Whatever Happened to Wally from Crocodile Dundee? the True Story of John Meillon
In Peter Faiman’s 1986 original film, Walter Reilly serves as the audience’s bridge into the wild Northern Territory. Wally operates Never Never Safaris, exaggerating Dundee's crocodile encounters to drum up international headlines. When Linda Kozlowski’s Sue Charlton arrives in the Northern Territory, Wally orchestrates the pub stunts, pretends to get punched across a bar table, and acts as the world-weary hype man for Hogan’s quiet bushman.
The role worked because Meillon played Wally completely straight. He did not treat the character as a cartoon caricature. Instead, Wally was a pragmatic small-town hustler who was genuinely fond of his wild partner. When the production team reassembled for Crocodile Dundee II in 1988, Meillon reprised the role with equal warmth, this time holding down the fort back in Walkabout Creek while Mick and Sue tangled with cartels in New York. The sequel grossed nearly $240 million worldwide, cementing Wally’s status as a household name across North America and Europe.
