Michael O'Haughey and Jerry Orbach in Chicago musical

William Flynn is a

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life perso ...

from the 1926 play ''

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

'', written by

Maurine Dallas Watkins Maurine Dallas Watkins (July 27, 1896? – August 10, 1969) was an American playwright and screenwriter. Early in her career, she briefly worked as a journalist covering the courthouse beat for the ''Chicago Tribune''. This experience gave her th ...

, and its various derivative works and remakes.

Character background

Billy Flynn is one of the city of Chicago's most effective defense attorneys; he can win any trial and usually represents women who have murdered their lovers. He has never lost a case involving a female defendant in his whole career, but in turn charges high fees for his services ($5,000), demands payment in full up-front, and never takes '' pro bono'' work. In rare cases, such as

Roxie Hart Roxanne "Roxie" Hart is a fictional character. She is the main character of the 1926 play ''Chicago'' and its various remakes and derivatives. Development The playwright, reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins, was inspired by the trials, both of whic ...

's, he will take a discount rate in exchange for a cut of proceeds from selling ephemera and media rights fees related to the case. In the play, he defends Hart and her rival

Velma Kelly Velma Kelly is one of the main characters in the successful 1975 Broadway musical ''Chicago''. Kelly is based on the character "Velma", who first appeared in the 1926 play, also called ''Chicago'', who was in-turn inspired by the life of Belva Ga ...

, winning both cases. Most of Billy Flynn's clients actually did commit the murder they are accused of; therefore he usually attempts to conjure a defense of

self-defense Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force ...

insanity Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors performed by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can be manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or t ...

. He will often turn trials into a

media circus Media circus is a colloquial metaphor, or idiom, describing a news event for which the level of media coverage—measured by such factors as the number of reporters at the scene and the amount of material broadcast or published—is perceived to ...

and public spectacle, regularly manipulates witnesses to fit his narratives (which usually have no resemblance to the truth), and keeps a tabloid sob sister, Mary Sunshine, on

retainer Retainer may refer to: * Retainer (orthodontics), devices for teeth * RFA ''Retainer'' (A329), a ship * Retainers in early China, a social group in early China Employment * Retainer agreement, a contract in which an employer pays in advance for w ...

to ensure positive press coverage for his clients. He considers his profession to be akin to the entertainment industry, with himself as an

A-list An A-list actor is a major movie star, or one of the most bankable actors in a film industry. The A-list is part of a larger guide called ''The Hot List'', which ranks the bankability of 1,400 movie actors worldwide, and has become an industry ...

star in the field. In the musical, Flynn sings three songs. "All I Care About (is Love)" serves as Flynn's

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

, in which the

crooner Crooner is a term used to describe primarily male singers who performed using a smooth style made possible by better microphones which picked up quieter sounds and a wider range of frequencies, allowing the singer to access a more dynamic range ...

claims not to care about wealth or materialism and works for his love of women (later revealed to be a complete lie), "They Both Reached For The Gun (The Press Conference

Rag Rag, rags, RAG or The Rag may refer to: Common uses * Rag, a piece of old cloth * Rags, tattered clothes * Rag (newspaper), a publication engaging in tabloid journalism * Rag paper, or cotton paper Arts and entertainment Film * ''Rags'' (1915 ...

)" serves as a ventriloquist act with a

call-and-response Call and response is a form of interaction between a speaker and an audience in which the speaker's statements ("calls") are punctuated by responses from the listeners. This form is also used in music, where it falls under the general category of ...

between Billy's "dummy" Roxie and the press, and "Razzle Dazzle" (a champagnesque piece with what Jerry Orbach described as "

Brechtian Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

subtlety"Leve, James.
''Kander and Ebb'', "Chapter: Chicago-Broadway To Hollywood"
''Kander and Ebb'', Yale University Press, 2009, , p. 86) serves as the explanation of Flynn's ''modus operandi'': make the case a distraction so that the jury loses attention. Flynn is a

composite character In a work of media adapted from a real or fictional narrative, a composite character is a character based on more than one individual from the story. Use in film *Several characters in the movie '' 21''. *The character Henry Hurt in the docudra ...

based on real-life Chicago attorneys of the era, William Scott Stewart and W. W. O'Brien.McConnell, Virginia
''Fatal Fortune: the Death of Chicago's Millionaire Orphan'', p. 62
''Fatal Fortune: the Death of Chicago's Millionaire Orphan'' (books.google), Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005, . p. 62 In the musical adaptation, his style is based upon Ted Lewis.

Portrayals

* Edward Ellis in the 1926 Broadway play *

Robert Edeson Robert Edeson (June 3, 1868 – March 24, 1931) was an American film and stage actor of the silent era and a vaudeville performer. Life and career Edeson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of manager and actor George R. Edeson. Afte ...

in the 1927 film *

Adolphe Menjou Adolphe Jean Menjou (February 18, 1890 – October 29, 1963) was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies. He appeared in such films as Charlie Chaplin's ''A Woman of Paris'', where he played the lead role; Stanley K ...

in the 1942 film ''

'' *

Jerry Orbach Jerome Bernard Orbach (October 20, 1935 – December 28, 2004) was an American actor and singer, described at the time of his death as "one of the last'' bona fide'' leading men of the Broadway musical and global celebrity on television" and a " ...

in the 1975 Broadway musical *

Richard Gere Richard Tiffany Gere ( ; born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He began in films in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in '' Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1977) and a starring role in ''Days of Heaven'' (1978). He came to prominence with ...

in the 2002 film

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flynn, Billy Fictional American lawyers Musical theatre characters Literary characters introduced in 1926 Fictional characters from Chicago Fictional Irish American people Male literary villains Male film villains