Jack Karlson was many things; father, safe cracker, serial escape artist and natural-born actor.

But he will be mostly remembered as an Australian icon – and our biggest fan of a “succulent Chinese meal”.

Karlson died aged 82 this week, surrounded by loved ones after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

His family pinned the main cause of death on systemic inflammatory response syndrome.

He lived his final weeks in hospital as he had lived much of his life, full of mischief.

Niece Kim Edwards said Karlson made a few escape attempts, and asked his family to sneak his pipe into the hospital.

“He walked a full and colourful path and, despite the troubles thrown at him, he lived by his motto – to keep on laughing,” Karlson’s family said in statement.

Karlson’s lasting imprint on Australian culture came after footage of his 1991 arrest outside a Chinese restaurant was uploaded to the internet in 2009.

His grandiose protestations as several police officers attempted to force him into a car, including “Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest,” and “What is the charge? Eating a meal? A succulent Chinese meal?”, became instant viral memes.

Karlson’s arrest has since become a mainstay of Australian pop culture, referenced in everything from shows such as Heartbreak High, to horse racing and apparel design.

Who was Mr Democracy Manifest?

Karlson led an eventful life, but any tidbits he let slip might need to be taken with generous pinch of salt.

In fact, Jack Karlson may not be his real name; he used several aliases throughout his life, including Cecil George Edwards, the name he was infamously arrested under in 1991.

But while his memory will live on in good humour, he was the product of a painful past.

Karlson reportedly grew up poor, and had been abused physically and sexually during his childhood.

He was first sent to a boys’ home around age seven or eight, and began spending time with adult criminals as a teenager.

“My father’s name was Alphonsus Hitler and my mother’s name was Eva Braun,” he told writer Mark Dapin while being interviewed for the latter’s novel, Carnage.

As an adult, Karlson accrued a long list of criminal acts to whichever name he happened to be using at the time, mainly around breaking, entering and stealing charges.

He successfully escaped police custody multiple times.

A transcript of the arrest that made Jack Karlson famous. Source: TND/YouTube/Anorak/7 News Australia

Karlson’s first documented escape was in 1966, when he managed to remove his cuffs and jump off a moving train in a scene that seems taken straight from an action flick.

Two years later, after he had been locked up in McLeod Prison Farm on Victoria’s French Island for a theft, he convinced a local fisherman to take him to the mainland.

Three months after that, he was caught in Parramatta with a stolen car and carrying safe-breaking tools.

While awaiting trial, Karlson managed to pull off an escape by impersonating a detective and walking out of his court cell.

His lucky run ended when he was finally captured and sentenced to eight years in Parramatta Gaol, but he made the best of a bad situation by bonding with cellmate, armed robber Jim McNeil.

Together, they wrote and performed plays in the prison, which became so popular the pair were released on parole early.

Karlson and McNeil remained close on the outside and continued to produce creative works; Karlson reportedly named his son Jim McNeil Karlson.

Unfortunately, McNeil lost his battle with alcoholism and died in 1982.

Karlson told ABC he was unable to attend the funeral for legal reasons, but used a fake identity to book hundreds of dollars worth of flowers and wreaths.

He also suffered another tragic loss with the murder of his wife, Eve, who was shot dead after reportedly helping her ex-boyfriend, convicted double killer Barry Quinn, escape custody.

Arrest that made a legend

In 1991, several Queensland police officers descended on Brisbane’s China Sea Restaurant to arrest Karlson for allegedly paying for meals with stolen credit cards.

Despite the efforts put into his dramatic capture, Karlson was quickly released from custody mere hours after his arrest.

In the decades since the arrest, Karlson maintained his innocence and insisted the matter was a case of “mistaken identity”.

When questioned by ABC over whether he was performing for the cameras filming his arrest, Karlson said he couldn’t remember his motivations – but he admitted he had probably made up his shouted allegations of police touching his genitals.

A documentary about Karlson’s life,  The Man Who Ate A Succulent Chinese Meal, is set for release in March.

The documentary’s director, Heath Davis, told The Guardian he was drawn to Karlson’s “performance” from the moment he first saw the arrest air on the news as a child.

“The best actors that I’ve encountered are people who’ve lived life,” he says.

“And nobody that I’ve ever encountered in my 46 years has lived life like Jack Karlson.”