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He was the Hollywood star best known for his portrayal of Robin Hood and other swash-buckling adventures.But a new and controversial biography claims that the Australian-born actor was a Nazi spy working undercover for the Germans.
Author Charles Higham alleges that Flynn, well known for his anti-Semitic views, was employed by the Germans to gather information about German socialists fighting against General Franco during the Spanish Civil War.
The writer also says that the Hollywood legend even attended a secret meeting with Hitler at Berchtesgaden in 1938, shortly before the outbreak of World War II.
The actor, known for his hard-drinking and womanising lifestyle is set to be celebrated in a festival in Tasmania, his home state.
Higham told the Daily Mail: "I think it's rather sad that Tasmanians would want to celebrate this. There is no doubt whatsoever that Flynn had Nazi sympathies and worked as a Nazi operative if not an actual agent.
"He was first noticed for his violently anti-British and pro-Nazi views as early as 1934 and there is little doubt his work for the Nazis resulted in people being killed."
According to Higham, Flynn fell under the influence of Austrian doctor and Nazi party member Hermann Erben early in the 1930s and together they relayed the information on German socialists back to the Gestapo.
Though Higham has based much of his book on analysis of declassified CIA files, other historians say the writer has not produced enough evidence to support the theory that Flynn was a spy.
Historian James Holland told the Mail: "The idea of Errol Flynn being a Nazi is totally ridiculous.
"He had a dubious past, but I don't think he was a spy. He went to Spain because he was an adrenaline junkie and the swashbuckling action in his film was fake to him.
"He wanted to experience real danger and the Spanish Civil War presented that to him."
Whatever the truth, the claims have caused anger and upset amongst his family and others in Tasmania who are celebrating the centenary of his birth.
