The 'real' Crocodile Dundee dies in shoot-out with cops
Australian bushman inspiration for hit film
August 5, 1999
ASSOCIATED PRESS
DARWIN, Australia -- A rugged Australian rancher whose feats of survival in the outback inspired the movie character Crocodile Dundee was killed in a shootout with police, officials said Wednesday.
From a hiding place in bushes along a highway, Rodney Ansell, 44, ambushed and killed Sgt. Glen Huitson on Tuesday, police said. Another officer returned fire, killing Ansell during the confrontation, 30 miles south of the Northern Territory capital of Darwin.
Ansell's barefoot body was found with two high-powered rifles, police said.
The gunfight was a dramatic end for a man whose survival instincts and rough wilderness manner made him famous as a symbol of Australian toughness.
Ansell became a local hero in 1977 after his boat was swept out to sea and beached on a small, deserted island. He was stranded for two months with little more than a rifle and his two dogs. He survived by shooting sharks and wild buffalo for food and drinking their blood, since there was no potable water on the island.
Only a timely visit by an aboriginal tribe saved him. "You must believe me, it was not that big a deal," he told reporters.
His exploits were celebrated in his book and in a documentary film, both called "To Fight the Wild." In his book, Ansell wrote that the loneliness of his ordeal had not bothered him -- but he did miss female companionship.
Ansell's story captured the imagination of actor-writer Paul Hogan and inspired him, Ken Shadie and John Cornell to write a screenplay about an outback superstar. "Crocodile Dundee" became an international hit in 1986.
Much of the movie's humor about how an Australian bushman would react to life in the big city was inspired by Ansell's book tour in Sydney. He insisted on sleeping in his sleeping bag in the five-star Sebel Townhouse and was mystified by the bidet, a scene recreated in the movie, which was followed by a 1988 sequel.
Ansell, a crack shot and a tough bushman, was named the Northern Territory's 1988 Territorian of the Year for inspiring the film that put the Australian outback on the map.
But Ansell's fortunes fell sharply in the past decade. Financial difficulties forced him to sell his Melaleuca ranch in the early 1990s, the Australian Associated Press said. He blamed the Northern Territory government for not compensating him properly during a disease-eradication program that cost him 3,000 head of cattle.
He also reportedly was bitter that he never profited financially from the two movies he inspired.
In 1992, Ansell was convicted of stealing cattle and fined for assaulting another rancher.
On Monday night, police responded to reports that a man had fired shots at a local house, shooting off the index finger of one man and injuring another. Assistant police commissioner John Daulby said police now believe Ansell was responsible for that attack, although they don't know what provoked it.
About 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, two police officers were preparing to dismantle a roadblock that they had set up in hopes of capturing the unidentified attacker, when a motorist stopped to ask for directions.
Suddenly shots flew from the roadside, wounding the motorist in the back and piercing Huitson's bulletproof vest. His partner returned fire, killing Ansell.
The attack left police searching for a motive. "If this person wanted to ...escape he could have easily done that. He was a bushman," Daulby said.
