People

By Guy D. Garcia

He is equally adept at prying open a wild croc or a can of Foster's. But ask Paul Hogan how he feels about the success of his first film, "Crocodile" Dundee, and he's likely to sound like the laid-back grandpa he is rather than the hottest actor to come up from Down Under since Mel Gibson got his driver's license. "We're doing real well," deadpans the self-described former pub lout. "And I'm feelin' real well." Bet you are, mate. The story of a crocodile poacher who trades the dangers of the Australian Outback for the perils of Manhattan's urban jungle, Dundee was already the top-grossing film in Australian history when it opened in the U.S. For the past six weeks, it has been the No. 1 box-office attraction in the U.S. (over $62 million so far). Hogan, 46, who lives with his wife and three of their five children in a Sydney suburb, was an all-round master of no trade until he caught on in 1972 as a comedian on Australian TV. Previously best known to Americans as Australian tourism's charming shill ("G'day"), he wrote Dundee and put up money to help make it. So what's next? Offers are pouring in from everywhere, and of course he's working on "Crocodile" II. G'day indeed. Just now, his days are bloody marvelous.