Paul Hogan may have tamed crocs on the big screen, but his real-life adventures have
been just as thrilling.
From legal battles to tax woes, and now a new tell-all book that promises to skip the
boring bits.
Paul Hogan got his start as a performer in 1971, when he appeared on the Australian talent
competition New Faces.
"I went on New Faces to take the mickey out of it."
Though he'd initially signed up for the show as a joke, viewers loved him so much he actually
got his own sketch comedy series, The Paul Hogan Show.
By the mid-80s, Hogan decided to try his hand on the big screen, and wrote and filmed Crocodile
Dundee on a shoestring budget.
Paul Hogan had hoped the comedy would find an audience, but he never envisioned that
the $7-million movie would achieve a worldwide box-office take of $328 million — earning
nearly 47 times what it cost to produce.
The film's remarkable success took Hogan by surprise.
In an interview with with Yahoo! Entertainment, Hogan described what it was like to jump from
Australian TV comedian to international movie star, saying,
"I've always said it was like going to the Olympics and rolling up your jeans and saying,
'Can I have a run in the 100?'
And then winning the gold medal."
The unexpected hit made an even less likely contribution to Hogan's bank account; Australia's
9Honey estimated that Hogan personally earned a staggering $100 million from his first movie.
Hogan's Hollywood career certainly didn't end after Crocodile Dundee, but that film
remains the most successful thing he's ever done.
Paul Hogan was heavily involved in the casting of his Crocodile Dundee co-star, Linda Kozlowski.
He told People that while she was still relatively unknown when he hired her, he could tell she
was going to be great.
Not only were the pair a couple on-screen, but they also began a romance in real life
— not ideal, considering Hogan was nearly 20 years her senior and married with five
kids.
Their affair whipped up a media frenzy; a gossipy piece in the Sydney Morning Herald,
for example, reported that their canoodling on a flight was "steamier" than anything seen
on-screen.
In 1990, Hogan and Kozlowski tied the knot in his hometown of Sydney after Hogan went
through a hefty divorce settlement.
As the Los Angeles Times reported, the nuptials took place at the Byron Bay mansion he built
for his new bride as a wedding present.
Together, the couple had one child, a son named Chance.
Paul Hogan and Linda Kozlowski were married for 23 years — until Kozlowski filed for
divorce in 2013.
In the split, Kozlowski received $5.775 million, in addition to cash sitting in a few bank
accounts, various art, furniture, jewelry, and her 2013 Mini Cooper.
She was also permitted to stay in the Los Angeles home they had shared until the start
of 2018, at which point she was given the option to purchase it from her ex-husband
for $1.59 million.
Speaking about the reason behind the divorce, Kozlowski told the Sydney Morning Herald,
"Honestly, we just naturally grew apart.
One of our problems was we really had nothing in common and, over time, that happens to
a lot of people."
Hogan shared his own take on what had gone wrong with the marriage, telling the Daily
Telegraph that it had simply run its course.
He also had no problem shouldering the blame, at least jokingly.
"I am not a great husband, I'm good early,"
In Hollywood, success begets sequels.
Two years after his first smash hit, Hogan returned with Crocodile Dundee II.
While it made nearly $110 million at the box office, it proved to be a case of diminishing
returns, both creatively and financially, when compared to the original.
In 1990, he starred in his movie outside the Crocodile Dundee franchise, reuniting with
Linda Kozlowski for Almost An Angel.
Unfortunately, response to the film was tepid, and it earned less than $7 million worldwide.
Hogan continued to star in more films throughout the rest of the 1990s, including the western
Lightning Jack and Flipper.
Speaking with Yahoo! Entertainment about the box-office triumph of Crocodile Dundee, Hogan
admitted that he eventually came to realize that he was never going to capture lightning
in a bottle again.
He explained that he was grateful to be able to put his comedic work on tape, but eventually
it dawned on him that, after making the most successful indie movie in history, all of
his subsequent efforts would be underwhelming by comparison.
What's more, Hogan is the first to acknowledge his own limitations as a thespian, which may
have contributed to the lackluster performance of his Dundee follow ups.
"Not a very good actor.
I mean, I'm sort of like a — one-trick pony."
Suddenly swimming in Crocodile Dundee money, Hogan entrusted his millions to financial
adviser Philip Egglishaw, who allegedly convinced him to shift his money into offshore accounts
and Swiss banks.
Hogan, admittedly no economist, liked what he heard and gave Egglishaw free rein.
That proved to be a mistake when Egglishaw fled, and Hogan filed a lawsuit, claiming
Egglishaw parked $34 million Australian dollars of Hogan's cash in a Swiss bank account that
the actor was unable to access.
Hogan sued, claiming that Egglishaw either ran away with or spent his millions.
When Australian tax authorities caught wind of the situation, a bad situation turned worse,
as Hogan was reportedly hit with a tax bill for more than $15 million Australian, plus
hefty penalties.
According to CBC News, he avoided the repercussions temporarily while he was living in L.A. However,
when he flew back home for his mother's funeral, he was prevented from leaving until he settled
up.
Hogan continually professed his innocence, and in 2012, he finally reached a settlement
with Australian authorities.
No charges were ever filed.
After a string of box-office flops, Hogan decided to take one more kick at the can with
the 2001 sequel Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles.
In an Interview with Combustible Celluloid, Hogan inadvertently admitted the script was
lacking, but that he never set out to write a particularly complex or meaningful plot
when he started the project.
While the notion of a third Crocodile Dundee movie pretty much screamed "money grab," Hogan
insisted that had nothing to do with his decision to resurrect the character.
He told IGN,
"This is not a pathetic attempt to revive my sagging career.
What career?
A man's got a body of film of about four movies in about 10 years or something.
I do it because I think I can do a good job of something and I'll enjoy it, do it, and
sort of vanish.
I don't want to be an actor for hire."
When the film was released, reviews were awful — with the exception of a glowing review
from a minor character on How I Met Your Mother.
"Rent Crocodile Dundee III, I caught it on the cable last night — it totally holds
up!"
The film's performance at the box office was no better, as it earned less than $40 million
worldwide.
However, Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles did earn some dubious recognition when it received
a Razzie nomination for worst remake or sequel.
Reflecting on the critical failure, Hogan acknowledged that the film's critical and
financial failure marked the end of the series.
Despite the slow taper that led to the end of the Crocodile Dundee franchise, Hogan did
receive recognition from his homeland for his contribution to Australian film.
In 2016, Hogan was awarded the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts' Longford
Lyell Award, the highest honor an Australian cinematic figure can receive.
After the catastrophe that was Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, Hogan continued acting, albeit
sporadically.
In 2004, he co-starred in the Australian comedy Strange Bedfellows, and five years later in
another Australian movie, Charlie & Boots.
His next screen credit wasn't until 2015, when he appeared in an episode of Aussie TV
sketch-comedy series Open Slather, and was part of the ensemble cast of 2018 film That's
Not My Dog!
As Hogan told Forbes, he suddenly became a hot commodity again when a farcical 2018 trailer
for Dundee aired during the Super Bowl and went viral.
Purportedly a reboot starring Danny McBride as Mick Dundee's son, the whole thing was
eventually revealed to be a cleverly disguised Australian tourism commercial, with Hogan
himself even making a brief appearance.
That led to a full-fledged comeback with 2020's The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee, in which Hogan
plays himself as an elderly, one-hit-wonder ex-movie star who can't shake his biggest
hit from 30-plus years ago.
When asked by Forbes if he would ever play Mick Dundee one final time, Hogan responded,
"Oh, no.
No, it's over.
It happened.
It was a huge success, and I'm thrilled and proud of it.
I was actually quite prepared to retire after doing the last one, to be honest."
It seems Hogan may not have had much of a choice in the trajectory of his late film
career.
In late 2022, he told Australia's A Current Affair about some health issues that he had
been experiencing.
After treatment for problems with his kidney and aorta, Hogan has lost a lot of muscle
and fat, and it's left him quite weak.
The comedian also reflected that old age has officially caught up with him.
Leading up to his 80th birthday, Hogan still felt fit, but now he feels his days in peak
physical form are behind him for good.
Over the last few years, he's also published two books.
The first arrived in 2020, a memoir with a wry title referencing his unorthodox entry
into show business, The Tap Dancing Knife Thrower: My Life (without the boring bits).
In 2022, Hogan published his second book, Australia According to Hoges.
This one, while not necessarily an autobiography, was in a similar vein, with the cover blurb
promising readers funny anecdotes about his homeland.
After living in Los Angeles for decades, writing those books about his past in Australia must
have made Hogan nostalgic for his native land.
He told The Daily Telegraph that he misses the country's inhabitants and atmosphere dearly.
He elaborated that he would have gone back already, if it weren't for his son, Chance.
Hogan explained,
"I'd rather be there, but I have my last child, who is an American — he only has me, whereas
my tribe at home, they've all got each other."