The man who owns a house Errol Flynn almost burned down believes the film star should receive more honor in his native Tasmania.
As a teenager, Flynn lived in Hobart, capital of Australia's island province. Dr. Gerald McInerney's house has a backyard playhouse built with the burned timbers of a shed that Flynn set on fire.
A childhood friend and biographer said that Flynn was either a deliberate arsonist or used the shed, then attached to the house, for an explosive chemistry experiment. His parents moved soon after, possibly after being evicted.
The Australian newspaper says that none of the six houses rented by Flynn's parents carry any plaque or sign mentioning the actor. McInerney told the newspaper that Flynn, the best-known Tasmanian of all time, is the subject of a lot of "moralistic disapproval."
Flynn, one of the most dashing Hollywood stars of the 1930s, was also known for a wild private life that included heavy drinking, cocaine use and a lot of sex, some of it allegedly with underage girls. He was acquitted of statutory rape in the United States.
© Copyright 2004 by United Press International
