Another child of acting royalty, initially Sean Flynn didn’t have much contact with his famous swashbuckling father Errol after his parent’s divorce in 1942. His mother and father fought over him, but he was raised primarily by his mother, French actress Lili Damita. Sean did inherit a few traits from Errol however – captivating good looks and a love for adventure.

Sean showed up on The Errol Flynn Theatre once when he was 16. He then attended Duke University, but when Errol died of a heart attack in 1959, Sean decided he had had enough of school and set out for Hollywood.

His first film was Where the Boys Are (1960). After that, he starred in The Son of Captain Blood, a sequel of his father’s famous film. His last film was 1967’s Singapore, Singapore. Sean appeared in eight feature films during his career.

In 1968, Sean, now a freelance photographer, set out for Vietnam, then in the middle of the conflict. He went deep into the jungle, often with Special Forces, to get gripping photos of the war.

On April 6, 1970, Sean, working for Time Magazine, and his friend Dana Stone, working for CBS, rented motorbikes and set out from Phnom Penh for Cambodia. The two were stopped at an eastern Cambodia checkpoint, where they were captured by the Viet Cong. They were never seen again. Sean was declared legally dead in 1984, but his mother hoped for his return until her death in 1994.

In 1981, Sean was immortalized in The Clash’s song “Sean Flynn,” which appeared on their Combat Rock album.
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Tags: Errol Flynn, Sean Flynn

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