Chips Rafferty
Encyclopedia
Chips Rafferty MBE  was an iconic Australian actor. Called "the living symbol of the typical Australian", Rafferty's career stretched from the 1940s until his death in 1971, and during this time he performed regularly in major Australian feature films as well as appearing in British and American productions. He appeared in commercials in Britain during the late 1950s, encouraging British emigration to Australia.

Early life

He was born John William Pilbean Goffage in Broken Hill, New South Wales
Broken Hill, New South Wales
-Geology:Broken Hill's massive orebody, which formed about 1,800 million years ago, has proved to be among the world's largest silver-lead-zinc mineral deposits. The orebody is shaped like a boomerang plunging into the earth at its ends and outcropping in the centre. The protruding tip of the...

 to John Goffage, an English-born stock agent, and Australian-born Violet Maude Joyce. Gaining the nickname "Chips" as a school boy, Rafferty studied at Parramatta Commercial High School before working in a variety of jobs, including opal miner, sheep shearer, drover, airman and pearl diver before making his film debut in Ants in His Pants in 1938. At that time he was managing a wine cellar in Bond St, Sydney.

Film career

Rafferty's onscreen image as a lanky, laconic bushman struck a chord with film goers and Rafferty soon became the most popular actor in Australia, appearing in such films as Forty Thousand Horsemen
Forty Thousand Horsemen
Forty Thousand Horsemen is a 1940 Australian war film directed by Charles Chauvel. The film tells the story of the Australian Light Horse cavalry which operated in the desert at the Sinai and Palestine Campaign during World War I. It follows the adventures of three rowdy heroes in fighting and...

, The Rats of Tobruk
The Rats of Tobruk (1944 film)
The Rats of Tobruk is a 1944 Australian film directed by Charles Chauvel. The film follows three drover friends who enlist in the Australian Army together during World War II. Their story is based on the siege of the Libyan city of Tobruk in North Africa by Rommel's Afrika Korps...

, The Overlanders
The Overlanders (film)
The Overlanders is a 1946 Australian-British film about drovers droving a large herd of cattle 1600 miles overland from Wyndham in Western Australia through the Northern Territory outback of Australia to pastures north of Brisbane, Queensland during World War II.The film was one of several produced...

and Eureka Stockade
Eureka Stockade (film)
Eureka Stockade is a 1949 British film of the story surrounding Peter Lalor and the gold miners' rebellion of 1854 at the Eureka Stockade in Ballarat, Victoria...

.

Rafferty married Ellen Kathleen "Quentin" Jameson on 28 May 1941, He enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force
Royal Australian Air Force
The Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...

 the next day and entertained troops. He was discharged on 13 February 1945, having reached the rank of Flying Officer.

Hollywood also beckoned, and Rafferty appeared in American fare like The Desert Rats
The Desert Rats (film)
The Desert Rats is a 1953 American war film about the World War II siege of Tobruk. It stars Richard Burton and was directed by Robert Wise.-Plot:...

, opposite Richard Burton
Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...

; The Sundowners
The Sundowners
The Sundowners is a 1960 film that tells the story of an Australian outback family torn between the father's desires to continue his nomadic sheep-herding ways and the wife's and son's desire to settle down in one place...

, with Robert Mitchum
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...

 and Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr, CBE was a Scottish film and television actress from Glasgow. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which she originated on Broadway, a Golden Globe Award for the motion picture The King and I, and was a three-time...

; and Mutiny on the Bounty
Mutiny on the Bounty (1962 film)
Mutiny on the Bounty is a 1962 film starring Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard based on the novel Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. The film retells the 1789 real-life mutiny aboard HMAV Bounty led by Fletcher Christian against the ship's captain, William Bligh...

, with Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...

. The most bizarre appearance was with Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

 in Double Trouble in 1967. Initially, Rafferty was marketed in the United States as the Australian version of Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...

 before being allowed to resume playing variations of the leathery bushman role that had served him well thus far.

Rafferty also produced and wrote films for a production company, Southern International, which he founded in 1953, although none of these reached the same level of popularity as those he appeared in for other companies. These included producing The Phantom Stockman
The Phantom Stockman
The Phantom Stockman is a 1953 Australian western film written and directed by Lee Robinson and starring Chips Rafferty, Victoria Shaw, Max Osbiston and Guy Doleman.-Synopsis:...

, producing and writing the original screenplay for King of the Coral Sea
King of the Coral Sea
King of the Coral Sea is a 1954 film starring Chips Rafferty and Charles Tingwell, directed by Lee Robinson and shot on location in Thursday Island.-Synopsis:...

(1953), producing and providing the original story for Walk Into Paradise
Walk Into Paradise
Walk Into Paradise is a 1956 Australian adventure film directed by Lee Robinson and Marcello Pagliero shot on location in the highlands of Papua New Guinea....

(1956) and producing Dust in the Sun
Dust in the Sun
Dust in the Sun is a 1958 Australian mystery film adapted from a novel by Jon Cleary and produced by the team of Lee Robinson and Chips Rafferty.-Synopsis:...

(1958) and the Ambitious One (1959).

In addition to his film work, Rafferty also guest starred in a range of Australian and American television shows, including Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....

, The Stranger
The Stranger (Australian TV series)
The Stranger was an Australian science fiction television series made for children and produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...

, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo is an Australian television series for children created by John McCallum, produced from 1966–1968, telling the adventures of a young boy and his intelligent pet kangaroo, in the Waratah National Park in Duffys Forest, near Sydney, New South Wales.Ninety-one 30-minute...

, Tarzan, The Monkees
The Monkees (TV series)
The Monkees is an American situation comedy that aired on NBC from September 1966 to March 1968. The series follows the adventures of four young men trying to make a name for themselves as rock 'n roll singers. The show introduced a number of innovative new-wave film techniques to series...

and The Wackiest Ship in the Army
The Wackiest Ship in the Army (TV series)
The Wackiest Ship in the Army is an American comedy series that aired for one season on NBC between September 19, 1965, and April 17, 1966. Produced by Harry Ackerman and Herbert Hirschman, the series is loosely based on the 1960 film starring Jack Lemmon and Ricky Nelson.-Synopsis:The series is...

(as a different character to the role that he played in the movie version).

He also participated in cinema advertisements that were part of an Australian Government campaign in 1957 called: "Bring out a Briton". The campaign was launched by the government in a bid to increase the number of British migrants settling in Australia.

In 1962, he was attacked by a gang of thugs near his flat in London and was taken to hospital to be treated for his injuries.

Rafferty's final film role was in 1971's Wake in Fright
Wake in Fright
Wake in Fright is a 1971 Australian film directed by Ted Kotcheff and starring Gary Bond, Donald Pleasence and Chips Rafferty. The screenplay was written by Evan Jones, based on Kenneth Cook’s 1961 novel of the same name....

, where he played an outback policeman. (The movie was filmed mainly in and around Rafferty's home town of Broken Hill.) In a review of the film, a critic praised Rafferty's performance, writing that he "exudes an unnerving intensity with a deceptively menacing and disturbing performance that ranks among the best of his career".

Hours before he died, Rafferty was offered a prominent role in the film The Day the Clown Cried
The Day the Clown Cried
The Day the Clown Cried is an unfinished and unreleased 1972 film directed by and starring Jerry Lewis. It is based on a script of the same name by Joan O'Brien, who had co-written the original script with Charles Denton 10 years previously. The film was met with controversy regarding its premise...

by Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...

.

Death

Rafferty collapsed and died of a heart attack while walking down a Sydney street at the age of 62 shortly after completing his role in Wake in Fright
Wake in Fright
Wake in Fright is a 1971 Australian film directed by Ted Kotcheff and starring Gary Bond, Donald Pleasence and Chips Rafferty. The screenplay was written by Evan Jones, based on Kenneth Cook’s 1961 novel of the same name....

. His wife Quentin predeceased him in 1964 and they had no children.

Honours

In the 1971 New Years' Honours, Rafferty was made a Member of the Order of British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to the performing arts. Australia Post
Australia Post
Australia Post is the trading name of the Australian Government-owned Australian Postal Corporation .-History:...

 issued a stamp in 1974 that depicted Rafferty in recognition of his work in Australian cinema, and in March 2006, Broken Hill City Council announced that the town's Entertainment Centre would be named in honour of Rafferty.

The Oxford Companion to Australian Film refers to Rafferty as "Australia's most prominent and significant actor of the 1940s–60s".

Australian singer/songwriter Richard Davies (musician)
Richard Davies (musician)
Richard Davies is an Australian-American musician. He first came to prominence in the Australian band the Moles. Upon moving to the United States, Davies joined with Eric Matthews to form Cardinal, whose debut , Cardinal, was released by Flydaddy in 1994...

 wrote a song titled "Chips Rafferty" for his album "There's Never Been A Crowd Like This".

Associations

He was also a talented artist, and as "Long John Goffage" was a leading light of the Black and White Artists' Club .

He was a Freemason http://www.freemasonrysaust.org.au/freemason.html#famous.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1939
1939 in film
The year 1939 in motion pictures can be justified as being called the most outstanding one ever, when it comes to the high quality and high attendance at the large set of the best films that premiered in the year .- Events :Motion picture historians and film often rate...

 
Come Up Smiling
Come Up Smiling
Come Up Smiling is a 1939 Australian comedy starring popular US stage comedian Will Mahoney.-Synopsis:Barney O'Hara is a performer in a touring carnival who tries to raise money to save the voice of his talented singer daughter Pat Come Up Smiling is a 1939 Australian comedy starring popular US...

Man in Crowd (uncredited) Film also known as Ants in His Pants
1940
1940 in film
The year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney classics Pinocchio and Fantasia.-Events:*February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released....

 
Dad Rudd, MP
Dad Rudd, MP
Dad Rudd, M.P. is a 1940 comedy that was the last of four films made by Ken G. Hall starring Bert Bailey as Dad Rudd. It was the last feature film directed by Hall prior to the war and the last made by Cinesound Productions, Bert Bailey and Frank Harvey....

Fireman
Forty Thousand Horsemen
Forty Thousand Horsemen
Forty Thousand Horsemen is a 1940 Australian war film directed by Charles Chauvel. The film tells the story of the Australian Light Horse cavalry which operated in the desert at the Sinai and Palestine Campaign during World War I. It follows the adventures of three rowdy heroes in fighting and...

Jim
1944
1944 in film
The year 1944 in film involved some significant events, including the wholesome, award-winning Going My Way plus popular murder mysteries such as Double Indemnity, Gaslight and Laura.-Events:*July 20 - Since You Went Away is released....

 
The Rats of Tobruk
The Rats of Tobruk (1944 film)
The Rats of Tobruk is a 1944 Australian film directed by Charles Chauvel. The film follows three drover friends who enlist in the Australian Army together during World War II. Their story is based on the siege of the Libyan city of Tobruk in North Africa by Rommel's Afrika Korps...

Milo Trent
1946
1946 in film
The year 1946 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*November 21 - William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives premieres in New York featuring an ensemble cast including Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell.*December 20 - Frank Capra's It's a...

 
The Overlanders
The Overlanders (film)
The Overlanders is a 1946 Australian-British film about drovers droving a large herd of cattle 1600 miles overland from Wyndham in Western Australia through the Northern Territory outback of Australia to pastures north of Brisbane, Queensland during World War II.The film was one of several produced...

Dan McAlpine
1947
1947 in film
The year 1947 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 22 - Great Expectations is premiered in New York.*November 24 : The United States House of Representatives of the 80th Congress voted 346 to 17 to approve citations for contempt of Congress against the "Hollywood Ten".*November 25...

 
Bush Christmas
Bush Christmas (1947 film)
Bush Christmas is a 1947 Australian-British comedy film directed by Ralph Smart. The plot concerns a group of bush children set off to recover a missing mare that has been stolen by some horse thieves....

Long Bill
The Loves of Joanna Godden
The Loves of Joanna Godden
The Loves of Joanna Godden is a 1947 British historical drama film directed by Charles Frend and produced by Michael Balcon. The screenplay was written by H E Bates and Angus McPhail from the novel by Sheila Kaye-Smith. It stars Googie Withers, Jean Kent, John McCallum, Derek Bond, Chips Rafferty...

Collard
1949
1949 in film
The year 1949 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:*Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello...

 
Eureka Stockade
Eureka Stockade (film)
Eureka Stockade is a 1949 British film of the story surrounding Peter Lalor and the gold miners' rebellion of 1854 at the Eureka Stockade in Ballarat, Victoria...

Peter Lalor
Peter Lalor
Peter Fintan Lalor was an activist turned politician who rose to fame for his leading role in the Eureka Rebellion, an event controversially identified with the "birth of democracy" in Australia.- Early life and migration to Australia :...

 
Released as Massacre Hill in the United States.
1950
1950 in film
The year 1950 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 15 - Walt Disney Studios' animated film Cinderella debuts.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:*Ambush...

 
Bitter Springs
Bitter Springs (film)
Bitter Springs is a 1950 Australian-British film directed by Ralph Smart. An Australian pioneer family buy a piece of land from the government in the Australian outback and hire two inexperienced British men as drovers...

Wally King
1952
1952 in film
The year 1952 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 10 - Cecil B. DeMille's circus epic, The Greatest Show on Earth, premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York City....

 
Kangaroo
Kangaroo (1952 film)
Kangaroo is a 1952 American film directed by Lewis Milestone.The film is also known as The Australian Story .- Plot summary :...

Trooper 'Len' Leonard
1953
1953 in film
The year 1953 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*September 16 — The Robe debuts as the first anamorphic, widescreen CinemaScope film.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:A...

 
The Desert Rats
The Desert Rats (film)
The Desert Rats is a 1953 American war film about the World War II siege of Tobruk. It stars Richard Burton and was directed by Robert Wise.-Plot:...

Sgt. 'Blue' Smith
The Phantom Stockman
The Phantom Stockman
The Phantom Stockman is a 1953 Australian western film written and directed by Lee Robinson and starring Chips Rafferty, Victoria Shaw, Max Osbiston and Guy Doleman.-Synopsis:...

The Sundowner Rafferty also produced and helped write the script. Released in the United States as Return of the Plainsman.
King of the Coral Sea
King of the Coral Sea
King of the Coral Sea is a 1954 film starring Chips Rafferty and Charles Tingwell, directed by Lee Robinson and shot on location in Thursday Island.-Synopsis:...

Ted King Rafferty also produced and helped write the script.
1956
1956 in film
The year 1956 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 5 - The Ten Commandments opens in cinemas and becomes one of the most successful and popular movies of all time, currently ranking 5th on the list of all time moneymakers * February 5 - First showing of documentary films by...

 
Smiley
Smiley (film)
Smiley is an American-British film made in 1956 and set in Australia. It was produced and directed by Anthony Kimmins. It starred Ralph Richardson, Chips Rafferty, and Colin Petersen as Smiley. Other cast members were Bruce Archer, Guy Doleman, Reg Lye, John McCallum, Leonard Teale and Bud Tingwell...

Sergeant Flaxman
Walk Into Paradise
Walk Into Paradise
Walk Into Paradise is a 1956 Australian adventure film directed by Lee Robinson and Marcello Pagliero shot on location in the highlands of Papua New Guinea....

Steve MacAllister Rafferty also produced. Released in the United States as Walk into Hell
1958
1958 in film
The year 1958 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 16- "In the Money" by William Beaudine is released on this date. It would be the last installment of The Bowery Boys series which began back in 1946....

 
Smiley Gets a Gun
Smiley Gets a Gun
Smiley Gets a Gun is a 1958 American-British film that is the sequel to Smiley. Keith Calvert replaces Colin Petersen in the title role.-Cast:* Sybil Thorndike as Granny McKinley* Chips Rafferty* Keith Calvert as Smiley* Grant Taylor as Stiffy...

Sergeant Flaxman
The Flaming Sword Long Tom
1960
1960 in film
The year 1960 in film involved some significant events, with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho the top-grossing release in the U.S.-Events:* April 20 - for the first time since coming home from military service in Germany, Elvis Presley returns to Hollywood, California to film G.I...

 
The Sundowners
The Sundowners
The Sundowners is a 1960 film that tells the story of an Australian outback family torn between the father's desires to continue his nomadic sheep-herding ways and the wife's and son's desire to settle down in one place...

Quinlan
The Wackiest Ship in the Army
The Wackiest Ship in the Army (film)
The Wackiest Ship in the Army is a 1960 CinemaScope comedy-drama war film starring Jack Lemmon, Ricky Nelson and Chips Rafferty. It was filmed at Pearl Harbor and Kauai.-Plot summary:...

Patterson A comedy, with Rafferty as an Australian Coastwatcher on a secret mission, and Jack Lemmon
Jack Lemmon
John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...

 in charge of the ship
1962
1962 in film
The year 1962 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May - The Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards are officially founded by the Taiwanese government....

 
Mutiny on the Bounty
Mutiny on the Bounty (1962 film)
Mutiny on the Bounty is a 1962 film starring Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard based on the novel Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. The film retells the 1789 real-life mutiny aboard HMAV Bounty led by Fletcher Christian against the ship's captain, William Bligh...

Michael Byrne Rafferty was in financial difficulty after the failure of some of his producing projects, but he got out of it with all the overtime he earned during the production of this film.
1966
1966 in film
The year 1966 in film involved some significant events.-Events:Animation legend Walter Disney, well known for his creation of Mickey Mouse, died in 15 December 1966 of acute circulatory collapse following a diagnosis of, and surgery for, lung cancer...

 
They're a Weird Mob Harry Kelly
1967
1967 in film
The year 1967 in film involved some significant events. It is widely considered as one of the most ground-breaking years in film.-Events:* December 26 - The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour airs on British television....

 
Adventures of the Seaspray
Double Trouble Archie Brown
1968
1968 in film
The year 1968 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 30 - The film The Lion in Winter, starring Katharine Hepburn, debuts.* November 1 - The MPAA's film rating system is introduced.-Top grossing films :- Awards :...

 
Kona Coast
Kona Coast (film)
Kona Coast is a 1968 film directed by Lamont Johnson. It stars Richard Boone and Vera Miles.-Plot:Sam Moran is a Honolulu charter-boat captain who leads fishing expeditions in the tropical paradise. When his daughter is found murdered at the party of a wealthy young playboy, he seeks the truth...

Charlie Lightfoot
1970
1970 in film
The year 1970 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 9 - Larry Fine, the second member of The Three Stooges, suffers a massive stroke, therefore ending his career....

 
Skullduggery
Skullduggery (film)
Skullduggery is a 1970 science fiction film starring Burt Reynolds, Susan Clark and Edward Fox.The screenplay is based on the French novel Les Animaux dénaturés by Jean Bruller.-Plot:...

Father 'Pop' Dillingham
1971
1971 in film
The year 1971 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 8 - Bob Dylan's hour long documentary film, Eat the Document, premieres at New York's Academy of Music...

 
Wake in Fright
Wake in Fright
Wake in Fright is a 1971 Australian film directed by Ted Kotcheff and starring Gary Bond, Donald Pleasence and Chips Rafferty. The screenplay was written by Evan Jones, based on Kenneth Cook’s 1961 novel of the same name....

Jock Crawford
Dead Men Running
Spyforce
Spyforce
Spyforce was an Australian TV series produced from 1971 to 1973, based upon the adventures of Australian Military Intelligence operatives in the South West Pacific during World War II...

Leon Rielley

External links

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