The estate of Errol Flynn releases the news to the medfia of the death of Patricia Wymore Flynn in Portland, Jamaica, on Saturday, March 22:
Patrice Wymore Flynn, an actress during Hollywood’s Golden Age and the widow of screen legend Errol Flynn, died Saturday at her home in Portland, Jamaica. According to Robb Callahan a family spokesman she had been battling with pulmonary disease for the last year. She was 87.
The tall and elegant Mrs. Flynn began her career in musicals performing in Up in Central Park in 1947; She made her Broadway debut a year later in the musical Hold It! and won the Theatre World Award for “promising actress.” Following her performance in another musical, All for Love (1949), the Kansas born set-eyed beauty was handed a starlet contract by Warner Bros. and headed west to seek her fame and fortune. She found a little bit of both. She received notice for her first screen role, as the young upstart to Doris Day’s established Broadway star in the film musical Tea for Two. She continued to make films in the early 1950s, co-starring with such screen greats as Kirk Douglas, Ronald Reagan, Randolph Scott and Danny Thomas. But it was her second role, as the female lead in the 1950 western Rocky Mountain that would have the most lasting effect on Miss Wymore’s life; it was during principal photography for the film that she met her future husband, the aging screen legend Errol Flynn, the film’s male lead.
In his autobiography My Wicked, Wicked Ways, Flynn describes Wymore when they met as “attractive, warm, and wholesome…she could sing, she was reserved, she had beauty and dignity. [She] typified everything I long for…everything I am not.”
Though Flynn was engaged at the time, the co-stars soon became a couple and were married in late 1950 at Monaco Town Hall in Nice, France—an event about which Mr. Flynn later stated, “it was wonderful to have a legitimate wedding for a change.” (The marriage was his third and her first.)
Like Mr. Flynn himself, Hollywood films were then in the middle of a long transition from glamour to grit, but the first few years of the couple’s marriage were still illuminated by the fading lights of that passing era, when they would attend parties thrown by Marion Davies and film premieres in Beverly Hills. They had a daughter, Arnella Flynn, in 1953; within two years, Mrs. Flynn had stopped acting altogether to raise their child and care for Mr. Flynn, whose career had stalled and whose health was in serious decline. “Nobody ever tried harder than Pat to make me happy,” Flynn would later note in My Wicked, Wicked Ways.
After her husband’s death in 1959, Mrs. Flynn returned to acting, landing the role she is best known for today as Frank Sinatra’s girlfriend Adele Elkstrom in the original 1960 film version of Ocean’s Eleven. Music buffs probably also recognize her as the imperious magazine editor Madame Quagmeyer from 1960s television show The Monkees. In 1970 however, she retired from acting for good and moved to Flynn’s massive estate in Jamaica. Though the property’s coconut farm was eventually destroyed by disease, Mrs. Flynn was able to turn it into an active and successful cattle ranch, and it remains so today.
Mrs. Flynn never remarried. She is survived by her grandson Luke Flynn, an actor and model and the only child of Patrice and Errol’s deceased daughter Arnella.
– Special thanks to Robb Callahan, at the Errol Flynn Estate
— David DeWitt
Inga
March 23, 2014 at 8:41 pm
Very sad news. Condolences to her family.
ILIKEFLYNN
March 23, 2014 at 10:26 pm
I am sorry to read of Ms. Wymore’s death. I remember her from two appearances she made on one of my all time favorite sitcoms, “F Troop”, as well as her performances with Errol and of course the original “Ocean’s Eleven”. May she find eternal peace. Condolences to the family.–A. R.
Tim
March 23, 2014 at 11:44 pm
Farewell, Patrice. Sympathies to All Your Loved Ones.
zacal
March 24, 2014 at 5:26 am
We said hello to each other once outside the Academy the night they honored Olivia de Havilland. I thought it was very kind of her, as I was a stranger who had somewhat intruded on her conversation with Errol’s daughter, Deirdre. I’ll always treasure the night, knowing I was with people who meant so much to Errol. I for one believe in our afterlife and trust her reunion with Errol and Arnella was a most happy one.
Lollie
March 24, 2014 at 10:00 am
Oh that is sad news.She looked to be a lovely lady.Rest In Peace.
timerider
March 24, 2014 at 6:42 pm
Lovely actress in her day. Glad she was able to keep the estate alive. I wonder what will become of Flynn’s island?
I know Luke has special feelings for Jamaica.
Farewell Patrice…….
twinarchers
March 24, 2014 at 7:08 pm
Wow that is sad news. I wondered what was happening with her for years now since the website never seemed to update in some areas. She lived a long life and from the look of it a good one as well. I enjoyed her comments on the last documentary she was on. RIP and see you on the other side.
Tim
March 25, 2014 at 3:43 am
Pre-Mrs. Flynn:
As Madame Q – @ very beginning of video:
Lollie
March 26, 2014 at 11:48 am
Saw this lovely photo today.
Tim
March 27, 2014 at 3:52 am
Great photo, Lollie.
And, of course, there’s this terrific show from the Errol Flynn Theater:
Lollie
March 27, 2014 at 12:10 pm
I love The Strange Auction,it’s great seeing Errol together with his son Sean & Patrice.I love his intro on that episode too,lounging on his outdoor couch. :)
Tina
April 13, 2015 at 8:38 pm
I just found the obituary of Patrice in the Jamaica Observer by Luke Flynn and thought you all might like to read it!
“Remembering Grandma… Patrice Wymore Flynn”
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Publicity photo from the movie Rocky Mountain starring Errol Flynn and Patrice Wymore Flynn. At right: Patrice Wymore Flynn in a promotional photo from Warner Bros
“My grandmother came out of hospital on Friday, March 21 and immediately had a Bloody Mary and a cigarette… I think she was just happy to be at home in her own surroundings,” shares Luke Flynn with SO. It’s a few days since his beloved grandmother, Patrice Wymore Flynn, passed at the age of 87, from pulmonary disease and his mobile rings non-stop with calls, from Jamaica to Los Angeles. There are also the requisite post-death formalities: Wymore Flynn’s last request was that her remains be interred beside those of her late husband Errol at Forest Lawns Cemetery, Los Angeles.
Perusing decades-old photos of Patrice Wymore Flynn, an actress during Hollywood’s Golden Age and widow of screen legend Errol Flynn, affords their grandson Luke Flynn — himself an actor and model and only child of Patrice and Errol’s deceased daughter Arnella — time to reflect. “She was a tough, resilient and elegant woman,” he states. Indeed, the always regal, posture-in-check Mrs Flynn began her career in musicals, performing in Up in Central Park in 1947. She made her Broadway debut a year later in the musical Hold It! and won the Theatre World Award for “promising actress”. It was her performance in the 1949 All For Love musical that would propel the Kansas-born beauty to fame. The starlet was handed a contract by Warner Bros and headed west in search of the ubiquitous better life – which she found firstly, as the parvenu to Doris Day’s established Broadway star in the film musical Tea For Two and then alongside Kirk Douglas, Ronald Reagan, Randolph Scott and Danny Thomas. But it was during her second role, as the female lead in the 1950 western Rocky Mountain, that she met her future husband, the aging screen legend Errol Flynn, the film’s male lead.
In his autobiography My Wicked, Wicked Ways, Flynn describes Wymore when they met as “attractive, warm, and wholesome… she could sing, she was reserved, she had beauty and dignity [she] typified everything I am not”.
The couple wed in the latter part of 1950 at Monaco Town Hall in Nice, France – an event about which Errol Flynn later stated “it was wonderful to have a legitimate wedding for a change”. The marriage was his third and her first.
Like Flynn himself, Hollywood films were then in the middle of a long transition from glamour to grit, but the first few years of the couple’s marriage were still illuminated by the fading lights of that passing era, when they would attend parties thrown by Marion Davies and film premieres in Beverly Hills.
Two years after the birth of their daughter Arnella in 1953, Mrs Flynn had stopped acting altogether to raise their child and care for her husband whose career had stalled and whose health was in serious decline. “Nobody ever tried harder than Pat to make me happy,” Flynn would later note in My Wicked, Wicked Ways.
Wymore Flynn returned to acting after her husband’s death in 1959, landing the role she is best known for today as Frank Sinatra’s love interest Adele Elkstrom in the original 1960 film version of Ocean’s Eleven. Music buffs will remember her as the imperious magazine editor Madame Quagmeyer from the 1960s television show The Monkees. The actress retired from acting for good, however, in 1970 and moved to Flynn’s massive estate in Portland where she became an integral part of life in the sleepy parish.
“We’ve been restoring the coconuts,” shares Luke (the cattle farm once yielded an abundance of coconuts)… “I want to hold on to the 1,700-acre cattle farm, my grandmother’s legacy… she was as passionate about her farm as much as the movies. My grandmother was watching Tea For Two with Doris Day when she passed — it was a movie she loved to share with family and friends over and over again.”
A celebration of the life of Patrice Wymore Flynn will be held on Wednesday, April 2 at 5:00 pm at the Errol Flynn Marina, Portland.