1. John William Pilbean Goffage MBE, known professionally as Chips Rafferty, was an Australian actor.
38 Facts About Chips Rafferty
1. 2.
Chips Rafferty appeared in commercials in Britain during the late 1950s, encouraging British emigration to Australia.
3.
At age 16, Chips Rafferty began an apprenticeship as an iron moulder at Clyde Engineering Works before working in a variety of jobs, including opal miner, sheep shearer, drover, RAAF officer and pearl diver.
4.
Chips Rafferty was in his thirties when he made his debut at Cinesound Studios.
5.
Chips Rafferty leapt to international fame when cast as one of the three leads in Forty Thousand Horsemen, a film directed by Charles Chauvel that focused on the Battle of Beersheba in 1917.
6.
Chips Rafferty married Jean Stewart Ferguson, daughter of John Ferguson of Belmore at St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Sydney on 16 November 1935, divorcing in 1940 in Sydney.
7.
Chips Rafferty married Ellen Kathleen "Quentin" Jameson on 28 May 1941.
8.
Chips Rafferty enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force the next day and entertained troops.
9.
Chips Rafferty appeared in a short featurette, South West Pacific, directed by Hall.
10.
Chips Rafferty was reunited with Chauvel and Grant Taylor in The Rats of Tobruk, an attempt to repeat the success of Forty Thousand Horsemen.
11.
Chips Rafferty was discharged on 13 February 1945, having reached the rank of Flying Officer.
12.
The film was a critical and commercial success and Chips Rafferty was established as a film star.
13.
Chips Rafferty went to England to promote The Overlanders and Ealing put him in The Loves of Joanna Godden.
14.
Chips Rafferty was cast in the lead as Peter Lalor, the head of the rebellion, despite pressures in some quarters to cast Peter Finch.
15.
The result was a box office disappointment and Chips Rafferty's performance was much criticised.
16.
Chips Rafferty was meant to follow this with a comedy for Ealing co-starring Tommy Trinder.
17.
Chips Rafferty was cast by 20th Century Fox in a melodrama they shot in Australia, Kangaroo.
18.
Chips Rafferty wanted to make The Green Opal, a story about immigration but could not get finance.
19.
Chips Rafferty appeared as an actor only in a British-financed comedy set in Australia, Smiley.
20.
Chips Rafferty participated in cinema advertisements that were part of an Australian Government campaign in 1957 called "Bring out a Briton".
21.
Chips Rafferty elected not to appear in the fourth film he produced with Robinson, Dust in the Sun, their first flop together.
22.
All three films lost money and Chips Rafferty found himself in financial difficulty.
23.
Chips Rafferty guest starred in several episodes of the Australian-shot TV series Whiplash.
24.
Chips Rafferty was cast as one of the mutineers in the 1962 remake of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Mutiny on the Bounty, starring Marlon Brando.
25.
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 Chips Rafferty, was a professional wrestler.
26.
Chips Rafferty appeared in some episodes of the series Adventure Unlimited shot in 1963.
27.
Chips Rafferty played the Australian Prime Minister in the Australian sci-fi TV series The Stranger then travelled to England and appeared in eight episodes of Emergency-Ward 10.
28.
Chips Rafferty travelled to the US and guest starred in episodes of The Wackiest Ship in the Army.
29.
Chips Rafferty was in episodes of Gunsmoke and Daktari.
30.
Back in Australia Chips Rafferty had a good part in the Australian-shot comedy They're a Weird Mob a big local success.
31.
Chips Rafferty returned to Hollywood to appear in episodes of The Girl from UNCLE, Tarzan and The Monkees, as well as the Elvis Presley movie Double Trouble and the adventure tale Kona Coast.
32.
Chips Rafferty continued to make films such as Skullduggery.
33.
Hours before he died, Chips Rafferty was offered a prominent role in a film The Day the Clown Cried by Jerry Lewis which was never completed or released.
34.
On 27 May 1971, Chips 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.
35.
Chips Rafferty's remains were cremated and his ashes scattered into his favourite fishing hole in Lovett Bay.
36.
Chips Rafferty had been married to another woman from 1935 to 1940.
37.
Chips Rafferty was a talented artist, and as "Long John Goffage" was a leading light of the Black and White Artists' Club.
38.
Chips Rafferty tried to make the following projects but was unsuccessful:.