Is Paul Hogan Anything Like Crocodile Dundee In Real Life?

Date of Birth	Oct 8, 1939 (80 years old)
Gender	Male
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.75 m)
Profession	Actor, Screenwriter, Producer
Net Worth	$20 Million
Nationality	Australian

Paul Hogan is, of course, best known for his role as Mick Dundee in the classic 1986 ‘fish out of water’ comedy Crocodile Dundee.

However, there’s a lot more to the Almost an Angel actor and sometime Foster’s beer salesman than you may have realised. Now aged 79, Paul Hogan has lived a long and full life already.

Paul Hogan Net Worth

As of 2019, Paul Hogan has a net worth of around $20 million. During his hay-day as Crocodile Dundee, Hogan was able to earn big bucks after financing and distributing the movie in a unique way. The first $8.8 million of the movie budget, he managed to raise independently. He then sold the rights to the movie to various countries allowing him to retain a reported 60% ownership stake in the film’s eventual profits. According to sources, Crocodile Dundee I went on to earn more than $320 globally. Crocodile Dundee II grossed $240 million and Crocodile Dundee III earned $40 million. During this time Hogans net worth increased to $75 million.

Following this, Hogan lost a lot of his fortune in a battle with the tax office and from his divorce to his then wife Noelene Edwards.

Read on for 10 fascinating facts about the man, the myth, the (incredibly Aussie) legend that is Paul Hogan.

10. He used to be a maintenance guy for Sydney Harbour Bridge

At the start of Crocodile Dundee, the Sydney Harbour Bridge is shown from a hotel window – and Paul Hogan himself once worked on the bridge in real life, as a ‘rigger’ (not as a painter as this picture would suggest, and as previous reports have claimed).

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Hogan himself has been quoted as saying: ”Look, if I had been a painter and you’d turn up every day and said, ‘What colour are we going to do today boys? Ah, Battleship Grey…’ I’d have jumped off!”

9. He began his career as a ‘tap dancing knife thrower’

Hogan’s first public appearance came way back in 1971, on an Australian talent show called New Faces, where he initially claimed to be a ‘tap dancing knife thrower’.

Hogan then proceeded to make a number of jokes about the show’s judges before simply throwing his knives on the floor, a performance that, bizarrely, proved to be incredibly popular.

8. Hogan had his own popular sketch show in Australia

Did you know that Hogan once starred in his very own sketch show bearing his own name? It was called The Paul Hogan Show, it ran for a total of 60 episodes between 1973 and 1984, and it was extremely popular both in Australia and South Africa.

Starring alongside John Cornell and Delvene Delaney, Hogan played ‘Hoges’, an exaggerated version of himself, and an assortment of other characters including Arthur Dunger, an ‘Ocker’ who has the ability to turn into a superhero called SuperDag.

7. He came up with the story for Crocodile Dundee himself

Hogan himself came up with the idea for Crocodile Dundee whilst he was on holiday in New York, wondering what it would be like for an Australian bushman to suddenly arrived in the busy American town.

Hogan has been quoted as saying: “There’s a lot about Dundee that we all think we’re like, but we’re not, because we live in Sydney… It’s like the image the Americans have of us, so why not give them one?”

6. He also provided some of the film’s budget

Crocodile Dundee had a fairly modest budget of $10 million, $600,000 of which was provided by Hogan himself, which added to the funds that had already been received from a number of other investors.

His investment turned out to be sound when the film went on to make a whopping $328 million worldwide, with Hogan being entitled to a cut of the profits. At his peak, thanks largely to Crocodile Dundee, Hogan had an estimated net worth of $75 million US.

5. He was nominated for an Oscar (and won a Golden Globe) for Crocodile Dundee

Did you know that Hogan was once nominated for an Academy Award?

He was nominated for the Oscar for ‘Best Original Screenplay’, and not only that but he actually won the Golden Globe Award for ‘Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy’, for Crocodile Dundee of course!

4. The ‘real’ Crocodile Dundee took Hogan to court

Rodney Ansell, who many believe is the real life inspiration for Mick Dundee, took Paul Hogan to court after the film became a big hit, believing that he was entitled to royalties.

His case proved to be unsuccessful and he never received any money from the film. Even more tragic were the reports that Ansell remained bitter about this until he passed away in 1999.

3. Who is Paul Hogan Spouse?

Paul Hogan and his first wife, Noelene Edwards, married in 1958 but divorced in 1981 before remarrying less than one year later and divorcing again in 1986.

Hogan then went on to marry his Crocodile Dundee co-star Linda Kozlowski in 1990, but sadly Kozlowski filed for divorce in 2013 citing irreconcilable differences. Hogan now has a large family: five children with Edwards and one with Kozlowski. Today, Hogan lives with 19-year-old son Chance at his LA home.

2. He recently toured his own standup show

From 2013 to 2015, Hogan toured his own stand up show throughout Australia, some of the material for which was shown in the 2014 documentary Hanging with Hoges.

His 2014 Hoges: One Night Only tour took him to 25 locations all over Australia, including Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney.

1. He had serious tax issues for years

Hogan was one of a group of people linked with a $300 million tax fraud investigation, but the issue was finally settled in 2012 when he agreed to pay ‘tens of millions of dollars.’

This was after the Australian Tax Office pursued Hogan for about eight years over unpaid taxes of an estimated $150 million. Today, Hogan is estimated to have a net worth of $28 million (according to the most recent figures, from 2015).

Before you go, lets take a minute to appreciate one of the fantastic ad for the Subaru Outback that Hogan starred in back in 90s.