Paul Hogan
Biography
If Australia has a human face in the American
popular mind, it may well be the smiling, deeply lined visage of Paul Hogan.
Less as an actor than a personality, this lean, tanned and weathered- looking
former construction worker--nicknamed "Hoges"--represented the Land
Down Under in a series of ads for the Australian Tourist Commission that enticed
more than 600,000 Americans abroad. Audiences found him earnest, likeable and
down-to-earth. Hogan parlayed these qualities into international stardom as
the co-writer and star of "'Crocodile' Dundee" (1986), a hugely successful
comedy adventure depicting the adventures of an Outback outdoorsman in New York
City. This unpretentiously old-fashioned comedy was a smash hit that won Hogan
a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy, an Oscar nomination for the original
screenplay and a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Award nomination.
It also generated a successful sequel, "'Crocodile' Dundee 2" (1988),
which Hogan co-scripted and executive produced. Together the films grossed over
$500 million. Hogan's unlikely entertainment career began at age 31 when he
wrote to a TV talent show representing himself as a rural tap-dancing knife
thrower. Hogan was invited on by the producers, presumably to make a fool of
himself. Instead, he won national attention with a blistering satire of that
very show. This triumph led to numerous other appearances, including a regular
stint as a comic commentator on "A Current Affair", a nightly magazine
news show. Hogan boosted his exposure with "The Paul Hogan Show" beginning
in 1977 and a series of TV specials filmed in England starting in 1983. He began
proving his mettle as a TV pitchman with a series of award- winning commercials
for Foster's Lager in the United Kingdom. Prior to the release of "'Crocodile'
Dundee", Hogan displayed dramatic chops in "ANZACS", a popular
Australian TV miniseries set during WWI. 5 Hogan's Hollywood career stumbled
after the blockbuster success of the "Crocodile Dundee" films. The
sentimental comic fantasy "Almost An Angel" (1990), in which he played
a burglar slain during a heroic act and given a chance to redeem his soul, was
a commercial disappointment. The genial Western comedy "Lightning Jack"
(1994) also failed to register at the box-office. Hogan took a different tack
with the family picture "Flipper" (1996), sharing the spotlight with
the teen-aged former child star Elijah Wood and a remarkable sea-going mammal.
Hogan was well cast as the colorful bohemian uncle to whom the youth is sent
to spend the summer.