Chips Rafferty

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Chips Rafferty
Rafferty in 1943
Born
John William Pilbean Goffage

(1909-03-26)26 March 1909
Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia
Died27 May 1971(1971-05-27) (aged 62)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Resting placeAshes cast into his favourite fishing hole in Lovett Bay, Pittwater
OccupationActor
Years active1939–1971
SpouseEllen Jameson (1941–1964; her death)

John William Pilbean Goffage MBE (26 March 1909 – 27 May 1971), known professionally as Chips Rafferty, was an Australian actor. Called "the living symbol of the typical Australian",[1] Rafferty's career stretched from the late 1930s until he died in 1971, and during this time he performed regularly in major Australian feature films as well as appearing in British and American productions, including The Overlanders and The Sundowners. He appeared in commercials in Britain during the late 1950s, encouraging British emigration to Australia.[2][3]

Early days[edit]

John William Pilbean Goffage was born at Billy Goat Hill, near Broken Hill, New South Wales to John Goffage, an English-born stock agent, and Australian-born Violet Maude Joyce.[4][3] Gaining the nickname "Chips" as a school boy,[4] Rafferty studied at Parramatta Commercial School before working in a variety of jobs, including opal miner, sheep shearer, drover, RAAF officer[5][6] and pearl diver.[1][7] At age 16, Rafferty began an apprenticeship as an iron moulder at Clyde Engineering Works.[3]

Film career[edit]

Rafferty was in his thirties when he made his debut at Cinesound Studios.[3] He made his first film debut in the comedy Ants in His Pants in 1938, as an extra, produced by Ken G. Hall. At that time, he managed a wine cellar in Bond Street, Sydney.[8] Rafferty caught the acting bug and got another unbilled role, as one of several inept firemen in Hall's Dad Rudd, M.P. (1940).

Forty Thousand Horsemen[edit]

Portrait of Chips Rafferty, on the set of Forty Thousand Horsemen, 1940

Rafferty leapt to international fame when cast as one of the three leads in Forty Thousand Horsemen (1940), a film directed by Charles Chauvel that focused on the Battle of Beersheba in 1917. Rafferty had been cast after a screen test.[7] Chauvel described him as "a cross between Slim Summerville and James Stewart, and has a variety of droll yet natural humour."[9] He played a laconic tall bushman. Forty Thousand Horsemen was enormously popular and was screened throughout the world, becoming one of the most-seen Australian films made to that point. Although the film's romantic leads were Grant Taylor (actor) and Betty Bryant, Rafferty's performance received much acclaim.[citation needed]

War service[edit]

Rafferty married Ellen Kathleen "Quentin" Jameson on 28 May 1941.[10] He enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force the next day and entertained troops.[citation needed]

During the war, Rafferty was allowed to make films on leave. He appeared in a short featurette, South West Pacific (1943), directed by Hall. He was reunited with Chauvel and Grant Taylor in The Rats of Tobruk (1944), an attempt to repeat the success of Forty Thousand Horsemen.[citation needed]

Rafferty was discharged on 13 February 1945, having reached the rank of Flying Officer.[11]

International fame[edit]

Ealing Studios were interested in making a feature film in Australia after the war, and assigned Harry Watt to find a subject. He came up with The Overlanders (1946), a story of a cattle drive during war time (based on a true story) and gave the lead role to Rafferty who Watt called an "Australian Gary Cooper."[12]

Rafferty's fee was £25 a week.[13] Ealing Studios were so pleased they signed Rafferty to a long-term contract even before the film was released. The film was a critical and commercial success and Rafferty was established as a film star.[citation needed]

Ealing Studios were associated with Rank Films, who cast Rafferty in the lead of Bush Christmas (1947), a children's movie where Rafferty played the villain. It was very popular.[citation needed]

Ealing Studios signed Rafferty to a long-term contract. He went to England to promote The Overlanders and Ealing put 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."[14]

Ealing and Watt wanted to make another film in Australia and decided on a spectacle, Eureka Stockade. Rafferty was cast in the lead as Peter Lalor, the head of the rebellion, despite pressures in some quarters to cast Peter Finch. The result was a box office disappointment and Rafferty's performance was much criticised.[15][16]

Rafferty was meant to follow this with a comedy for Ealing co-starring Tommy Trinder. Instead, Ealing put the two actors in a drama about aboriginal land rights Bitter Springs (1950). The film was not widely popular and Ealing wound up their filmmaking operation in Australia.[15][17]

Rafferty kept busy as an actor, appearing on radio in a show Chips: Story of an Outback. He was cast by 20th Century Fox in a melodrama they shot in Australia, Kangaroo (1952). The studio liked his performance enough that they flew him (and Charles Tingwell) over to Los Angeles to play Australian soldiers in The Desert Rats (1953), a war movie.[citation needed]

Producer[edit]

Film production in Australia had slowed to a trickle and Rafferty decided to move into movie production. He wanted to make The Green Opal, a story about immigration but could not get finance. However he then teamed up with a producer-director Lee Robinson and they decided to make movies together.[15][18]

Their first movie was The Phantom Stockman (1953), directed by Robinson and starring Rafferty, and produced by them both. The film was profitable. It was followed by King of the Coral Sea, which was even more popular, and introduce Rod Taylor to cinema audiences. Rafferty and Robinson attracted the interest of the French, collaborated with them on the New Guinea adventure tale, Walk Into Paradise (1956). This was their most popular movie to date.

Rafferty also appeared as an actor only in a British-financed comedy set in Australia, Smiley (1956). It was successful and led to a sequel, Smiley Gets a Gun (1958),in which Rafferty reprised his role. In England he appeared in The Flaming Sword (1958).

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 in a bid to increase the number of British migrants settling in Australia.[citation needed]

Rafferty and Robinson raised money for three more movies with Robinson. He elected not to appear in the fourth film he produced with Robinson, Dust in the Sun (1958), their first flop together. Nor was he in The Stowaway (1959) and The Restless and the Damned (1960). All three films lost money and Rafferty found himself in financial difficulty.

Later career[edit]

Rafferty returned to being an actor only. He had a small role in The Sundowners (1960), with Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr and played a coastwatcher in The Wackiest Ship in the Army (1960) with Jack Lemmon and Ricky Nelson. He guest starred in several episodes of the Australian-shot TV series Whiplash (1961).

Rafferty was cast as one of the mutineers in the 1962 remake of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Mutiny on the Bounty, starring Marlon Brando. The filming of Bounty in Tahiti dragged longer than six months but it restored him 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.[19] Rafferty dubbed the film The Bounteous Mutiny.

In 1962, the 6 foot 5 inch actor was socialising with fellow expatriates in a London club when they were joined by an Australian who acted as doorman, and unbeknownst to Rafferty, was a professional wrestler. Claiming he was being ignored after helping them get in the doorman was so argumentative that Rafferty was provoked into accepting a challenge to 'step outside'. In the severe beating that followed he sustained deep grazing across his face and suffered a myocardial infarction (he had not been aware of having a heart condition until the incident) costing him the chance at roles in two major film productions.[20][21]

In 1963 he recorded a long play record with Festival Records (FL-31015) entitled A man and his horse, narrating a selection of works from Australian verse composers including Banjo Paterson (1864–1941), Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833–1870) and Will H. Ogilvie (1869–1963).[22]

Rafferty appeared in some episodes of the series Adventure Unlimited shot in 1963.[23] He played the Australian Prime Minister in the Australian sci-fi TV series The Stranger (1964) then travelled to England and appeared in eight episodes of Emergency-Ward 10 (1964). While in England he was in The Winds of Green Monday (1965) on British TV.

He travelled to the US and guest starred in episodes of The Wackiest Ship in the Army (1965) (as a different character to the role that he played in the movie version). This led to further offers to work in Hollywood on television shows; he played a Union soldier in The Big Valley (1966) with a noticeably Australian accent. He was also in episodes of Gunsmoke (1966) and Daktari (1966). "What else can I do but look to America for my future when there is still no assistance or help from the government," said in April 1966.[24]

Back in Australia Rafferty had a good part in the Australian-shot comedy They're a Weird Mob (1966) a big local success. He returned to Hollywood to appear in episodes of The Girl from UNCLE (1967), Tarzan (1967) and The Monkees, as well as the Elvis Presley movie Double Trouble (1967) and the adventure tale Kona Coast (1968)

Returning to Australia he guest-starred in Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, Adventures of the Seaspray (1967), Rita and Wally (1968), Woobinda, Animal Doctor (1970) and Dead Men Running (1971). He continued to make films such as Skullduggery (1970).

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 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".[25]

His final performance was in an episode of the Australian war series Spyforce (1971).

Hours before he died, Rafferty was offered a prominent role in a film The Day the Clown Cried by Jerry Lewis which was never completed or released.[1]

Death[edit]

On 27 May 1971, Rafferty collapsed and died of a heart attack at the age of 62, while walking down a Sydney street shortly after completing his role in Wake in Fright.[6][26] His wife Ellen had predeceased him in 1964 and they had no children.[10] His remains were cremated and his ashes scattered into his favourite fishing hole in Lovett Bay.

Rafferty had been married to another woman from 1935 to 1940.[27]

Honours[edit]

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.[28]

Australia Post issued a stamp in 1989 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.[citation needed]

The Oxford Companion to Australian Film refers to Rafferty as "Australia's most prominent and significant actor of the 1940s–60s".[29]

Australian singer/songwriter Richard Davies wrote a song, "Chips Rafferty" for his album, There's Never Been A Crowd Like This.[citation needed]

Associations[edit]

He was also a talented artist, and as "Long John Goffage" was a leading light of the Black and White Artists' Club.[8] He was a Freemason.[30]

Filmography[edit]

Film[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1939 Come Up Smiling (aka Ants in His Pants) Man in Crowd (uncredited) Feature film
1940 Dad Rudd, MP Fireman (uncredited) Feature film
Forty Thousand Horsemen Jim Feature film
1943 South West Pacific RAAF Mechanic Short film
1944 The Rats of Tobruk Milo Trent Feature film
1946 The Overlanders Dan McAlpine Feature film
1947 Bush Christmas Long Bill Feature film
The Loves of Joanna Godden Collard Feature film
1949 Eureka Stockade (aka Massacre Hill) Peter Lalor Feature film
1950 Bitter Springs Wally King Feature film
1952 Kangaroo (aka The Australian Story) Trooper 'Len' Leonard Feature film
1953 The Desert Rats Sergeant 'Blue' Smith Feature film
The Phantom Stockman (aka Return of the Plainsman) The Sundowner Feature film.
Also producer and co-writer.
King of the Coral Sea Ted King Feature film.
Also producer and co-writer.
1956 Smiley Sergeant Flaxman Feature film
Walk Into Paradise (aka Walk into Hell) Steve MacAllister Feature film.
Also producer.
1958 Smiley Gets a Gun Sergeant Flaxman Feature film
The Flaming Sword Long Tom Feature film
1960 The Sundowners Quinlan Feature film
The Wackiest Ship in the Army Patterson Feature film
1962 Mutiny on the Bounty Michael Byrne Feature film.
Feature film
Alice in Wonderland White Knight TV pantomime
1965 The Winds of Green Monday TV play
1966 They're a Weird Mob Harry Kelly Feature film
1967 Double Trouble Archie Brown Feature film
1968 Kona Coast Charlie Lightfoot Feature film
1970 Skullduggery Father 'Pop' Dillingham Feature film
1971 Willy Willy Old Man Short film
Wake in Fright Jock Crawford Feature film

Television[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1961 Whiplash Sorrel / Patrick Flagg TV series, 2 episodes
1964 The Stranger The Australian Prime Minister TV miniseries, episode 12
Emergency Ward 10 Mick Doyle TV series, 8 episodes
1965 The Wackiest Ship in the Army Boomer McKye TV series, 1 episode
Adventure Unlimited Bob Cole / Mick Larkin TV series, 2 episodes
1966 The Big Valley Jock, Union Soldier TV series, 1 episode
Gunsmoke Angus McTabbott TV series, 1 episode
Daktari Rayburn TV series, 1 episode
1967 The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. Liverpool 'Enry TV series, 1 episode
Tarzan Dutch Jensen TV series. 2 episodes
The Monkees Captain S2:E12, "Hitting the High Seas"
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo Pop Miller TV series, 1 episode
Adventures of the Seaspray TV series, 1 episode
1968 Rita and Wally Mr Stiller TV series, 1 episode
1969 Delta Sawtell TV series, 1 episode
1970 Woobinda, Animal Doctor Grazier TV series. 2 episodes
1971 Dead Men Running TV miniseries
Spyforce Leon Reilley TV series, episode: Reilley's Army (final appearance)

Unmade projects[edit]

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[31][32][33]
  • The Green Opal – a £60,000 film about immigration he tried to make in 1951[34]
  • Return of the Boomerang (1969) directed by Philip Leacock[35]

Radio[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Hooper, K. "Chips was denied comeback chance", The Age, 29 May 1971, p. 2.
  2. ^ Australian Geographical Society.; Australian National Publicity Association; Australian National Travel Association (1934), Walkabout, Australian National Travel Association, retrieved 24 March 2019
  3. ^ a b c d "Chips Rafferty portrait on ASO - Australia's audio and visual heritage online". aso.gov.au. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  4. ^ a b Pike, A. (1996) "Goffage, John William Pilbean [Chips Rafferty] (1909–1971)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 14, Melbourne University Press.
  5. ^ "Fifty Australians – Chips Rafferty | Australian War Memorial".
  6. ^ a b "Obituary: Chips Rafferty, Australian film actor", The Times, 29 May 1971.
  7. ^ a b ""TL Things Just Happen to Me and I Like It"". The Sydney Morning Herald. 22 October 1940. p. 5 Supplement: Women's Supplement. Retrieved 18 August 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ a b "The Mercury (Hobart)". Trove.nla.gov.au. 13 April 1946. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  9. ^ "Australian Films in the Making". The Sydney Morning Herald. 11 June 1940. p. 9 Supplement: Women's Supplement. Retrieved 18 August 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ a b Legge, J. (1968) Who's Who in Australia, XIX Edition, Herald and Weekly Times Limited, Melbourne.
  11. ^ "Goffage, John". World War II Nominal Roll. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
  12. ^ "LATE NEWS Australia Could Be Film-making Centre". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 33, 696. New South Wales, Australia. 21 December 1945. p. 1. Retrieved 5 August 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. ^ "TO CONFER ON ACTORS' PAY". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 33, 980. New South Wales, Australia. 19 November 1946. p. 3. Retrieved 5 August 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ^ Hopper, Hedda, "European Filmland", Chicago Daily Tribune, 22 June 1946, p. 12
  15. ^ a b c Philip Kemp, 'On the Slide: Harry Watt and Ealing's Australian Adventure', Second Take: Australian Filmmakers Talk, Ed Geoff Burton and Raffaele Caputo, Allen & Unwin 1999 p 145-164
  16. ^ "English Critic's Coo-ee To "The Overlanders"". Worker. Vol. 57, no. 3098. Queensland, Australia. 2 December 1946. p. 17. Retrieved 5 August 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. ^ "AUSTRALIAN COMEDY FILM TO BE MADE". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 31, 809. Victoria, Australia. 13 August 1948. p. 3. Retrieved 5 August 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. ^ "ACTOR CRITICISES RULING ON FILMS". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 35, 595. New South Wales, Australia. 22 January 1952. p. 4. Retrieved 5 August 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. ^ Thomas, Kevin (27 February 1966) "Mr. Rafferty ... a Chips Off the Old Block", Los Angeles Times. pg. B6
  20. ^ The Age, "Chips Rafferty attacked by London Thugs", 10 September 1962, pg. 1
  21. ^ "Australian Biography: Charles "Bud" Tingwell". National Film and Sound Archive. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
  22. ^ "Turntable talk". The Biz. No. 2971. New South Wales, Australia. 12 June 1963. p. 9. Retrieved 8 September 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  23. ^ Vagg, Stephen (6 May 2023). "Forgotten Australian TV Series: Adventure Unlimited". Filmink.
  24. ^ "Man Who Turned His Back on Australian Television". The Age. 7 April 1966. p. 14.
  25. ^ Sherlock, J. "Wake in Fright". Jim's DVD Review and Selections. Archived from the original on 25 November 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
  26. ^ "CHIPS RAFFERTY, ACTOR, 62, DEAD: Australian Film Star Had Appeared on U.S. TV", The New York Times, 29 May 1971: 26.
  27. ^ "Family Notices". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 30, 549. New South Wales, Australia. 30 November 1935. p. 16. Retrieved 15 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  28. ^ "List of Awards in Full", The Times, 1 January 1971.
  29. ^ McFarlane et al., B. 2000 The Oxford Companion to Australian Film, Oxford University Press.[ISBN verification needed]
  30. ^ "Museum of Freemasonry – Famous Australian Freemasons". mof.org.au. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  31. ^ "You've Got To Be Lucky To Do What Barry Did". Truth. No. 3072. New South Wales, Australia. 5 December 1948. p. 2. Retrieved 14 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  32. ^ "Q'land Location in New Rafferty Film". Morning Bulletin. No. 27, 251. Queensland, Australia. 25 October 1948. p. 1. Retrieved 14 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  33. ^ "Character part for Chips in next film". The Mail (Adelaide). Vol. 37, no. 1902. South Australia. 13 November 1948. p. 4. Retrieved 14 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  34. ^ "Actor Criticises Ruling on Films". The Sydney Morning Herald. 22 January 1952. p. 4. Retrieved 5 August 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  35. ^ Martin, Betty (1 November 1968) "Movie Call Sheet: 'Paradise Island' Rights Bought" Los Angeles Times, p. f22
  36. ^ "Walkabout on opal", ABC Weekly, 10 (35), Sydney, 28 August 1948, retrieved 13 September 2023 – via Trove
  37. ^ "ABC Tuesday, June 16", ABC Weekly, 15 (24), Sydney, 13 June 1953, retrieved 14 September 2023 – via Trove

External links[edit]

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