Chips Rafferty |
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 Chips Rafferty |
| Born | John William Pilbean Goffage
(1909-03-26)26 March 1909
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| Died | 27 May 1971(1971-05-27) (aged 62)
Sydney |
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| Resting place | Cremated and his ashes cast into his favourite fishing hole in Lovett Bay, Pittwater |
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| Occupation | Film actor |
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| Years active | 1939–71 |
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Chips Rafferty MBE (26 March 1909 – 27 May 1971) was an iconic Australian actor. Called "the living symbol of the typical Australian",[1] 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 days
He was born John William Pilbean Goffage in Broken Hill, New South Wales to John Goffage, an English-born stock agent, and Australian-born Violet Maude Joyce.[2] Gaining the nickname "Chips" as a school boy,[2] Rafferty studied at Parramatta Commercial High School before working in a variety of jobs, including opal miner, sheep shearer, drover, airman[3] and pearl diver[1] before making his film debut in Ants in His Pants in 1938. At that time, he was managing a wine cellar in Bond Street, Sydney.[4]
Film career
Rafferty's onscreen image as a lanky, laconic bushman struck a chord with filmgoers in Forty Thousand Horsemen. This film was enormously popular and was screened throughout the world.
War Service
Rafferty married Ellen Kathleen "Quentin" Jameson on 28 May 1941.[5] He enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force the next day and entertained troops.
During the war, Rafferty was allowed to make films on leave. He appeared in The Rats of Tobruk (1944).
He was discharged on 13 February 1945, having reached the rank of Flying Officer.[6]
International Fame
Rafferty's first film after the war was The Overlanders, which was a popular success. He followed this with Bush Christmas.
Ealing Studios signed Raffert to a long term contract and cast him in The Loves of Joanna Godden]. While promoting the film in Hollywood he met Hedda Hopper who said Rafferty "created quite a stir. They call him the Australian Gary Cooper, but if he were cut down a bit he would be more like the late Will Rogers. I don't know how they'll get him on the screen unless they do it horizontally... He is as natural as an old shoe."[7]
Rafferty's next film had him cast as Peter Lalor in the expensive spectacle Eureka Stockade. It was a box office disappointment and Rafferty's performance much criticised.
He was more happily cast in Ealing's next film in Australia, Bitter Springs, but the film was not widely popular either.
Nonetheless Rafferty remained the highest profile Australian actor in the world and received a Hollywood offer to appear in
The Desert Rats, opposite Richard Burton.
Producer
Rafferty decided to move into movie production and formed a partnership with Lee Robinson. They made a series of films starring Rafferty and directed by Robinson including The Phantom Stockman, King of the Coral Sea and Walk into Paradise. All were successful.[8]
However the next three Rafferty Robinson movies failed to feature him as an actor and were financial disappointments.
Later Career
Rafferty remained in demand as an actor appearing in The Sundowners, with Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr; and Mutiny on the Bounty, with Marlon Brando.
While making Bounty MGM announced they wanted to use Rafferty in How the West Was Won and ''Chautauqua.[9] However filmig of Bounty dragged on - meant to take six months, it would up taking 14. The money earned by Rafferty - he dubbed the film The Bounteous Mutiny - restored Rafferty to financial health after the failure of his production company; it enabled him to buy a block of flats which supported him until the rest of his life.[10]
His most bizarre appearance was with Elvis Presley in Double Trouble in 1967.
In addition to his film work, Rafferty also guest starred in a range of Australian and American television shows, including Gunsmoke, The Stranger, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, Tarzan, The Monkees and The Wackiest Ship in the Army (as a different character to the role that he played in the movie version). In one rather bizarre role, he played a Union soldier in The Big Valley with a noticeably Australian accent. 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, the 198 cm (6'6") actor was in a London club when a fellow Australian started an argument. Unaware his antagonist was a professional wrestler, Rafferty was provoked into 'stepping outside'. He received a serious beating that brought on a heart attack. Time spent recovering from the incident may have cost him the chance of roles in two major film productions.[11][12]
Rafferty's final film role was in 1971's Wake in Fright, where he played an outback policeman. (The film was made 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".[13]
Hours before he died, Rafferty was offered a prominent role in the film The Day the Clown Cried by Jerry Lewis.[1] The film has never been completed or officially released, and is apparently unlikely ever to be.
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.[3] His wife Quentin predeceased him in 1964 and they had no children.[5]
Honours
In the 1971 New Years' Honours, Rafferty was made a Member of the Order of British Empire (MBE) by Elizabeth II for his services to the performing arts.[14] Australia Post 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".[15]
Australian singer/songwriter Richard Davies wrote a song titled "Chips Rafferty" for his album There's Never Been A Crowd Like This.[16]
In popular culture
Rafferty is mentioned prominently by name in the single "Big Shot" by Canadian rock band the Pack A.D.
