An Object Lesson

European. When the man’s checks bounced, Flynn sank his last cash in futile hopes of saving the project, then fled Switzerland.

roles I played stamped out of me the ambition to do finer things or expect to be able to do them in Hollywood… taking all that money for reciting ten or twelve lines of nonsense a day.” In 1951, Flynn declared himself “fed up with…always being harassed by tax-gatherers, ex-wives or mistresses-to-be.” He sailed to Europe to act and produce films for himself. The last of several ill-fated projects was William Tell, with financing expected from a reputedly wealthy

Longtime crony Bruce Cabot, whom he had given a small role, now turned on him, pursuing Flynn and an inept partner to Rome and suing for wages. Bailiffs seized their cars and their families’ clothing. Penniless and betrayed by a mate, Flynn called his longtime Hollywood business manager and learned he’d just died of cancer, his last words: “Tell Errol I’m sorry.” The trusted financial advisor had exhausted Flynn’s resources buying himself two new Cadillacs, a private plane and two houses. Flynn took refuge on Zaca, mooring around the Mediterranean, ready to weigh anchor at a moment’s notice.

Three years earlier, he had been warned his liver was failing, but he persisted with vodka and painkillers. In 1956, he returned to a one-bedroom rental in the fabled Garden of Allah apartments, his original Hollywood residence. The ex he called “Tiger Lil” had acquired