Chips Rafferty (26 March 1909 – 27 May 1971) was an iconic Australian actor.
Born John William Goffage in Broken Hill, New South Wales, Rafferty worked in a variety of jobs before making his film debut in Ants in His Pants in 1938. Rafferty's onscreen image as a laconic bushman struck a chord with film goers and Rafferty soon became the most popular actor in Australia, appearing in films like Forty Thousand Horsemen, The Rats of Tobruk, The Overlanders and Eureka Stockade.
Hollywood also beckoned and Rafferty appeared in American fare like The Desert Rats, opposite Richard Burton, The Sundowners, with Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr and Mutiny on the Bounty with Marlon Brando.The most bizarre appearance was with Elvis Presley in Double Trouble in 1967. Initially Rafferty was marketed in the United States as the Australian version of Cary Grant before being allowed to resume playing variations of the laconic bushman role that had served him well thus far.
Rafferty also produced and wrote...
Created by dipity on Feb 7, 2008
Last updated: 11/13/09 at 07:38 AM
Chips Rafferty has no followers yet. Be the first one to follow.
Chips Rafferty died
They're a Weird Mob is a classic and very popular Australian novel published in 1957, and a 1966 film based on the book. The novel was written by John O'Grady, although it was published under the pen name "Nino Culotta", the name of the main character. The subsequent film was one of the last collaborations by the British filmmakers Powell & Pressburger.Nino Culotta is an Italian immigrant, newly arrived in Australia. He is expecting to work for his cousin as a sports writer on the Italian magazine his cousin has been producing. But when he gets there he discovers that his cousin has left leaving a substantial debt to Kay Kelly. Nino declares that he will get a job and pay back the debt.The film tells how he does this, making new mates, and the growing attraction between Nino & Kay. All this despite some difficulties with Australian slang and Kay's father and his dislike of Italians. Much of the story is taken up with Nino's attempts to understand the Australian Dream, that is,...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061087
Smiley is an Australian film made in 1956. It was produced and directed by Anthony Kimmins. It starred Ralph Richardson, Chips Rafferty, and Colin Petersen as Smiley. It tells the story of a young Australian boy who is determined to buy a bicycle for four pounds. Along the way he gets into many misadventures, including drug-running.
The film is based on the novel Smiley by Moore Raymond, who also wrote the source novel for the sequel film, Smiley Gets a Gun (1958).
...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049771
The Desert Rats is a 1953 war film starring Richard Burton and Robert Douglas directed by Robert Wise. It features a cameo appearance by James Mason as General Erwin Rommel.
In mid-Apr 1941, during World War II, Germany's Afrika Korps, led by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, has repeatedly beaten the Allies in the struggle for control of North Africa. Desperate to prevent Rommel from gaining control of the Suez Canal, the British Army, in retreat and trying to rebuild its strength, establishes one last stronghold in Tobruk. The British headquarters in Cairo orders the 9th Australian Division to hold Tobruk for two months, at which time they will be relieved.
The general meets with artillery colonel Barney White and other officers to explain that the division will have three perimeters of defense: the outlying perimeter of infantry, the second perimeter of White's artillery, and the inner line of fortifications. The general, needing an experienced field officer to oversee the green...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045679
The Overlanders is a 1946 Australian film about drovers droving a large herd of cattle 1600 miles overland from the Northern Territory outback of Australia to pastures north of Brisbane, Queensland during World War II.
The film was one of several produced in Australia by Ealing Studios, and featured among the cast Chips Rafferty.
...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038821
Chips Rafferty was born
Update Sources