Australian cinematic icon Chips Rafferty was born 100 years ago on 26 March 1909. To mark this centenary, feature film curator Paul Byrnes has written a tribute, the first in a series of ‘People Portraits’ on the site. Some of the Chips Rafferty titles are featured on the homepage this week.

Chips’s career spanned several eras in the history of Australian film – from the tail end of the heady Cinesound days of Ken G Hall and Charles Chauvel in the 1930s and ’40s through to the beginnings of the revival in the 1970s. Chips was prominent in the films that were made here during the production drought of the 1950s and ’60s, and also worked overseas and in Hollywood.

His last feature – which may also contain his best work – was Wake in Fright (1971). We’re very excited to be adding this film to australianscreen in the next couple of months, to coincide with its restoration by the National Film and Sound Archive. Stay tuned for more details.