Tag: Errol Flynn

Captain Blood, Captain Blood 100th, Captain Blood 100th Anniversary, Swordplay

Olivia de Havilland’s Fencing Poses

Olivia de Havilland, star of Captain Blood, The Adventures of Robin Hood, and numerous other films, posing with stage rapiers and smallswords, fencing masks, and star-to-be Errol Flynn in a series of Warner Bros. publicity stills for Captain Blood (1935). Most of these photographs were taken on the same day in July 1935 behind the Warner Bros. administrative building prior to the start of shooting. Ms. de Havilland passed away on July 26, 2020 at the age of 104.

Not a fencing pose per se, but a reading pose, Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini, specifically, on the same day the photographs above were taken.
Likewise not a fencing post per se, but another publicity still for Captain Blood (1935). As a side note, the Collins machete she holds is almost certainly from the collection of Dwight Franklin, the historical consultant (and costume designer?) on the film. Franklin notes that such machetes were often carried by overseers and mounted police in Latin America at the time.

First posted September 21, 2020. Last updated December 23, 2023.