Australians in Hollywood : Biographical Notes

Chips Rafferty
After leading roles in 40 Thousand Horsemen (1940) and The Rats of Tobruk (1944), Chips Rafferty (1909-1971) formed a number of successful production companies in the 1950s, and starred in The Phantom Stockman (1953), Smiley (1956) and Smiley Gets a Gun (1959). In 1953, along with fellow Australians Bud Tingwell and Michael Pate, he was in Hollywood 's The Desert Rats , in which a gritty band of Australians fought under the command of Richard Burton. After parts in two major U.S. films shot in Australia – 1952's Kangaroo and 1960's The Sundowners , with Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr – Chips went to Hollywood, where he made The Wackiest Ship in the Army (1960) with Jack Lemmon and Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) with Marlon Brando. Back in Australia , he devoted himself to local film. “Give our industry the money today and we can take the world,” he urged. “This is what I've been screaming about for 15 years.” He died shortly after making Wake in Fright (1971).

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