Errol Flynn

I'm an Errol Flynn fan. On this day (October 14th) in 1959 - Flynn died of a heart attack at age 50. Two tidbits made me chuckle from his Wikipedia entry.

He was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, in Glendale, California. He shares coffin space with six bottles of whiskey, a parting gift from his drinking buddies

Although I respect the gesture - I hope my drinking buddies have better sense than to waste good whiskey. Besides - I plan to be cremated.

In his 1980 short-story collection Music for Chameleons, author Truman Capote recounts a conversation he had with Marilyn Monroe in which Monroe refers to once attending a Hollywood party where Errol Flynn entertained guests by playing "You Are My Sunshine" and "The Star-Spangled Banner" on a piano using only his penis.

While an amusing anecdote - I'm skeptical about this one. Not that I don't think he could do it. I just don't see him taking the time to rehearse the songs.

After reading the entry in Wikipedia - I was left wanting to re-read Michael Herr's classic Vietnam book Dispatches because Errol Flynn's son Sean "co-stars" so to speak as another war correspondent in the book. I also added the movie My Favorite Year to my Netflix queue because the Alan Swann character (played by Peter O'Toole) was based on Errol Flynn.