John Cornell and his ‘discovery’ Paul Hogan
Image: abc.net.au
Iconic Australian television personality John ‘Strop’ Cornell has died at the age of 80 after battling Parkinson’s Disease for decades.
Those if us of a certain age will remember the classic, understated anti-hero who played the straight man to Paul Hogan’s larger than life funnyman.
Although best remembered as the dim-witted lifesaver, Cornell was the brains behind the whole Hogan story and enterprise, an astute, savvy operator who was also a part of the Kerry Packer-inspired World Series Cricket.
But he’ll always be ‘Strop’ to many of us.
RIP John Cornell.
Read a short biography of John Cornell here.
Read Andrew Webster’s tribute to John Cornell in The Sydney Morning Herald here.
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Great skit. Comedy from another time and still funny 45 years later. He led an interesting life. Vale.
RIP, Strop.
He did the sea-change to Byron before it became trendy.
Like Arthur Millers Eddie, I grieve for him with a certain alarm.
Just the World Series Cricket fiasco and the division it caused for a generation of cricketers gives me pause. But anyone who was best mates with Kerry Packer, and who always did the Titan’s bidding, well, not so sold on his legacy…
However, condolences to his family.
Strop so much of my childhood/teenage years. Many great nights watching his performances as the ‘thick as a brick’ life saver alongside ‘Hoges’.
‘Thick as a brick’ he certainly wasn’t. Did well at school, with Economics and English his areas of excellence. A man with a penchant for making a $$. Like George Smith, I recall the company he kept, also him and Paul Hogan’s long running tussle with the ATO.
Great comedy character, Strop, but I’ll reserve my judgement on John Cornell.
Glen!
Every time I saw him with Delvene Delaney he gave my awkward nerdy late teenage disposition hope for similar juxtapositions with others.
RIP Strop.
RDL
Legend.
A life spent with Delvene is some sort of life.