Sunday, December 11, 2011

Real Life Adventurer

This is Sean Flynn, son of legendary actor Errol Flynn....Sean went into acting, starring in adventure films like his father. But he got bored with acting and went to Africa to become a guide and big game hunter, then traded that to be a game warden. Still not satisfied, Sean became a photojournalist and went to Vietnam.

Sean didn't just stand back and document the war as an objective observer, he was known for being a little closer to the action. Working for Paris-Match then for Time Magazine, Sean soon earned a reputation for being willing to risk his neck to get the best images, even going into combat. In 1966, he was wounded
and left the war long enough to recuperate and star in his last film. Sean returned to Vietnam later that same year and made a parachute jump with the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division -- and then he went to Israel to cover the war there in 1967.

Sean returned to Vietnam to make a documentary and in 1970 headed into Cambodia with another journalist, Dana Stone, on motorcycles. In April of that year, Sean and Stone were captured by Communist guerillas and were never heard from again. Sean's mother, actress Lili Damita, spent a lot of money searching for her son, to no avail. Sean was declared dead in 1984 and to this day his remains have never been found.

No matter your politics on the war, Sean Flynn ranks among those adventure movie actors who walked the walk.

1 comment:

Mike Clelland! said...

He was a big part of a book called DISPATCHES by Michael Herr. Herr went on to re-work the APOCOLYPSE NOW script,