In 1988, an unknown bloke with a strange name from Australia’s coal-mining heartland became the toast of Hollywood.
Yahoo Serious blazed to international success with his film Young Einstein – which he directed and starred in – making $20 million at the box office.
His professional relationship with his movie-making collaborator Lulu Pinkus – herself an acclaimed Australian actress and artist – had blossomed into romance. They married in 1989.
Yahoo was on top of the world, with US media describing him as ‘the next big thing from Down Under’.
Which makes it all the more shocking that almost 40 years later, he is understood to be homeless in Sydney after being evicted for illegally squatting in a Palm Beach mansion.
The 72-year-old was forced to flee with his Jack Russell terrier Jingle after police were called to help his landlord kick him out last Tuesday.
Serious left an array of items behind in his ageing BMW sedan, which lies abandoned outside the Barrenjoey Road home, including a box of Jingle’s medication, Ugg boots, a length of rope, an esky, and a cooking pan.
It’s understood he may still be on the city’s northern beaches, given his longtime affinity for the area.
Yahoo Serious has not been seen since he was kicked out of the home he was squatting in
Yahoo and his wife, actress Lulu, were pictured together at a Sydney red carpet in 2006
Serious shot to stardom in his debut movie, Young Einstein, in 1988
Serious was born Greg Pead in Cardiff, NSW, but changed his name via deed poll in 1980
In much better times, the then Mr and Mrs Serious owned a stunning house on Norma Road, which overlooked the postcard-perfect biscuit-coloured sands of Palm and Whale beaches.
The four-bedroom, three-bathroom home featured a pool with a stunning vista over the Pacific Ocean, which the couple sold in 2011 for $3.1 million.
It’s now estimated to be worth $5.8 million.
Ms Pinkus and Serious split in 2007, after working together on Einstein, Reckless Kelly (1993) and Mr Accident (2000).
On his website, Yahoo described Lulu as ‘My partner in everything. She is an extremely versatile artist. Lulu works so silently that few people are aware that every character and every scene is so enriched by her critical eye and deft touch.’
They divorced in 2010. It’s not known why they split, but it appears to mark the beginning of Serious’ downward spiral.
Ms Pinkus has fared far better since the divorce, moving to a waterfront apartment overlooking Sydney’s Double Bay, which she bought for $1.5 million in 2011.
Today, it would be worth around $2.9 million.
Serious had the world at his feet during his skyrocketing fame – seen here in 1993
He once lived on Palm Beach’s Norma Road, with stunning views over the Pacific Ocean
Post-divorce, he moved to Avalon Beach and bought puppy Jingle (pictured 2017)
She was not at home when Daily Mail approached her for comment on Tuesday.
Serious, apparently attached to the northern beaches, rented an apartment in Avalon, which he was evicted from in 2020 for not paying rent – and was ordered to pay his landlord $15,000 in arrears.
Not long after, he was homeless and living out of his car with his dog at Palm Beach, using its public shower block for his ablutions, when kindhearted local Margie Charlton took pity on the ageing former star.
She told the Daily Mail in June that she invited him to live in the granny flat at the home of Palm Beach resident Charles Phillip Porter, for whom she held power of attorney.
Ms Charlton, who lived in nearby Avalon, explained that while she took care of Mr Porter’s cooking and cleaning, she wanted someone around to keep an eye on her ageing charge when she wasn’t there.
She said it was made clear to Serious that the offer only stood until Mr Porter was moved to a nursing home when his dementia advanced so far that living in his mansion was no longer feasible.
She would then need Serious to vacate the property so she could sell it to help with Mr Porter’s care.
But when the time came, Serious not only refused to leave – he had moved from the basement into the main house.
Serious was accused of squatting at Charles Porter’s Barrenjoey Road mansion this year
He and Jingle have since fled the property after he was evicted by the courts
The actor’s BMW sedan remains at the property, filled with his belongings
This kick-started an ugly battle between Serious and Ms Charlton in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, which came to a head earlier this month.
Serious was ordered to leave by August 4, and after an altercation between him and Ms Charlton on August 5 – in which he claimed she was being violent, which Ms Charlton vehemently denies – police turfed him out.
In the days before his eviction, Serious claimed he was not squatting, but ‘surviving’.
It is understood he has been receiving treatment for Lymphoma, and indeed in the past year has appeared a shadow of his former self.
‘I’m greatly improving, I was very close to death very recently … I just, I’m coming good but I’m having trouble with just, recall of day to day things,’ he said during his tribunal appearance.
In 2016, he underwent debilitating hip surgery.
A quirky website yahooserious.com, registered to Serious in 2000 – the same year he tried and failed to sue the search engine Yahoo! for trademark infringement -provides an insight into his chaotic mind.
After growing up as Greg Pead in NSW’s Cardiff, near Newcastle, he explained on his site why he changed his name by deed poll in 1980.
When he was pictured in March, Serious appeared unwell. He is said to have lymphoma
In 1990, he had the makings of a Hollywood heartthrob and was described as the next big thing
‘Each day there are a million choices to be made starting with what you put on your toast. You’re born with a name but so what?’ he said.
‘You can choose every other aspect of your life, so why not your name?’
In an undated interview posted to his site, Serious said he sees himself as, ‘Nasty, untrustworthy, rude, unreliable, and childish’.
A perhaps foreboding sentence uttered years before he left a trail of furious landlords in his wake.
Now, grave fears are held for Serious and his dog Jingle’s wellbeing.
When he was forced to leave the Barrenjoey Road home, Sydney was suffering through days of cold rainstorms.
Neighbours did not know where the fallen Hollywood star and his faithful dog went after being kicked out, and his car remained untouched a week after the eviction.
A Daily Mail search of the Palm Beach area – where he once enjoyed prime position in the home he shared with Lulu – turned up no sign of Serious or Jingle.
