On the same day that the New York City medical examiner's office declared late heartthrob Heath Ledger's death an accidental overdose of prescription medicine, word has come that Australian actor Paul Hogan has gone into hiding.

"My friends keep saying that deaths always come in threes, and after Steve Irwin's death and now Heath Ledger's, I just want to play it safe," Hogan said in a statement released through his local bartender, who also serves as his manager and agent.

While other patrons at the New South Wales bar were tight-lipped regarding Hogan's whereabouts, one customer told a set of reporters, who happened to be in the bar for a retirement party, that no one had seen the actor since Monday evening.

"He loaded up his Subaru Outback with knives, crocodile skins, and beer, and just took off, mate," said Bryan Brown, an actor himself who appeared in such films as Cocktail and F/X. "I don't know why. If anyone is going to be the third death, it'll be me."