# Beverly Aadland
**Beverly Aadland** (also known as Beverly Aadland Fisher) was an American film actress whose brief screen career is overshadowed by her highly publicized teenage relationship with the actor [Errol Flynn](https://www.edgepedia.org/errol-flynn), which began in 1957 and ended with his death in October 1959[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0007323/) • [2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-apr-05-et-errol5-story.html). Her credited films include *South Pacific* (1958) and *Cuban Rebel Girls* (1959), in which she played the lead[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0007323/) • [3](https://www.fiafnet.org/images/tinyUpload/2019/08/2015-Sydney-Canberra-Congress-Brochure.pdf).
Even her basic dates are reported inconsistently. IMDb gives her birth as 1942 in Hollywood, California, and her death as 5 January 2010 in [Lancaster, California](https://www.edgepedia.org/lancaster-california), at age 67[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0007323/). The *Dictionary of Women Worldwide*, quoted on Encyclopedia.com, gives her birth as 1943, in Hollywood[4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/aadland-beverly-1943), and the Internet Broadway Database lists 1942[5](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/beverly-aadland-91579). The age at which she began her relationship with Flynn is likewise given as 14, 15, or 16 by different accounts[6](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-09-02/errol-flynn-had-penchant-for-underage-girls-his-trial-barely-tarnished-him) • [2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-apr-05-et-errol5-story.html) • [4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/aadland-beverly-1943).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | 1942, Hollywood, California (Encyclopedia.com gives 1943); 5 January 2010, Lancaster, California, aged 67[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0007323/) • [4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/aadland-beverly-1943) |
| Family | Daughter of Florence Aadland, who wrote *The Big Love* (1961) about the Flynn affair[5](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/beverly-aadland-91579) |
| Flynn relationship | Flynn, in his late 40s, began the relationship when Aadland was a teenager; it was public and lasted about two years, until his death in Vancouver in October 1959, when she was 17[6](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-09-02/errol-flynn-had-penchant-for-underage-girls-his-trial-barely-tarnished-him) • [7](https://tappingonthewall.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-big-love-big-love-is-book_6.html) |
| Films | Nurse in *South Pacific* (1958); Beverly Woods in *Cuban Rebel Girls* (1959); *The Red Skelton Hour*[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0007323/) |
| Marriages | Maurice Jose de Leon (1961), Joseph E. McDonald (1967), Ronald Fisher; one daughter, Aadlanda Joy Fisher[8](https://lustereyes.com/beverly-aadland-biography-family-career/) |
| Screen portrayal | Played by Dakota Fanning in *The Last of Robin Hood* (2013)[9](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/feature/2014-08-10-richard-glatzer-and-wash-westmoreland-in-conversation-on-the-last-of-robin-hood-feature-story-by-anne-katrin-titze) |
## The Flynn relationship
Aadland was the daughter of Florence Aadland, who from early childhood pushed her toward auditions, acting lessons, and a show-business career; *The Big Love* (1961), written by Tedd Thomey as told by Florence, chronicles the affair from the mother's side[5](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/beverly-aadland-91579) • [7](https://tappingonthewall.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-big-love-big-love-is-book_6.html).
The relationship became public in 1957. The Los Angeles Times later wrote that Flynn "caused a scandal when he left Wymore and ran off with 15-year-old actress-showgirl Beverly Aadland, whom he described as his 'protegee.'"[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-apr-05-et-errol5-story.html) A 2026 Times retrospective of Flynn's 1943 statutory rape trial states that in his late 40s he met a 14-year-old Aadland, that his sexual relationship with her lasted for years and was not a secret, and that the behavior was brazen enough to alienate some of his friends and supporters[6](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-09-02/errol-flynn-had-penchant-for-underage-girls-his-trial-barely-tarnished-him). Encyclopedia.com's entry, drawn from the *Dictionary of Women Worldwide*, says she began the relationship at 16[4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/aadland-beverly-1943).
According to *The Big Love*, Flynn was 48 and Beverly 15 when their two-year affair began, and the book states that Flynn forced himself on her at their first encounter; a 2024 retrospective reading of the book treats these claims as shaped by Florence Aadland's self-deception, noting that Beverly's account of the first encounter, relayed to her mother months afterward, cannot be independently verified[7](https://tappingonthewall.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-big-love-big-love-is-book_6.html). Florence Aadland opens the book by insisting that her daughter "was a virgin on the day she met Errol Flynn"[7](https://tappingonthewall.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-big-love-big-love-is-book_6.html).
The 2026 Times account also records that Flynn was once approached to star in a film adaptation of [Vladimir Nabokov](https://www.edgepedia.org/vladimir-nabokov)'s *Lolita* and would not take the role unless Aadland was cast as Lolita; it did not happen[6](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-09-02/errol-flynn-had-penchant-for-underage-girls-his-trial-barely-tarnished-him).
Flynn died of a heart attack in Vancouver in October 1959 at age 50, with Aadland, then 17, in his company[6](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-09-02/errol-flynn-had-penchant-for-underage-girls-his-trial-barely-tarnished-him). On 28 October 1959 she spoke on camera about the relationship to an Atlanta WSB-TV news crew, in footage preserved in the Walter J. Brown Media Archives; the item lists the attorney Melvin M. Belli (1907–1996) among its contributors[10](https://dlg.usg.edu/record/ugabma_wsbn_wsbn40163).
## Film and television work
Aadland's screen appearances were few and largely arranged around Flynn. According to the directors of *The Last of Robin Hood*, she was a background showgirl dancer in *Marjorie Morningstar* (1958), visible only as a blond figure dancing at a distance; she had one line in [John Huston](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-huston)'s *The Roots of Heaven*; and Flynn wrote a brief cameo for her in *Too Much, Too Soon*, the film he was working on when he first saw her[9](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/feature/2014-08-10-richard-glatzer-and-wash-westmoreland-in-conversation-on-the-last-of-robin-hood-feature-story-by-anne-katrin-titze).
Where she is plainly visible is *Cuban Rebel Girls* (1959), Barry Mahon's low-budget semi-documentary written and narrated by Flynn, in which Aadland, his young lover, was the star[9](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/feature/2014-08-10-richard-glatzer-and-wash-westmoreland-in-conversation-on-the-last-of-robin-hood-feature-story-by-anne-katrin-titze) • [3](https://www.fiafnet.org/images/tinyUpload/2019/08/2015-Sydney-Canberra-Congress-Brochure.pdf). IMDb credits her as a nurse in the Thanksgiving Show episode of *South Pacific* (1958), as Beverly Woods in *Cuban Rebel Girls*, and lists *The Red Skelton Hour* among her credits[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0007323/). As a child she appeared on [Groucho Marx](https://www.edgepedia.org/groucho-marx)'s quiz show *You Bet Your Life* at age 14, dancing the jitterbug with Marx[9](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/feature/2014-08-10-richard-glatzer-and-wash-westmoreland-in-conversation-on-the-last-of-robin-hood-feature-story-by-anne-katrin-titze).
## Later life
After Flynn's death Aadland left acting. She married three times: to Maurice Jose de Leon in 1961, to Joseph E. McDonald in 1967, and then to [Ronald Fisher](https://www.edgepedia.org/ronald-fisher), with whom she had a daughter, Aadlanda Joy Fisher[8](https://lustereyes.com/beverly-aadland-biography-family-career/). In the years between she worked as a singer and dancer, performing in different countries before returning to California[8](https://lustereyes.com/beverly-aadland-biography-family-career/).
She died on 5 January 2010 in Lancaster, California, at 67, with heart failure and diabetes complications cited as causes[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0007323/) • [8](https://lustereyes.com/beverly-aadland-biography-family-career/).
## In film and memory
Florence Aadland's *The Big Love* served as one starting point for the 2013 feature *The Last of Robin Hood*, directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, with [Kevin Kline](https://www.edgepedia.org/kevin-kline) as Flynn, Dakota Fanning as Aadland, and [Susan Sarandon](https://www.edgepedia.org/susan-sarandon) as Florence[9](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/feature/2014-08-10-richard-glatzer-and-wash-westmoreland-in-conversation-on-the-last-of-robin-hood-feature-story-by-anne-katrin-titze). The directors said they deliberately showed the first sexual encounter as two people experiencing the same act completely differently, without romanticizing it[9](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/feature/2014-08-10-richard-glatzer-and-wash-westmoreland-in-conversation-on-the-last-of-robin-hood-feature-story-by-anne-katrin-titze).
## References
1. [Beverly Aadland (1942–2010), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0007323/)
2. [Revisiting a tragic rogue, Los Angeles Times, April 5, 2005](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-apr-05-et-errol5-story.html)
3. [Assault of the Rebel Girls aka Cuban Rebel Girls screening note, FIAF Congress brochure, 2015](https://www.fiafnet.org/images/tinyUpload/2019/08/2015-Sydney-Canberra-Congress-Brochure.pdf)
4. [Aadland, Beverly (1943–), Dictionary of Women Worldwide via Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/aadland-beverly-1943)
5. [Beverly Aadland, Internet Broadway Database](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/beverly-aadland-91579)
6. [Errol Flynn had a penchant for underage girls. His trial barely tarnished him, Los Angeles Times, September 2, 2026](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-09-02/errol-flynn-had-penchant-for-underage-girls-his-trial-barely-tarnished-him)
7. [The Big Love (review essay on Florence Aadland's book), Tapping on the Wall, April 6, 2024](https://tappingonthewall.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-big-love-big-love-is-book_6.html)
8. [Beverly Aadland: Biography, Family, Age, Career and More, Lustereyes, January 29, 2022](https://lustereyes.com/beverly-aadland-biography-family-career/)
9. [Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland in conversation on The Last Of Robin Hood, Eye For Film, August 10, 2014](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/feature/2014-08-10-richard-glatzer-and-wash-westmoreland-in-conversation-on-the-last-of-robin-hood-feature-story-by-anne-katrin-titze)
10. [Errol Flynn's Mistress, Beverly Aadland, on her Relationship With Flynn; Speaking after his Death, WSB-TV newsfilm collection, Walter J. Brown Media Archives](https://dlg.usg.edu/record/ugabma_wsbn_wsbn40163)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1940s to 1960s › Surnames A to Bo*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license