The beloved croc from Crocodile Dundee has passed away, so Daily Star has looked at the dramatic lives of the other stars of the classic 1986 film, starring Paul Hogan
The famous crocodile that appeared in Crocodile Dundee has died.
Burt, the 5.1-metre and 700kg reptile that featured in the iconic 1986 movie has passed away peacefully at his home in Darwin, Australia. The saltwater croc was said to be over 90 years old.
Crocosaurus Cove, the crocodile park and aquarium that had kept Burt since 2008, announced the news of his death. They declared it was an “end of an incredible era” as they paid tribute to the animal.
In a statement on their Facebook page, they wrote: “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Burt, the iconic Saltwater crocodile and star of the Australian classic Crocodile Dundee. Burt passed away peacefully over the weekend, estimated to be over 90 years old, marking the end of an incredible era.”
Daily Star has looked at what happened to the other stars of Australia’s highest-grossing film of all time. And it turns out the stars of the hit have endured a lot of struggles.
Paul Hogan as Michael J. “Crocodile” Dundee
Paul Hogan played outback adventurer Michael ‘Crocodile’ Dundee in the beloved movie. He poked fun at his famed role in 2016, joking he was a “one-hit wonder” as he received the Longford Lyell Award for an outstanding contribution to Aussie cinema.
Hogan wrote and starred in the less successful sequel, Crocodile Dundee II, in 1988. He also appeared in two other films that didn’t reach the same success as the croc-bluster – Almost an Angel and the comedy Western Lightning Jack.
Hogan actually turned down the lead role in Ghost in order to make Almost An Angel, so it was late heartthrob Patrick Swayze who starred opposite Demi Moore in the hit supernatural movie. In 1996, Hogan starred alongside a young Elijah Wood in the film adaptation of Flipper.
In the early 1990s, a potential Crocodile Dundee and Beverly Hills Cop crossover was pitched by Paramount but nothing came of it. Paul also appeared in an advert for Fosters beer.
In 2001, Hogan finally reprised his famous role in Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, which wasn’t received well by critics. And in 2020, he appeared in The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee, in which he stars alongside late Greece star Olivia Newton-John.
Hogan has suffered divorces and financial woes in his personal life. Hogan’s first marriage was to Noelene Edwards, mother of his five children, in 1958.
The couple initially split in 1981, only to remarry less than a year later. And their second split in 1986 would be dubbed one of Australia’s ugliest celebrity divorces.
Hogan claimed the split from Noelene was nothing like what the media portrayed at the time. He told the Daily Telegraph: “The picture that was painted was five little kids hanging on the back gate while their Dad walked away, crying for him to come home, but the truth was they were mostly grown-ups,”
But he admitted he wasn’t the best partner. He added: “I’m not much of a partner … I’m good early on, but after 20 or 30 years or so they get sick of me”.
Hogan then tied the knot with his Crocodile Dundee co-star Linda Kozlowski in 1990 – the pair share their son Chance. In October 2013, Kozlowski filed for divorce from Hogan on grounds of irreconcilable differences, and a year later the divorce was settled.
For seven years between February 2003 and November 2010, Hogan was investigated by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for tax evasion and fraud. However, all charges were eventually dropped and he was cleared.
Hogan recently revealed he has had a pacemaker fitted and is too weak to open jars. The actor, who says he is “being held together by string”, suffers with retro peritoneal fibrosis, a benign growth that has pressed on his kidney.
He told A Current Affair: “[I’ve] been better. I had a problem on the aorta in the kidney and the treatment fixed it, but it shrunk me,’
“I just… I’ve lost all my body fat and the muscles all shrank and the strength has come back, because it left me feeble. I get Chance to open jars for me.”
Linda Kozlowski as Sue Charlton
Linda played reporter Sue Charlton, who is tasked with interviewing Mick Dundee, but she ends up falling in love with him. And it seems their chemistry spilled off screen too as Linda developed feelings for her co-star Paul, married at the time, during filming.
The former couple, with an 18-year age gap, walked down the aisle 1990 but divorced in 2014. Despite the split they appeared together again in Almost An Angel in 1990 and in 2021 sequel Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles.
Kozlowski – who was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role in Crocodile Dundee – eventually retired from Hollywood. In 2001, she spoke out about how working on “straight-to-video, schlocky films” was giving her “an ulcer”.
She told the Herald Journal: “I was about to turn 40 and just wanted to have a baby, and time was running out and I was miserable really, in the last two jobs I’d done.”
Kozlowski also revealed she’d suffered two heartbreaking losses due to AIDS. She said: “I lost a lot of friends to AIDS and my two closest friends in the whole world,”. She shared: “One of them, who I grew up with, was like a brother to me, died on my one-year anniversary to the day.
“That was a really hard period because my career wasn’t going well, I was being castigated in the press, I was nursing at least two of my closest friends who were the people that when things got rough, we would go and they would cheer me up. They suddenly weren’t there anymore.”
David Gulpilil as Neville “Nev” Bell
David Gulpilil, an Indigenous Australian and Yolŋu actor, was spotted by British filmmaker Nicolas Roeg, who gave him his first feature film role in Walkabout (1971). It was here that Gulpilil was first introduced to alcohol, which he struggled with throughout his life.
Known as one of Australia’s finest actors and a pioneer for Indigenous Australians in film, David won a lifetime achievement award at the 2019 NAIDOC Awards. Sadly, he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2017 and was unable to attend the ceremony.
Gulpilil died at his home in Murray Bridge, South Australia, on 29 November 2021. Following his death in November 2021, his family requested he be referred to as David Dalaithngu for a time. This was in line with Indigenous practices that avoid naming the deceased.
Gulpilil had multiple run-ins with the law and battled addiction issues following Crocodile Dundee, but he finally got sober in Berrimah Prison in Darwin.
The actor was sentenced to twelve months in prison after breaking his wife’s arm with a broom and being charged with aggravated assault. Alcohol had been cited as an issue that led to his domestic abuse charges.
John Meillon as Walter Reilly
John Meillon played Walter Reilly in Crocodile Dundee and its sequal, but he was already a star and was awarded an OBE for his contributions to theatre in 1979. His favourite local pub, The Oaks in Neutral Bay, even opened The John Meillon OBE Bar in his honour.
John was a regular at the pub, including on the week he tragically died at home in 1989 from cirrhosis, aged just 55. He shared one son with his wife, actress Bunny Gibson.
Mark Blum as Richard Mason
Mark played Sue’s nasty editor boyfriend Richard Mason in the film and his career catapulted as a result. He appeared in Lovesick and Blind Date, as well as in TV series such as Frasier, Succession and The West Wing.
Sadly, Blum died aged 69 in 2020 due to complications from coronavirus The season 3 premieres of You and Succession, as well as the second episode of the fifth season of Billions, were all dedicated in memory of Blum when they aired in the wake of his death.
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