Hoges to spill beans at last
AFTER years of refusing offers to tell his life story, Australia’s favourite comic Paul Hogan will reveal all in a no-holds-barred autobiography set for release in November.
Hogan said the book – called The Tap Dancing Knife Thrower – was a candid, humorous account of the Harbour Bridge rigger from Sydney’s working-class Granville who went on to become an international superstar.
Of his decision to finally put pen to paper, 80-year-old Hoges said: “Now that I’ve moved firmly into the fourth quarter, it’s about time I shared the stories behind the headlines and movie posters.
“Because, more often than not in my life, fact has been funnier, and certainly stranger, than fiction.”
Working with publishers Harpercollins Australia, the father of six promises to tell the whole story from his successes – Crocodile Dundee, which earned him an Oscar nomination – to some of his troubles; a stoush over taxes with the ATO to his failed marriage to first wife, Noelene, and the breakdown of his relationship with
Dundee co-star Linda Kozlowski. Indeed, Hogan’s classic 1986 film Crocodile Dundee, the movie he conceived, co-wrote and starred in, is credited with introducing Australia to the world. It made
$508 million globally and earned Hogan an Oscar nomination in 1987.
Crocodile Dundee II also was a smash at the box office, raking in $371 million around the world.
Hogan also appeared in hugely successful tourism ads selling Australia to the world, making him a beloved figure in the US.
But with all the success, the “one lucky b*****d” reckons he often didn’t feel he deserved it. He says that despite the accolades and the wealth, he always expected someone to grab him by the arm and say: “What are you doing here? You’re just a bloody rigger.”
Of his new task – the book – Hoges said: “I’m really enjoying the writing process as I’ve never been one to look to the past and this has sort of forced me to delve back into the madness of my life.
“With no interest in show business I went onto a talent show with absolutely no desire to win it. The sole purpose was to bag the mean judges and make my mates on the bridge laugh. Two or three years later I had my own television show. Life only got stranger and stranger from there.”
Hogan has been on Australian TV screens for close to 50 years, since he first appeared on Channel 9’s iconic New Faces as a “tap dancing knife thrower” in 1971.
But it was his TV show, The Paul Hogan Show, and subsequent TV specials with his business partner and best friend John Cornell (who played his sidekick Strop on TV), that endeared him to Australians, making him one of our favourite personalities.
Post- Crocodile Dundee, despite his claims that he was “retired”, Hoges appeared in movies such as
Lightning Jack, Almost an Angel and
Charlie & Boots.
With his long-time collaborator Dean Murphy, Hogan has recently been working on a new movie, The Very Excellent Mr Dundee, which costars another Aussie legend, Olivia Newton-john, and Chevy Chase, and John Cleese.
>>The Tap Dancing Knife Thrower will be published by
Harpercollins Australia on November 5. It is available for pre-order now at bit.ly/2zkuzsy.