by Stephen Vagg
Peter Finch in The Wooden Horse (1950)
This was one of Finch’s first movies after he moved to Britain (he was Australia’s most critically acclaimed radio actor here, but still had to emigrate to get decent work). Finch pops up briefly as an Aussie POW (he’s billed as “Australian in hospital”) in this low-budget, hugely popular true-life tale that launched the POW genre in English cinema. Finch got to play the lead as another Aussie POW in A Town Like Alice (1956).
Bill Kerr in Raiders of the Sky (1953) a.k.a. Appointment in London
One of those films about bomber crews, where everyone’s about to have a nervous breakdown, with Dirk Bogarde in an early starring role. Bill Kerr was an Aussie who moved to London to find regular work and did for many decades before returning home and playing a series of gruff old martinets in films like Gallipoli, Razorback and Let’s Get Skase. Here, he plays an Aussie who dreams of owning a sheep station. Strewth!
John Gregson in Above Us the Waves (1955)
John Mills war film about a midget submarine attack in Norway. British actor Gregson plays an Australian, presumably because Peter Finch wasn’t free. These films were/are easy to mock, but they were based on true stories and made by (and for) people who’d been through war and seen loved ones die, so they have an authenticity impossible to recreate now.
Sean Kelly in Tank Force (1958)
A war movie from Warwick Productions, a British company co-founded by Albert “James Bond” Broccoli that specialised in adventure stories with an imported American lead. Here, it’s Victor Mature, and the action takes place in North Africa during World War Two. South African actor Sean Kelly plays an Aussie who dies with ‘Waltzing Matilda’ playing on the soundtrack. (South African actors would occasionally be recruited to play Australian roles around this time eg. Sid James in 1961’s The Green Helmet, based on a novel by Jon Cleary.)
Chips Rafferty in The Wackiest Ship in the Army (1960)
Chips pops up as a coast watcher in this Jack Lemmon/Ricky Nelson action-comedy that was popular enough to lead to a spin-off TV series, in which Chips also guest starred. He was in demand for guest spots in many Hollywood TV shows in the 1960s (The Monkees, Tarzan, The Girl from UNCLE, Daktari, The Big Valley, Gunsmoke). Chips also played an Aussie in the Hollywood take on the siege of Tobruk, The Desert Rats (1953).
Richard Harris in The Guns of Navarone (1961)
A legendary cameo that opens the film (this was a few years before This Sporting Life, but everyone knew Harris was going to be a star.) Mangles the accent. Nails the attitude.
Ed Devereaux in The Password is Courage (1962)
No one much remembers this British POW movie starring Dirk Bogarde, made at the tail end of the cycle, but Devereaux (best known as the dad from Skippy) does play an Aussie in it.
Michael Pate in PT109 (1963)
Pate plays another coast watcher, this one based on the man who helped save JFK’s life in World War Two – the film is based on that incident, with Cliff Robertson playing a young JFK, who is forever staring off into the middle distance. It’s not a very good movie.
James Coburn in The Great Escape (1963).
Mangles the accent. Nails the attitude. One of the few to actually escape, which we like. The film was based on a book by an Australian. Coburn is fun, it’s just a shame they couldn’t have gotten an actual Australian to play it.
John Meillon in 633 Squadron (1964)
Boozy Johnny is a happy go lucky pilot in this guys on a mission film, which inspired many of the battle sequences in Star Wars and Top Gun: Maverick (the cast includes John Bonney, who moved out here and starred in shows like Contrabandits) and led to a whole series of middle budget WW2 films where an imported American star would lead some mission of British actors. Meillon played a few Aussie soldiers in his 1960s Britain stint, including Guns at Batasi (1964) and Goodbye Johnnie (1965).
