‘EVERYONE WANTS A MATE LIKE HIM!’
Paul Hogan has paid tribute to his best friend, who died after a 20-year battle with Parkinson’s disease
With an incredible friendship and showbiz partnership spanning 50 years, there are few who knew legendary actor, producer and entrepreneur John Cornell better than Paul Hogan, who credits his good friend with turning him into a star.
“We were both larrikins – we never took life too seriously,” remembered the Crocodile Dundee star when he heard his best mate had died peacefully at his Byron Bay farm last week.
MAKING A STAR
It was John who discovered Paul when he was a humble rigger on the Sydney Harbour Bridge after he appeared on A Current Affair, where John, then a journalist, was working in 1971.
“He was the one who insisted I should have my own show,” reveals Paul, 81, who readily admits he would probably still be working on the bridge if it wasn’t for the genius of the man many fans know as Strop on The Paul Hogan Show.
John was working behind the scenes to transform Paul into a star, and while he’ll be forever remembered as leering Strop, with his trademark lifesaver’s cap, his star role on The Paul Hogan Show wasn’t planned.
His wife of 44 years, Delvene Delaney, 69, who also starred on the iconic comedy show as everything from a high diving nun to a sex bomb
in tiny denim shorts, reckons he only stepped in because they didn’t have the budget to pay for a real actor.
It was a role that made him an icon but in the 1970s, when he started dating Delvene, his antics on TV could have derailed what became one of the most celebrated marriages in Australian showbiz.
“He was banned from our house! My mother was mortified when I told her I was dating John Cornell – I was dating Strop!” Delvene told Australian Story in a rare interview several years ago. “Then she met him and realised there was a genius mind behind that clown’s facade.”
His brilliant mind not only made Paul into a superstar and earned the pair many millions from Crocodile Dundee, which John co-wrote and produced, but it also radically transformed cricket in the 1970s when he masterminded World Series Cricket, taking the idea to media mogul Kerry Packer.
Delvene and the two daughters she shared with John, Allira and Liana, along with his eldest daughter from a previous marriage, Melissa, issued a statement celebrating his extraordinary life after he lost his 20-year battle with Parkinson’s disease on July 23.
“A classic Australian character, John Cornell made the lives he touched richer, not only through donations, but also through his generosity of spirit, humour, humility and honour. A true egalitarian, John sought equity and equality, and fought for a fair go,” they said.
TWILIGHT YEARS
John, 80, who also had three grandchildren, died peacefully at his farm in Byron Bay on the NSW North Coast with Delvene at his bedside, after spending years out of the limelight because of the effects of his debilitating Parkinson’s.
It was a disease he bravely tried to beat with pioneering treatments, which helped to a certain extent, but he preferred to keep his health battle private and enjoy his twilight years in his beloved Byron Bay. But he wasn’t a recluse – he was regularly seen at Hotel Brunswick, the pub that he and Delvene bought and renovated after selling Byron’s famous Beach Hotel for $44 million in 2007.
Hotel Brunswick’s Facebook page was flooded with more than 500 tributes celebrating John’s contribution to Australia and his close-knit community in the seaside hamlet. “A legend, he left an incredible legacy,” posted Stephen Twohill. Ellen Briggs wrote, “He was truly one of the greats – in all ways. His groundbreaking humour and his incredible generosity and love for this community.”
‘A legend, he left an incredible legacy’
His life touched so many, but for those closest to him, his death was almost a blessing after years of fighting his disease, says Hoges.
“When you’ve seen the quality of their life go downhill so much and seen them so uncomfortable and unhappy, then it’s kind of a relief,” he says.