Errol Flynn: The Spy
Who Never Was
Further reading reveals that many interviews which ran in EFTUS as evidence to that bogus claim were fabricated when Higham was turned away by friends and acquaintances of the star. There are also examples of misquotation, which expose Higham as a highly questionable source for anything.
The autopsy report which is reprinted is quite interesting. Fans may be pleased to learn that no traces of exotic or illegal narcotics were apparent in Errol's bloodstream, merely (for him) alcohol and seconol (it is well documented in several books that Flynn had been administered seconol by a doctor on his final day when he complained of back and leg pains). The report also reveals someone who should have died long ago, given the condition of his innards!
The other striking aspect of this book is the dust jacket. On the front is a carefully touched up picture of young Errol, while the back sports a raw photograph of Flynn: weatherbeaten, tired, old, with blotchy skin. If ever there was a demonstration of what a person is capable of doing to themselves in a relatively short amount of time, there it is!
Author Thomas likes to get to the nitty gritty as to how Flynn ticks, and it's always a welcome odyssey. But more than anything, the book serves to defend a man who is no longer around to demand justice.
Those who are interested in reading more material along these lines are urged to pick up My Days With Errol Flynn, which contains the dissertation THE FLYNN CONTROVERSY by William Donati.
ERROL FLYNN: THE SPY WHO NEVER WAS was still available and on the shelves of Barnes & Noble here in the USA when I last looked.
- Orig. Publisher (1990):
- Citadel Press
- Orig. ISBN: 0-8065-1180-X
- 186 pages hardbound w/photos