Bette Davis had originally wanted Laurence Olivier for the role of Lord Essex, claiming that Errol Flynn could not speak blank verse well. She remained extremely upset about this through the entire filming, and Flynn and Davis never worked again together in a film.
During production, Davis entered a relationship with director William Wyler. She later described him as the "love of my life", and said that making the film with him was "the time in my life of my most perfect happiness".
Flynn was a central figure on Old Hollywood's party scene. David Niven, John Barrymore, Peter O'Toole, Ava Gardner, Humphrey Bogart and Frank Sinatra were friends, while Marilyn Monroe was a guest of his. He drank with Hemingway and, in Jamaica, socialized extensively with Noel Coward and Ian Fleming.
How many movies did Bette Davis and Errol Flynn make together?
He worked with the studio's undisputed queen Bette Davis twice, in The Sisters (1938) and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), though they infamously did not get along. Flynn seemed to enjoy goading Davis, slipping his tongue into her mouth during kissing scenes.
Their differences were equally striking: at Warner Brothers, Davis usually portrayed more grounded types, and was probably the better actress. Yet over at MGM, the Tiffany of studios in Hollywood's Golden Age, Crawford was undeniably sexier, projecting a more unstable, dangerous quality that made her riveting to watch.
Inappropriate Details About Errol Flynn, Old Hollywood’s Golden Boy
Who did Bette Davis lose the Oscar to?
Last night's episode of Feud chronicled the dramatic events of the 1963 Oscars, where Davis lost the Best Actress prize in a stunning upset, and was forced to watch Crawford accept the award on Anne Bancroft's behalf.
Flynn would fly across the screen in roles like Robin Hood or Peter Blood, taking out all of his enemies with a flick of his sword. However, Errol Flynn always claimed to be a less-than-talented swordsman. In reality, Flynn's real skill came in his ability to make his fighting look real rather than actually be real.
Did Joan Crawford and Bette Davis make a movie together?
Ryan Murphy's new anthology series, FX's 'Feud', tackles the rivalry between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis before, during and after the filming of their 1962 film, 'What Ever Happened to Baby Jane'. THR offers a crash-course timeline of the feud.
"I've had a hell of a lot of fun and I've enjoyed every minute of it." Errol Flynn apparently uttered those bittersweet words -- according to various media accounts - just before he died in 1959 from a heart attack. The fun-loving actor was also buried with six bottles of whiskey.
Hale's best-known role is probably in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), one of several films he made with his friend Errol Flynn, in which he played Little John, a role he played in two other films: Robin Hood (1922) and Rogues of Sherwood Forest (1950).
That is the iconic Bette Davis, star of memorable movies such as “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” and “All About Eve”. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 1983, and after undergoing a mastectomy, suffered four strokes.
To fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely labor, to be given a chance to create, is the meat and potatoes of life. The money is the gravy.
Some suggest Davis's eyes were the result of the autoimmune thyroid condition, Graves' disease. Swelling the muscles around the eyes and surrounding tissues, the condition pushes the eyeballs forward, causing them to protrude, limiting their movement.
Who was a better swordsman Errol Flynn or Basil Rathbone?
Basil Rathbone, who was a fencer, and who had two great dueling scenes with Flynn, in Captain Blood and Robin Hood, was rated very highly in the sport. He once said that, though Errol always wound up with the girl, Rathbone could have skewered him whenever he wanted to.
Errol Flynn has long had a reputation as a swordsman — Olivia de Havilland (Benham, 1937) said that he could fence, among his many other athletic accomplishments — but according to the film's choreographer and fencing master Fred Cavens, not to mention Flynn himself, the swashbuckling actor was not much of a fencer, ...
Thrilling swashbuckling who launched then unknown Errol Flynn to fame at a great role in which he becomes pirate of the Caribbean . This classic story of romantic adventure by Michael Curtiz , filmed in Hollywood , comes to life enriched by brilliant photography and adapted rightly to the screen .
Flynn bitterly believed himself a “phallic symbol,” notoriously equated with sex. He was also a braggart who constantly advertised his sexual prowess and peccadilloes. But in 1943, Flynn's predatory behavior caught up with him. He was charged with two counts of statutory rape involving two 17-year-old girls.
Although Flynn went along with the studio story he was Irish etc., he made almost no attempt to speak with anything other than his general Australian accent.
Although Errol Flynn had a pilot's license, he was expressly forbidden to fly in the production, under threat of suspension from Warner Bros. due to his "buzzing" the cast and crew of 1938's The Adventures of Robin Hood.
In 1973, actress Sacheen Littlefeather stepped on stage at the Oscars on behalf of Marlon Brando, identifying herself as a member of the Apache tribe and turning down his award because of the way Native Americans were treated in the U.S. Now, her two sisters are saying she lied — their family is not Native American.
Davis could be remarkably kind about other actors: She admired her friends Joan Blondell and Olivia de Havilland, worshiped Italian actor Anna Magnani, and admitted to being jealous of Katharine Hepburn (both were staunch, driven Yankees, and both would have affairs with Howard Hughes).
Grammy nominations followed, and when the 24th annual awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium, it was a night of triumph for both the writers and the performer. “Bette Davis Eyes” won both the Record of the Year Grammy, for Carnes and producer Val Garay, and Song of the Year, for DeShannon and Weiss.
