Hollywood legend Errol Flynn acquitted of rape

On this day, Feb. 6, in 1943, a Los Angeles jury acquitted actor Errol Flynn of the statutory rape of two teenage girls. Flynn’s lawyers selected an all-female jury then put on the stand the actor Joan Crawford once called “the most beautiful man who ever lived.” The strategy worked. By the time the Australian charmer’s testimony was over, the courtroom had erupted in chaos. The women in the audience were aflutter while the men voiced their disapproval. The trial added to his reputation as a devilish ladies’ man, so much so that the phrase “in like Flynn” was coined.