He helped put Australia on the map with his ‘shrimp on the barbie’ television adverts, and co-wrote and starred in the 1986 box office hit film Crocodile Dundee.
But as Paul Hogan prepares to release his autobiography, titled ‘The Tap Dancing Knife Thrower’, in November, he has admitted to feeling like he didn’t deserve his fame or wealth.
The 80-year-old told The Courier Mail on Thursday that he often expected someone to say, “What are you doing here? You’re just a bloody rigger”.
‘You’re just a bloody rigger!’ Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan, 80, admitted he often felt he didn’t deserve fame and wealth, as he prepares to release a no-holds barred autobiography
Paul, who grew up in Sydney’s Granville, added that ‘it’s about time’ he took a trip down memory lane.
‘Now that I’ve moved firmly into the fourth quarter, it’s about time I shared the stories behind the headlines and movie posters,’ he said.
‘Because, more often than not in my life, fact has been funnier, and certainly stranger, than fiction.’
To be released by HarperCollins Australia, the autobiography will detail the highs and lows of his life – professionally and personally.
Putting pen to paper: Paul, who grew up in Sydney’s Granville, also told The Courier Mail on Thursday that ‘it’s about time’ he took a trip down memory lane. Pictured with second ex-wife Linda Kozlowski in 1986 film Crocodile Dundee
Spotlight: Paul (right) was flung into the spotlight with The Paul Hogan Show, a series of ‘dated’ sketches poking fun at men’s behaviour
The larrikin Sydney Harbour Bridge rigger from the city’s west became an instant star in 1971 when he entered television talent show New Faces to make fun of the judges.
Then aged in his 30s, Paul’s natural ability as a comedian saw him quickly become a national celebrity with regular appearances on Mike Willesee’s A Current Affair.
Paul was further flung into the spotlight with The Paul Hogan Show, a series of ‘dated’ sketches poking fun at men’s behaviour.
With sidekicks John Cornell and Delvene Delaney, the trio admitted the ‘sexist’ segments would not have been aired today, but things were different in the 70s.
Paul said on ABC’s Australian Story in September: ‘The sketches were designed, not for you to perv on the girls, but to show what idiots we men can make of ourselves over an attractive woman.
Iconic: Paul is pictured carrying a crocodile in a bar in a scene from the film Crocodile Dundee, 1986
‘So it is a bit sexist, and I apologise to the men.’
It was when Hogan and John Cornell were overseas in London that he set his eyes on transforming Australia’s tourism landscape.
With an emphasis on ‘Gday’ and Australia’s golden shores, the pair embarked on sourcing the highest production quality for the commercials, to also be shown on prime-time television in America.
Back then: Paul starred in an ad campaign for Winfield cigarettes as his career took off in the 1970s
The advertisements are one of Australia’s most prominent tourism campaigns to this day.
Paul’s next goal was to crack the American movie industry, with his character Mike Dundee.
‘I just got bored of writing sketches. And I thought, ”I’d like to do something that lasts longer than four minutes”,’ Paul said on Australian Story.
Crocodile Dundee, which premiered in 1986, is an action comedy about an Australian crocodile poacher crossing paths with an American reporter.
The film made $508 million globally, earning Paul an Oscar nomination in 1987.
Humble beginnings: Born and bred in Sydney’s western suburbs, Paul shot to fame while working as a rigger on the Sydney Harbour Bridge