Chips Rafferty

Chips Rafferty MBE (26 March 1909 – 27 May 1971) was an 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 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. Gaining the nickname "Chips" as a schoolboy, 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 Street, Sydney.

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. 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.

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 Rafferty 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."

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 was much criticized. He was more happily cast in Ealing's next film in Australia, Bitter Springs, but the film was not widely popular either.

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. However, the next three Rafferty Robinson movies failed to feature him as an actor and were financial disappointments.

Later career

In 1962, the 6 foot 6 inch actor was socializing with fellow expatriates in a London club when one, who unbeknownst to Rafferty was a wrestler, claimed he was being ignored and started an argument. Rafferty was eventually provoked into accepting a challenge to 'step outside', where he was badly beaten. In addition to deep grazes to his face that may have cost him the chance of roles in two major film productions the incident brought on a heart attack.

He remained in demand as an actor appearing in The Sundowners, with Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr, and Mutiny on the Bounty, with Marlon Brando. The filming of Bounty dragged on – meant to take six months, it would end up taking 14. However, 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 for the rest of his life.

Another of his appearances 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, Daktari, 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). 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.

Rafferty's final film role was in 1971's Wake in Fright, where he played an outback policeman. (The movie was filmed mainly in and around Rafferty's hometown 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 by Jerry Lewis which was never completed or released.

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. His wife Quentin predeceased him in 1964 and they had no children. His remains were cremated. His ashes were scattered into his favorite fishing hole in Lovett Bay.

Honors

In the 1971 New Year's Honors, 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 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 honor 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 wrote a song, "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.

Filmography

Unmade projects

Rafferty tried to make the following projects but was unsuccessful:

• Pepper Trees - comedy from Ealing about two immigrants, co-starring Tommy Trinder and Gordon Jackson, written and directed by Ralph Smart
• The Green Opal – a £60,000 film about immigration he tried to make in 1951
• Return of the Boomerang (1969) directed by Philip Leacock
• In 1961 MGM announced they would use Rafferty in How the West Was Won and Chautauqua.
• "You've Got To Be Lucky To Do What Barry Did". Truth (3072). New South Wales, Australia. 5 December 1948. p. 2. Retrieved 14 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia. 
• "Q'land Location In New Rafferty Film". Morning Bulletin (27,251). Queensland, Australia. 25 October 1948. p. 1. Retrieved 14 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia. 
• "Character part for Chips in next film". The Mail (Adelaide). 37 (1902). South Australia. 13 November 1948. p. 4. Retrieved 14 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia. 
• "Actor Criticises Ruling on Films". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 22 January 1952. p. 4. Retrieved 5 August 2012. 
• Martin, Betty (1 November 1968) "Movie Call Sheet: 'Paradise Island' Rights Bought" Los Angeles Times, p. f22
• "Entertainment: Miss Funicello Stars With Sands Film Is 'Babes in Toyland'; Presley Sets Four for Metro" Hopper, Hedda. Los Angeles Times, 26 January 1961, p. B10