Errol Flynn: The Spy Who Never Was [Hardcover]

Tony Thomas (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Author of 30 books about movies and movie stars, Thomas here defends Flynn (1909-1959) against the charge made by Charles Higham in Errol Flynn: The Untold Story (1979) that the Hollywood swashbuckler, who played Captain Blood, Robin Hood, the Earl of Essex and Don Juan, was a Nazi spy. Thomas's detailed examination of Higham's evidence (including interviews with many original sources) convincingly shows that Higham quoted documents selectively, twisted witnesses' words and made a flawed case based on guilt by association: Flynn's prewar friendship with a bumbling Austrian doctor who spied for the Nazis in China. Thomas devotes two-thirds of the book to Flynn's defense; readers will wish that his gripping biographical sketch of the talented, lazy, hedonistic actor were more fleshed out. The volume concludes with a dispensable, albeit entertaining, epilogue by Patricstet Knowles, a friend of Flynn. Photos not seen by PW .
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 22 pages
• Publisher: Citadel Pr (October 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080651180X
• ISBN-13: 978-0806511801
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,402,464 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thomas attacks assertion that Flynn was a Nazi spy, March 25, 1998

By 

Charles Culbertson ([e-mail]) (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Errol Flynn: The Spy Who Never Was (Curley Large Print Books) (Hardcover)

Like a lot of other people, Tony Thomas grew up in the 1940s fixated on the dashing, magnetic screen idol Errol Flynn. In the 1950s -- when Thomas was a writer and Flynn a washed up, dissipated shadow of his former self -- Thomas got to know Flynn and conducted several interviews with him. One of those still exists in audio form, but it very hard to find. In the 1960s, Thomas co-authored the landmark work "The Complete Films of Errol Flynn," and went on to serve as a consultant on the actor's life for a number of documentaries. His last book, "Errol Flynn: The Spy Who Never Was," is one of the most fascinating looks at Errol Flynn ever committed to print -- it contains much never-published information on the actor -- and dismantles in detail Charles Higham's poorly-researched assertion that Flynn was a Nazi spy. Tony Thomas died last July after suffering a stroke; while those of us who had contact with him will miss him, we can be thankful of this last work, in which the great swashbuckler is finally defended. If you can find it, "Errol Flynn: The Spy Who Never Was," is a must-read.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Man of the sea., May 25, 2006

By 

Brad F. Stender "Brad F. Stender -PI" (Fairfield, Ct.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Errol Flynn: The Spy Who Never Was (Hardcover)

I have been a Flynn star for years and have read most of the books except the lousy rush to print books. I read Higham and his forte is to denigrate falsely major stars once they are dead. He is a self loathing old gay queen who lashes out his venom. Errol Flynn was not a Nazi. He was too much a hedonist to be a nazi. He thought in fun not politics. I once met Cary Grant and as he said numerous times re: Flynn - he was not a nazi traitor at all- he just enjoyed life. He also said Errol never had to rape any woman- they raped him!!!

This book is very good, detailed and correct. If his biographer Mr. Conrad was alive he would write the same thing. I talked with Mt. Conrad and he was adamant that Flynn was not a nazi spy.This started because actor George Brent was mad at Flynn for bedding down Ann Sheridan. He also was envious of Flynn for his career and his larger ship the Zaca.He was pissed that Flynn pulled strings to allow himself to use the ship and for it not to be confiscated for the war effort.

Its time that writers like Higham and his low ilk were drum out of the writing profession and publishers stop printing lies and crap.

Note- Flynn and Howard Hughes were not lovers - Hughes number one man said so.

Great book on Flynn by Mr. Thomas. Read a must.