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Q: Is Crocodile Dundee based on a real person?

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Author: 
Adam Thomlison / TV Media

Paul Hogan's loveably unpolished Crocodile Dundee character, the centerpiece of the Oscar-nominated 1986 film of the same name, and its somewhat disappointing 1988 sequel (not to mention its totally forgotten third installment, 2001's "Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles"), is indeed based on a real guy. His story is a lot less comedic, though.

Rodney Ansell's story is more like a tragedy, and not only for him.

He was a hero in 1977, when he survived for nearly two months on a deserted, crocodile-infested island, after his boat capsized nearby.

He ceased to be a hero when, in 1999, he died in a shootout with police, after going on a gun rampage that left one officer dead. The official reports after his death said that he'd long been addicted to various drugs, which drove him to the paranoia that led to his violent spree on Aug. 2, 1999.

This, of course, was more than a decade after "Crocodile Dundee" became a worldwide hit. Hogan, who starred in the film and wrote the script, was inspired by Ansell's autobiography, "To Fight the Wild," in which he said that the isolation of his ordeal on the island didn't bother him, except that he missed the company of women.

From that came the story of Hogan's Mick Dundee, a rough man from the Australian outback, who is taken in hand by a high-society journalist (played by Linda Kozlowski) from New York City. Love prevails over their disparate backgrounds.

 

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