Whatever happened to…

MANY OF THOSE WHO WERE ONCE SO FAMILIAR HAVE DROPPED FROM THE PUBLIC LANDSCAPE OVER THE YEARS, BUT CHANGES IN CAREERS HAVE OPENED NEW DOORS AND A REWARDING LIFESTYLE TO THOSE LOOKING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Words: JILL ECKERSLEY

Paul Hogan

Paul Hogan achieved worldwide fame in 1986 with his performance as the archetypal Aussie in the smashhit film, Crocodile Dundee. He had been successful in his native country before that, having appeared on the New Faces, claiming to be a tap-dancing knife-thrower! After that, he got his own TV show. He also appeared in many television ads, becoming a familiar face on British TV advertising Foster’s lager and giving beer-lovers a whole new vocabulary including “the amber nectar”. He co-wrote the script Crocodile Dundee and its tremendous success took him to the USA where he has lived since 2005. He continued to work in films, including the 1988 and 2001 sequels to Crocodile but became concerned at the level of violence, saying that “Mick (Dundee) was a good role model…he’s not a wimp just because he doesn't kill people!”

In the past few years Paul has had increasing health problems, having a heart pacemaker fitted and also kidney issues. He often says he would like to return to Australia. His country gave him a special award in 2016 for services to the Australian screen. So far, however, he has stayed in the States to be close to his son Chance by his second marriage to co-star Linda Kozlowski. Although he agrees he has had a gifted life, he admits that he still feels homesick for the friendly and laid-back lifestyle Down Under.

New York-born singer and songwriter Billy Joel will always be “Mr Piano Man”, named for his major international hit from 1973. He had piano lessons from the age of four, and dropped out of High School after watching the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 – apparently he decided then and there that he wanted to be in a rock ‘n’ roll band. He played in several local groups in the sixties but it was really when he began writing his own songs –like Always a Woman and Still Rock ’n’ Roll To Me – that the hits started coming. And they have never stopped. He has now sold more than 160 million records worldwide and toured everywhere, including a visit to the Soviet Union in 1987.

In the nineties he played several worldwide ‘tandem tours’ alongside fellow ‘piano man’ Elton John. The pair are firm friends and Billy says that their joint concerts are always fun. He continued to tour and make records in the new century until Covid put a temporary end to them, but he now has dates booked in the USA for this year.

He owns two homes in New York where he lives with his fourth wife and two young daughters; he also has a daughter by his second wife, model Christie Brinkley. He was recently planning to write an autobiography but decided against it, claiming that: “the best expression of my life is in my music!”