Errol Flynn
When Hollywood met Mallorca
“The summer Hollywood”. That was the name given to Mallorca by the international celebrities of the 1950s. Already at that time the island was attracting a small number of wealthy Europeans. Although it became famous in the firmament of the big stars thanks to one person in particular: Errol Flynn, one of the most acclaimed beaus of the history of film.
text Bernat Garau




It all began one day in 1950 when Flynn, an excellent sailor, was ploughing through the Mediterranean Sea with his third wife, Patrice Wymore. They had just been married in Montecarlo and were setting out for their honeymoon in Gibralter on board his yacht, the Zaca. History changed forever when a violent storm forced them to lay over in Mallorca. The actor was so taken with the wonders of the island that before setting out to sea again, he swore he would return.
He kept his word six years later, in 1956, when he rented a house in Palma. This was when he met Ventura Sala, the three-year-old son of Eduard Sala, the Mallorcan helmsman Errol Flynn hired for the Zaca. He used to call him “little bandit” and had fun running all over the boat with him. The actor took all of Ventura’s mischief-making with humour. Even when the little boy found a shotgun in a cupboard and fired it, leaving a hole in the wall of the boat’s galley. Fortunately no-one was hurt.
“He was a hardened drinker, a bon vivant, a party-lover, an adventurer, a womaniser… But first and foremost he was an approachable, accessible man”, Ventura remembers today. “When he sailed to Ibiza, he would often go out partying with the crew members, which was unthinkable for the classist society of the day. And very often he would come and eat with the sailors when they cooked on the boat”.
Errol Flynn’s presence on Mallorca attracted many stars, like Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth, Tyrone Powell, Orson Welles, Douglas Fairbanks or Mary Pickford, who came to spend some time on the island. Which is why they spoke of the “summer Hollywood”. “Their customs were very different to those of traditional Mallorcan society. But allowances were made for their eccentricities”, tells Ventura. “A maid of Errol’s neighbours told me that she once saw a party at the actor’s home. In the party, the dress code was to go half naked – each guest could choose whether they left the top or the bottom half of their body bare”.
Over those years, Errol Flynn became part of the town, to the extent that he came to [...]
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