Love of an Icon: The Legend of Crocodile Dundee

Love is made of many magical memories.

For 46 years, I made magical memories with John,

the love of my life,

on this beautiful land.

When we lose a loved one,

we're left with a heart full of memories.

We pack those memories into boxes...

..but sometimes we choose to reopen them

because you never know what you might find.

- - And action!

It was just an infectiously good time.

We cared for each other and we had each other's backs.

The chemistry was palpable.

There was so much love on set.

For nearly 60 years,

John and Paul were business partners,

creative collaborators

and the very best of mates.

Two great Aussie blokes.

And at their peak, they made an iconic movie.

Michael J 'Crocodile' Dundee.

Two beers, Ide.

One for me and one for me mate.

Crocodile Dundee helped define

Australia's friendly identity on a global scale,

and it's still loved by millions.

I'm sorry if that frightened you, Miss.

Uh, you see, it's stuffed.

Him and me both, Wal.

But, recently, we nearly lost it forever.

The original negative was badly damaged.

To save the film, we had to restore it.

Victoria and I had to find all the elements

for the restoration process.

And in doing that,

opening John's boxes took on a much bigger purpose.

More than 200,000 individual frames

and millions of tiny flickers were delicately restored.

The result is stunning.

In John's boxes was a treasure trove.

Not only were there memories of our two successful hotels

and some very funny television shows,

but there was the business side of the film

that someone had to attend to.

And that someone became me.

Okay. Do you want to see what's in this with me?

Yeah, I do.

Together with Victoria,

we found all sorts of incredible things.

Rusty, old reels...

..storyboards,

scribbled-on scripts...

..transparencies

and so many photographs.

Oh!

Aw, mates.

This legacy was worth preserving,

not only for my husband, John,

but it's my legacy too,

to show our grandchildren what their grandmum got up to...

..and their granddad.

Ahh!

John's precious archive

reminded me of all the magical moments

making Crocodile Dundee.

The fun on set...

- -

..working with an excellent crew,

the best in the business.

I wondered why Croc was so successful,

why it became such an iconic film.

And why do so many people still love it so much?

I wanted to go back

to see to where it all began with John and Paul,

to see where those first sparks of magic happened.

I couldn't wait to see my old mate Paul.

So I just... I'm using the old mother's spits.

Oh, it's just spit and lick, is it?

And I've just had a vanilla slice.

- Oh, good. -It's really sticky!

I'll have ants crawling round my head. Jesus, Delly.

You won't have any bits sticking up, though.

Doesn't matter.

I was a rigger on the Harbour Bridge

and fortunately John Cornell came along at the right moment.

He was, like, the London editor of WA Newspapers

at, like, 22 or something,

and so he was far more worldly than I could imagine.

But we just hit it off.

He was a bit of a larrikin too. Changed my life.

I was producing A Current Affair's program,

the top current affairs program down there,

and I, in fact, had an idea that we needed

sort of a verbal cartoonist

in this current affairs program,

the equivalent of a newspaper cartoonist,

just to lighten it up a bit,

because news is usually bad news.

And... one of our reporters saw him on this talent quest.

It's Australia's New Faces.

I went on New Faces.

..in Sydney, Terry Dear!

I went on on a dare as a tap-dancing knife thrower

to take the mickey out of it,

and the switchboard lit up.

You know, and they said it burst into flames.

And so we tried him out as this verbal cartoonist

and he just... that was it, you know?

He just became an instant overnight success.

Hey, love. What do you think of daylight saving?

Daylight saving? Oh, I think it's marvellous.

I have three kiddies and my family use it all the time.

So I still worked on the bridge,

then swing by Channel Nine,

walk into the backyard in front of a camera,

do two minutes, give me some money, off I'd go.

Here's a caper for getting into the races. Now watch this.

Here's the gateman guarding the gate where you get out.

See? Now always walk backwards.

And they're never too sure which way you're going then.

Sidling along like this, mate.

Oh, excuse me, mate. Just coming out.

Yeah, done all me dough in the first race.

You know? Might as well go home.

Hello? Another quid here.

I might as well go back inside and see if I can invest that.

That's the way age beats inflation.

John was smart enough to realise

there seemed to be a lot more people watching on a Friday

when Paul did his piece on a weekly basis

than were watching at the start of the show.

So it was clear to him

that Australians were liking and loving him.

And that was a very big show.

The back of the Nine News and A Current Affair -

would've been getting a couple of million viewers.

-Hello, Mrs Universe. -Hello, Paul. Miss Universe.

I was doing one of me two-minute spots

on A Current Affair

and I said, "I know what I want to talk about.

"I need a mate that's a bit dopier than me, though."

And John used to do a bad impression

of Marlon Brando in The Godfather,

and it really sort of made me laugh.

Thus, Strop was born. He became my dopey offsider.

It's funny, 'cause he played it.

That's what's so unusual about him.

He was a good-looking guy and very smart,

but he was quite happy to play this dopey,

distorted-faced virgin on television, you know.

So there was no vanity involved whatsoever,

In here, cobber. It's me old mate Strop.

G'day, mate. Singers, eh?

Hello, viewers, me and Hoges abroad overseas.

Good stuff, eh?

This is the happiest moment of my life.

He was the brains of the outfit.

Right from the start, John said, you know,

"We're going into show business.

"You do the show, I'll do the business.

"All those crazy thoughts you have, put 'em down on paper."

And, well... he was right.

They didn't know what else to do with me.

They were mumbling about, "Oh, maybe have a quiz show

"and have him as the compere or something?"

But then John said, "No, you've got to have your own show."

R30-25, The Paul Hogan Special,

replay to be advised.

[soaring orchestral theme music plays]

[audience cheering and whistling]

- -G'day.

If you're wondering why I'm dolled up

like a sore toe tonight

instead of wearing me usual gear,

it's because the control board

has banned me usual gear from the show.

You see, they come to rehearsal and they found out

that when I sit on a stool like this,

the people in the first three rows of the studio audience

and anyone at home laying on the floor could see straight up

-the leg of me shorts. -

I'd been working in television for about 20 years

before I met them -

you know, right from moving scenery around

to doing a lot of very major specials

in Tonight Shows, et cetera.

Well, one day when I was at work

at Channel Nine in Melbourne,

I got a telephone call from Kerry Packer,

and he said, "Do you know John Cornell?"

I said, "No, I don't."

He said, "Well, they want to work with you."

And as a result of that,