Inherited Risk

April 22, 2002
The sins of the father resurface in the struggles of the son in Meyers's rollicking double biography of the charismatic movie star Errol Flynn and his equally handsome son, Sean. The life of the elder Flynn is, of course, well known. A native Australian, Errol worked as a gold prospector, pearl diver and correspondent for the Sydney Bulletin
before being "discovered" by a Warner Bros. agent. He took America by storm with such classics as Captain Blood
and The Sea Hawk. A "Byronic figure," he seduced hundreds of women, brawled with bums and stars alike and consumed astonishing amounts of drugs and alcohol. Inevitably, Sean's much briefer biography suffers by comparison. Only in intermittent contact with his father, Sean grew up to be a B-movie star in Europe in the early 1960s (including a stint as the "Son of Captain Blood") before becoming a freelance photographer in Europe and Vietnam. Both men came to sad, gruesome ends: Errol wasted away from substance abuse; Sean was captured at a Vietcong checkpoint and later executed. As a biographer of Humphrey Bogart, F. Scott Fitzgerald and others, Meyers is well-equipped to chronicle the fabulous self-destructiveness of the devil-may-care Errol and his dashing son. Despite an obvious affection for his subjects, he doesn't shrink from exposing their less attractive features, including Errol's statutory rape trial (a scandal that brought "in like Flynn" into the popular lexicon). Despite the odd structure—Errol's hefty life is sandwiched between thin sections about Sean—Meyers offers an entertaining, disheartening look at two fascinating men who flew too close to the sun. Agent, Clyde Taylor.

February 15, 2002
A noted biographer tackles the wild-card actor and his risk-taking son, a war photographer who disappeared in Vietnam in the 1970s.

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2002
Errol and Sean Flynn barely had a relationship but knew one another well enough to have serious issues. Raised by mother Lili Damita, Sean was born into an uncomfortable situation, given that Lili "tricked [Errol] into getting her pregnant after they'd been estranged." Meyers quotes Lili declaring, "Fleen, you think that you've screwed every dame in Hollywood, but now I've screwed you"--by saddling him with a child whose well-being he was legally obliged to bolster financially. Accepted levels of hyperbole and vitriol aside, Lili's estimation of Errol seems dead on but indicates a strange background on which to pin hopes of family bonding. Meyers considers Flynn " fils'" often-tortured response to this predicament while he rehashes " pere'"s familiar yet still pleasingly sordid story. Although any decoction on Errol needs no spicing, Sean's ultimate death as a photojournalist in Vietnam gives the intergenerational star bio agreeable " Apocalypse Now"-ish tang in the finish. This is subject matter far too rich to disappoint, and Meyers' competent preparation of it ensures a toothsome celebrity dish.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)