ERROL FLYNN - FLYNN BEATS DEPP IN PIRATES POLL

Swashbuckler ERROL FLYNN has dented JOHNNY DEPP's PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN celebrations by being hailed Hollywood's top buccaneer in a new World Entertainment News Network (WENN) poll. WENN editors teamed up with British buccaneer buff DAVID CORDINGLEY - a consultant on the first Pirates of The Caribbean movie - to scour the movie seas in a bid to come up with the definitive movie pirates poll. Cordingley, the author of pirate guide UNDER THE BLACK FLAG: THE ROMANCE + REALITY OF LIFE AMONG THE PIRATES, Is keen to point out that no movie has correctly portrayed the true horror of the high seas villains, but, like us, he has enjoyed a century of swash and buckle. The expert chooses Errol Flynn's CAPTAIN BLOOD as the pick of the pirates, ahead of Depp's CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW. Cordingley says, "Johnny Depp is hugely entertaining as Captain Jack Sparrow - he's creepy, ruthless and he has an untrustworthy look about him - but no one can beat Errol Flynn. "He had the charisma, he was tremendously good looking and physically convincing. He really did fence and in real-life he was a hard-drinking, hard-living chap, so I guess he came pretty close to becoming Hollywood's version of a pirate. He has the edge over all the other movie pirates." Fellow golden age swashbucklers Tyrone Power and Douglas Fairbanks also make the pirate list, as does Charles Laughton, even though Cordingley insists Hollywood's take on bloodthirsty Capt William Kidd is "too soft". But Robert Newton really makes waves on the WENN ultimate pirates poll because he appears twice - as fictitious Long John Silver in one of many Treasure Island films and as historical anti-hero Blackbeard (EDWARD TEACH). Here's the WENN pirate poll: 1. ERROL FLYNN as DR PETER BLOOD - CAPTAIN BLOOD (1935) 2. JOHNNY DEPP as CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW - PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN (2003-2006) 3. ROBERT NEWTON as LONG JOHN SILVER - TREASURE ISLAND (1950) 4. TYRONE POWER as JAMIE WARING - THE BLACK SWAN (1942) 5. DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS as THE BLACK PIRATE - THE BLACK PIRATE (1926) 6. CHARLES LAUGHTON as CAPTAIN WILLIAM KIDD - CAPTAIN KIDD (1945) 7. DUSTIN HOFFMAN as CAPTAIN HOOK - HOOK (1991) 8. WALTER MATTHAU as CAPTAIN THOMAS BARTHOLOMEW RED - PIRATES (1986) 9. ROBERT NEWTON as BLACKBEARD - BLACKBEARD, THE PIRATE (1952) 10. WALLACE BEERY as LONG JOHN SILVER - TREASURE ISLAND (1934).