Chips Rafferty
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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 films, although none of these reached the same level of popularity as those he appeared in for other companies.
Rafferty died of a heart attack in Sydney at the age of 62 shortly after completing his role in Wake in Fright.
In March, 2006, Broken Hill City Council announced that the Entertainment Centre would be named in honour of Mr Rafferty.
