Sean Flynn

Sean Flynn was an American actor and freelance photojournalist best known for his coverage of the Vietnam War.

Flynn was the only child of actors Errol Flynn and Lili Damita. After studying briefly at Duke University, he became a movie actor like his parents. He soon became bored with acting and went to Africa to guide safaris and big-game hunts. In 1965, in need of money, he made two Spaghetti Westerns in Spain where he bought a Leica camera that would lead him to his true calling as a combat photographer.

He first went to Vietnam in 1966 as a freelance photographer on assignment with Paris Match. He later worked for Time magazine and then United Press International (UPI). His work was soon being published around the world and he made a name for himself as a daring combat photographer. 

On April 6, 1970, Flynn and fellow photojournalist Dana Stone left Phnom Penh on rented motorcycles to cover the front lines of the war in Cambodia and disappeared. After years of investigating his close friend and fellow combat photographer Tim Page believes he was captured by the Viet Cong and ultimately handed over to the Khmer Rouge. His body has never been found.

He left his Leica camera behind the day he disappeared, along with his archive of negatives which have been preserved and protected by his family and friends ever since. A selection of his photographs are shown below.