Published posthumously in 1959, Errol Flynn’s autobiography My Wicked, Wicked Ways has never been out
of print and has sold more than one million copies. Once described as the handsomest man in the
world, Flynn candidly talks about himself in the book and provides a sharp,
intimate view of Hollywood
in its golden years.
Among the many personal anecdotes given by the author/actor
in his autobiography, is an incident that occurred following Flynn’s discovery in
a Stratford-on-Avon festival stage production that resulted in a six-month
contract with Warner Brothers in Hollywood .
Leaving England
for New York , in 1934, on board the Paris
Too shy to attempt an intrusion into their more celebrated
circle, Flynn confessed that he watched the group from afar, his eye
particularly drawn to “the beautifully dressed Damita arrogantly walking the
deck” (Flynn, 165).
After one failed attempt to ingratiate himself to his future
wife on board the Paris, the young
actor arrived in New York, checked himself into the St Moritz Hotel, and entered
the hotel’s elevator, where, with only an elevator boy between them, he was
surprised to find “the very alluring Princess Tiarovitch”(165).
Flynn recalled, many years later, that he and the princess
had seen each other on board the Paris
Flynn continued to his own room on the tenth floor, but had
understood. He immediately called her
rooms, and she immediately invited him down to them. Shortly afterwards, Flynn remembered, “she
was in my arms” (166). They made
love. Then, after a murmur of soft male
tones and the purr of little Russian whimpers, they began again (Flynn, 166).
It was during this second
bout that the dynamics of the encounter changed. “Suddenly,” Flynn recalled, I lept up “with a
yell, a real scream of pain. I clutched
at my buttocks. It seemed as if I had
been bitten by ten scorpions.” Bringing
his hand up, the handsome young actor saw blood all over both hands
(Flynn, 166). Staring at the princess
then, he said, he recognized “a strange gloating in her eyes, a truly savage
look” (Flynn, 166).
Flynn’s Russian princess had introduced what the author
described as “a hairbrush with a long handle” that “looked like a miniature
baseball bat,” and since he could not be sure whether the bristles were made of
hair or some kind of thin steel, Flynn thought it best to back off, get dressed and
immediately end the brief affair.
Disguised by Flynn in his autobiography, the true identity of the Russian princess has, for some time, remained unknown. Just recently, however, The Errol Flynn Blog claims to have solved the mystery. According to the site, her real name was
Natalie Paley LeLong and she was both Russian and a princess.
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| Photo of Natalie Paley LeLong by Man Ray, 1934 |
Flynn, Errol. My
Wicked, Wicked Ways. New York : Berkley Books, 1985
Photo of Natalie Paley LeLong courtesy of The Errol Flynn Blog
