Australasian Cinema > actors > See also (as producer): Southern International.
Born in 1909 as John Goffage, Rafferty had worked in numerous outdoor jobs - as drover, opal miner, canecutter and deck hand - before settling into work at a wine cellar in Sydney and trying his hand at acting. In Forty Thousand Horsemen and especially in The Overlanders (1946), he established a screen persona that remained with him throughout his acting career. For three decades, in numerous films, he played a character that came to be widely regarded as essentially Australian. Few other actors so clearly and consistently became identified with the expression of national characteristics. Although he was usually cast in type and initially owed much to Pat Hanna's style of comedy, the character was always distinctively his own and he rarely descended to caricature. On and off screen, his heavy drinking and gruff irreverence for authority were balanced by a laconic good humour, sincerity in friendship and a determined optimism. He worked hard to establish an Australian film industry, and in the 1950s devoted enormous energies and personal funds to the Southern International venture. He also acted in many American films and television series, usually in character parts, but always maintained his base in Australia. His sudden death on 28 May 1971 was a shock to many Pike & Cooper: 193-194.
Come Up Smiling (William Freshman, 1939) aka Ants In His Pants; prod. Ken G. Hall; Will Mahoney (Barney O'Hara), Shirley Ann Richards (Eve Cameron), Chips Rafferty (man in crowd) first appearance; 77 mins.
Dad Rudd, M.P. (Ken G. Hall, 1940) Cinesound Features, prod. Ken G. Hall, wr. Frank Harvey, Bart Bailey, dp George Heath; Bert Bailey, Connie Martyn, Yvonne East, Fred MacDonald, Chips Rafferty (fireman); 83 min.stories by Steele Rudd
Forty Thousand Horsemen (Charles Chauvel, 1940) 40000 Horsemen, wr. Elsa Chauvel, dp George Heath, additional exterior photography Frank Hurley, Tasman Higgins; Grant Taylor, Betty Bryant, Chips Rafferty, Pat Twohill, Michael Pate's debut film - as an extra; WW1
Rats Of Tobruk, The (Charles Chauvel, 1944) Chamun Productions, wr. Charles & Elsa Chauvel, dp George Heath, music Lindley Evans, sound Jack Bruce, L. J. Stuart; Grant Taylor, Peter Finch, Chips Rafferty; war; 95 min.
Overlanders, The (Harry Watt, 1946) Ealing Studios; Chips Rafferty, Daphne Campbell, Clyde Combo (Jacky); has an Aboriginal person as a major character; 91 min.
Bush Christmas (Ralph Smart, 1947) wr. Ralph Smart from novel by Mary Cathcart Borer, prod. Ralph Smart, dp George Heath; Children's Entertainment Films ([British] Children's Film Foundation); Chips Rafferty, John Fernside, Stan Tolhurst, Pat Penny, John McCallum, Clyde Combo (uncredited, as Old Jack)
Eureka Stockade (Harry Watt, 1949) Ealing Studios, prod. Michael Balcon, assoc. prod. Leslie Norman, wr. Harry Watt, Greenwood & Ralph Smart, dp George Heath; Chips Rafferty (Peter Lalor), Jane Barrett, Jack Lambert, Peter Illing, Gordon Jackson, Peter Finch, Reg Lye; events of 1854; 102 min.
Bitter Springs (Ralph Smart, 1950) wr. Monja Danischewsky, W. P. Lipscomb from story by Ralph Smart, prod. Michael Balcon, dp George Heath, music Ralph Vaughan Williams; Chips Rafferty, Tommy Trinder, Gordon Jackson, Jean Blue, Michael Pate, Charles Tingwell; colonial land rights clash tale from UK's Ealing Studios, with an Aboriginal as a major character: Black Jack (Henry Murdoch) is not a tracker as such, but he is a guide, in physical, social and moral senses
Kangaroo (Lewis Milestone, 1952) aka The Australian Story; Twentieth Century-Fox, prod. Robert Bassler, wr. Harry Kleiner, dp Charles G. Clarke; Maureen O'Hara, Peter Lawford, Finlay Currie, Richard Boone, Chips Rafferty, Letty Craydon, Charles Tingwell, Ronald Whelan, John Fegan, Guy Doleman, Reginald Collins, Frank Ransome, Clyde Combo (Aboriginal stockman), Henry Murdoch (blacktracker), John Clark; western, set in the Australian outback at the turn of the century; 85 min.
Phantom Stockman, The (Lee Robinson, 1953) Chips Rafferty, Charles Tingwell, Rod Taylor; produced by Southern International (Lee Robinson, Chips Rafferty)
King of the Coral Sea (Lee Robinson, 1954) produced by Southern International (Lee Robinson & Chips Rafferty); Chips Rafferty, Charles Tingwell, Ilma Adey, Rod Taylor, Reg Lye
Smiley (Anthony Kimmins, 1956) London Films, an Alexander Korda Production; Colin Petersen (Smiley), Bruce Archer, Ralph Richardson, John McCallum, Chips Rafferty, Reg Lye; sequel: Smiley Gets a Gun
Walk into Paradise (Lee Robinson & Giorgio Pagliero, 1956) aka Walk into Hell; produced by Southern Films International (Lee Robinson & Chips Rafferty); Chips Rafferty, Françoise Christophe, Reg Lye; filmed in both French and English in PNG; action adventure, exploring for oil in PNG; 93 min.
Smiley Gets a Gun (Anthony Kimmins, 1958) Sybil Thorndike, Keith Calvert, Bruce Archer, Chips Rafferty
Sundowners, The (Fred Zinnemann, 1960) wr. Isobel Lennart, novel Jon Cleary, dp Jack Hildyard, 133 min., Warner Bros; Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, Peter Ustinov, Glynis Johns, Dina Merrill, Chips Rafferty, Michael Anderson, Lola Brooks, Wylie Watson, John Meillon, Ronald Fraser, Mervyn Johns, Molly Urquhart, Ewen Solon, Ray Barrett (two-up player), Leonard Teale (shearer), John Fegan; Pike & Cooper: 230-231
They're a Weird Mob (Michael Powell, 1966) wr. Richard Imrie [Emeric Pressburger], novel by Nino Culotta [John O'Grady]; Walter Chiari (Nino Culotta), Clare Dunne, Chips Rafferty, Alida Chelli, Ed Devereaux, Slim DeGrey, John Meillon, Charles Little, Anne Haddy, Jack Allen, Red Moore, Ray Hartley, Tony Bonner, Alan Lander, Keith Peterson; satirical comedy
Wake in Fright (Ted Kotcheff, 1971) aka Outback (US); wr. Evan Jones, novel Kenneth Cook, dp Brian West, ed. Anthony Buckley; Gary Bond (John Grant), Donald Pleasance (Doc Tydon), Chips Rafferty (Jock Crawford), Sylvia Kay, Jack Thompson, John Meillon, Peter Whittle, Al Thomas, John Armstrong, Slim de Grey, Maggie Dence, Norman Erskine, Buster Fiddess, Tex Foote, Owen Moase, John Dalleen, Colin Hughes, Mark Jackson, Nancy Knudsen, Dawn Lake, Harry Lawrence, Robert McDarra, Carlo Manchini, Liam Reynolds; suspenser; last film of Chips Rafferty and Buster Fiddess; Kotcheff went on to direct the first Rambo film First Blood; filmed Broken Hill
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