Billy Flynn (Chicago)

William Flynn is a fictional character from the 1926 play Chicago, written by Maurine Dallas Watkins, and its various derivative works and remakes.

Billy Flynn is one of the city of Chicago's most effective criminal defense lawyers; 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, or roughly $91,000 in 2024), demands payment in full up-front, and never takes pro bono work.

He will often turn trials into a media circus 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 to ensure positive press coverage for his clients.

"All I Care About (is Love)" serves as Flynn's jingle, in which the crooner 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)" serves as a ventriloquist act with a call-and-response between Billy's "dummy" Roxie and the press, and "Razzle Dazzle" (a champagnesque piece with what Jerry Orbach described as "Brechtian subtlety"[1]) serves as the explanation of Flynn's modus operandi: make the case a distraction so that the jury loses attention.

Billy Flynn (at right) as portrayed by Jerry Orbach in the Broadway adaptation , 1976
William Scott Stewart, front left, with Beulah Annan and her husband Albert, along with two unknown onlookers. Stewart was one of the inspirations for Flynn; the Annans were the inspiration for Roxie and Amos Hart.