From the archives: 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 movie queue because the Alan Swann character (played by Peter O'Toole) was based on Errol Flynn.
Re the whiskey in the coffin, it reminds me of the story of the dying Scotsman:
ReplyDeleteMacTavish, lying in his deathbed, says to his friend MacDougal, "Angus, you're me best friend; will ye do one last favor for me? I've saved this bottle of 50 year old single malt; when I'm gone will ye sprinkle it over me body as I lay in the casket?"
With tears running down his face, MacDougal says, "Aye, Sean, that I will. Of course ye won't mind if I run it through me kidneys first?"
Heh heh - did not see that coming.
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