Followng the on-going travails of the likes of Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan and even aspiring wanna be diva, Tampa’s own walking intervention, Jessica Sierra brought to mind and old show business tale of life and death in the fast lane of celebrity.

Many years ago the medical examiner conducting the autopsy on the stiff before him assumed - from the deteriorated organs he was observing - that he was working on a man well into his 80s.

In fact the body was that of Errol Flynn, age 50 , a man for whom moderation in anything, drinking, smoking, sex, was a fate to be avoided at all costs - even his life.

Indeed, in the annals of Hollywood naughtiness the likes of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Nick Nolte, Robert Downey, Jr., Mel Gibson, Tom Sizemore and Britney Spears are actually pale pretenders to the dashing Flynn, who set a standard of debauchery the envy of Caligula meets Uday and Qusay.

After all, the phrase “In like Flynn,” gained its currency after the actor was acquitted of statutory rape charges. And at the time of his death, the swashbuckler had been openly traveling about the world in the company of his 16-year-old “wink-wink-nod-nod secretary,” with precious little impact on his career.

So, for most amateur Hollywood historians, dark predictions the careers of the aforementioned Lohan, Gibson, and even Jessice Sierra among others might be derailed because of their drug and/or alcohol problems, their boorish behavior, their revolving door stints in rehab, simply ignore the history of Hollywood.

And they certainly don’t know one of the entertainment business most oft-repeated lines - “You’ll never work in this town again - unless we need you.”

Both Nolte and Downey have rejuvenated their careers after setting the gold standard for mug shots.

And it might come as something of a small surprise to some budding movie buffs to know many of the screen’s greatest, most beloved performers struggled with --- something!

Spencer Tracy was infamous for his binge drinking, although a viewer of his more than 70 films would be hard pressed to discern any trace of his private demons on the screen.

William Holden had to enter a clinic to dry out in the middle of filming “Paris When It Sizzles,” although anyone who has ever had to sit through this hideous movie, could hardly blame any actor for needing to be half in the bag to get through this production.

Long before the Betty Ford Clinic came along, Robert Mitchum did a stretch in jail on a marijuana possession charge, which certainly had to interfere with his drinking time.

Richard Burton, one of acting’s greatest drinkers, once admitted there were movies he made in the 1960s that he had absolutely no memory of - and most of them rightfully so.

Social mores were somewhat more different in Burton’s time. Drinking was more acceptable, more charming.

Together with Richard Harris and Peter O’Toole, Burton formed a trilogy of liver damage unparalleled since, well Errol Flynn last passed out alone.

There have been many other bad boys and girls of Tinsel Town - Robert Newton, Tallulah Bankhead, Charlie Chaplin, Ingrid Bergman, Roman Polanski, Kiefer Sutherland, Drew Barrymore and John Barymore.

The list is as endless as “Heaven’s Gate.”

So while Jessica Sierra and others may wonder what the future holds for their careers, she can think of Flynn and Burton and Holden all the others and take some cold comfort in knowing she is following in some pretty big shoes to fall down in.