For close to a decade, Errol Flynn lit up the silver screen with a series of swashbuckling roles. On November 14, the dashing actor will be remembered by the people of Port Antonio, the Portland town he once called home.

The Errol Flynn Centennial Ball takes place at the Ken Wright Pier, which is located at the Errol Flynn Marina. It will be hosted by Flynn's widow, Patrice Wymore, who still lives on the massive Port Antonio estate her husband purchased over 50 years ago.

"It's really a tribute to someone who brought Hollywood to Jamaica. Errol Flynn did a lot of good for Port Antonio," said Marguerite Gauron, a member of the ball's committee.

Legend

According to legend, Flynn washed ashore Port Antonio aboard his yacht, Zaca, in 1946. He was so taken with the seaside town he eventually bought property there. During his 12-year stay, Flynn kept many parties and entertained Hollywood elite, including actors Bette Davis, David Niven, Alexis Smith and Robin Moore, author of The French Connection.

Flynn once owned the Titchfield Hotel and Navy Island, two Portland landmarks, and was a major player in the development of the Port Antonio Marlin Festival. The Jamaica Tourist Board and Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett will recognise his contribution to the country's leisure industry at the ball.

Flynn was still living in Port Antonio at the time of his death in 1959 at age 50. He suffered a heart attack while visiting Toronto, Canada.

Dale Weston, publicist for the ball, says the event has a 1950s theme. The Sonny Bradshaw Big Band will play swing standards from that era, while snippets of Flynn's films are to be shown throughout the evening.

Proceeds from the ball will go the Port Antonio Marching Band.

Errol Flynn was actually born in June 1909 in Hobart, Tasmania, an island off the Australian mainland. He moved to the United States in the 1930s and made his name as an actor in adventure flicks like The Adventures of Robin Hood and Captain Blood.

He was a controversial figure as well. In 1942, police in Los Angeles charged Flynn with raping two teenage girls, but he was cleared the following year. His movie career was over when he moved to Port Antonio.

Patrice Wymore, his third wife, was also an actor. The Kansas-born Wymore has lived in Portland for almost 50 years and rears cattle on her 2,000-hectare property.