TMS Muse of the Week: Rory Flynn

(Jean-Claude Deutsch)

Surprisingly not highlighted much in discussions and exposés about pop culture is how many classic rockstars are directly connected to old Hollywood. Singer-songwriter David Crosby was the son of Oscar winning cinematographer Floyd Crosby. Drummer Spencer Dryden was the nephew of film icon Charlie Chaplin. Jefferson Airplane/Starship frontwoman Grace Slick’s mother, Virginia Barnett, was starlet Marion Davies’ stand-in at MGM. Former model, studio PA and rock girlfriend Annie Marshall was the daughter of character actor Herbert Marshall. Another gal a part of this spectrum is legendary movie star Errol Flynn’s pretty daughter, Rory. Born in 1947 and raised in Los Angeles, Rory grew up right where entertainment history was taking place, even after her famous father passed away when she was 12 years old. By the time she was in her late teens in the mid-1960s, Rory was actively a part of the young Hollywood scene, especially the music community. Like most girls of that era interested in musicians, the light brunette worked as a dancer and model while mingling with rockstars and other celebrities. In particular, Rory grew a rep for going out with music stars to the point where it was rumored she was an actual groupie. Though there isn’t anything to actually prove Rory was a part of groupie culture, we do know she had flings with two members of the Doors, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore, in 1967 and lived with Yes drummer Alan White for most of the 1970s. I think a big part of Rory being associated with groupies actually comes from Robby kind of lumping her in with those type of girls in his 2021 memoir Set the Night on Fire. He cheekily suggests he “didn’t live up to groupie expectations” behind closed doors and that’s why his dalliance with Rory and general experience with the girls backstage was short-lived.

(Ben Martin)

Rory apparently had a brief thing with Robby’s bandmate shortly afterwards too. In a 2000 Vanity Fair article on the Sunset Strip in the ‘60s, John calls Rory his favorite ‘dance partner’ at popular clubs back then. From 1971 to roughly 1979, the tall model lived in London with Alan while Yes were at the prime of their creativity. Despite being the dancer’s longest and most serious relationship with a celebrity, there isn’t much information on the couple out there on the internet. After dating film actor Robert Hays in the early 1980s, Rory left the entertainment world, switched to behind the camera as a professional photographer, and settled down with her husband, producer Gideon Amir, in 1987. Their son, Rio [b. 1989], is an actor who goes by the stage name ‘Sean Flynn,’ and is most known for co-starring on the Nickelodeon kids sitcom “Zoey 101” (2005-08). Besides photography, Rory is also a lifelong animal lover and has spent most of her marriage to Gideon living on a farm in Georgia where they rescue horses. Despite her exciting youth, Rory doesn’t appear to do interviews on her own life, and the closest thing to a memoir she’s written is a 2006 book called The Baron of Mulholland on her memories of growing up with Errol until his death. She occasionally makes appearances at festivals and conventions to honor her father’s legacy as well. Rory Flynn, just another cool chick in the backdrop of history.