drunk adrift listlessly in his yacht. Lots of stuff in this book is apparently intense fabrication, and it's hard to figure out what's what. Best part hands down: Flynn wanted to name the book, "In Like Me" but was denied. Now that's awesome. Oh wait, and he also fed a piece of pork on a string to a duck and when the duck cr ...more

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About Errol Flynn

Errol Flynn appeared in some 60 films from 1933 to the late 1950s and gained the reputation of being the quintessential Hollywood swashbuckling sword-wielding adventure hero. His private life was a different matter altogether, and he was involved in a number of scandal-laden Hollywood incidents.

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“All I had to do was stick my face into this gruesome mess and bite off the young sheep's testicles. Dag a hogget. I had good teeth. I put my nose into this awful-smelling mess, my teeth solidly around the balls of the six-month-old sheep, and took a bite while I held him upside down. My nose was in fur and ordure. I bit and spat out the product into a pile of what they called prairie oysters. We have them in America too: delicious to eat, but not delicious to remove. They said this was the most sanitary way to de-ball a sheep. After I was done, I passed the sheep onto the next man, who put a little coal tar on the same spot for purposes of cleansing and closing up the wound.
The sheep never let out a bleat.” — 2 likes

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