She was a seventeen-year-old “starlet” who was with and found the body of 50-year-old movie star when he died.  They had been dating for two years.   

Old Hollywood is full of headlines that would be SO PROBLEMATIC in today’s world. 

This autograph is of note for being one of my many quests that were spurred by imagery alone.  As a teenager, I would often seek an autograph without having seen them in a movie or TV show, or knowing anything really about a particular celebrity other than a sole photo or lone book entry.   

In the case of Beverly Aadland, it was her entry in Richard Lamparski’s “Whatever Became of” that made me interested in her.  Barely even knowing who Errol Flynn was at the time I read this book, I just found this tabloid-ready story of a movie star’s romance with a young Lolita to be perplexing – because I was thinking of the situation like the teenager I was. “How in the word would she be interested in somebody so old?” (HA!) But it was the glamour picture of her that really caught my eye. I tried desperately to find an accurate address for her, but never could. 

Eventually, I bought a couple of her autographs, and I was tickled that the picture I purchased was from the same photo shoot of her “now” picture in the Lamparski book from 1967.  I posted a video on YouTube about my “A” autograph binders and mentioned Beverly, showing these autographs.  I got a comment from someone who said they were her daughter and that the autographs were not authentic. But here are the autographs anyway.  Included also are some scans of a JSA verified signature plus a TNS (typed note signed) by Beverly for comparison.   Here's a video of me talking about the A's in my collection from Beverly Aadland through Jay Acovone ...

Unfortunately, I’ve missed seeing “Cuban Rebel Girls” (her movie with Erroll Flynn), but I DO have the original “scandalous” 1961 paperback of “The Big Love” by Beverly’s mother Florence Aadland.  It is a campy hoot of delusional justification for daughter pimping!!  Mommy’s book about her “baby girl” was made into a movie.  You can check out Dakota Fanning as Beverly, Susan Sarandon as her mother (Florence) and Kevin Kline as Errol in “The Last of Robin Hood”.  The trailer was sufficient for me.  

But I would have LOVED to see Tracey Ullman in her one woman show of “The Big Love” (as Florence Aadland) on Broadway.  Why is there no footage?!?!   

But here’s a link of Tracey promoting the show on Letterman and imitating Florence Aadland at about 2:30