Jaffe was born to Ukrainian Jewish parents Heida (Ada) and Barnett Jaffe[1] at 97 Orchard Street (current location of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum)[2][3] in New York City, New York. His mother was a Yiddish actress in Odesa, Ukraine, prior to moving to the United States; his father was a jeweller. He was the youngest of four children; his siblings were Abraham, Sophie, and Annie. As a child, he appeared in Yiddish theatre productions with his mother, who after moving to the United States became a prominent actress and vaudeville star. He graduated from Townsend Harris High School and studied engineering at City College of New York, graduating in 1912. He later attended Columbia University for graduate studies. He also worked for several years as a teacher, and then dean, of mathematics at the Bronx Cultural Institute, a college preparatory school, before returning to acting in 1915.[1]
As a young man, he lived in Greenwich Village in the same apartment building as a young John Huston. The two men became good friends and remained so for life. Jaffe was later to star in two of Huston's films: The Asphalt Jungle and The Barbarian and the Geisha. Jaffe's closest friends included Zero Mostel, Edward G. Robinson, Ray Bradbury, and Igor Stravinsky. In 1923 he appeared in the Broadway premiere of God of Vengeance (Got fun Nekome) by Sholem Asch, as Reb Ali. The production became notorious after the cast, producer, and theatre owner were indicted and found guilty on charges of indecency in May 1923.[4] Jaffe began to work in film in 1934, rising to prominence with his first role as the mad Tsar Peter III in The Scarlet Empress. In 1938, Jaffe was forty-seven years old when he played the title role of bhisti (waterbearer) Gunga Din.
Jaffe was married to American operatic soprano and musical comedy star Lillian Taiz from 1926 until her death from cancer in 1941. In 1956, he married actress Bettye Ackerman, 33 years his junior, with whom he later co-starred in Ben Casey. She died on November 1, 2006. He had no children from either marriage.[citation needed]
Jaffe died of cancer in Beverly Hills, California, in 1984, two weeks after his 93rd birthday.[6] He was cremated at the Pasadena Crematory in Altadena, California, and his ashes were given to his surviving wife, Bettye, and, upon her death in 2006, buried with her at Williston Cemetery in Williston, South Carolina.[7]
Filmography
Jaffe (left) and Jack Albertson in the 1976 TV special The Sad and Lonely Sundays.
Young, Jordan R. (1986) [First published 1975]. "Sam Jaffe". Reel Characters: Great Movie Character Actors (softcover) (Sixth ed.). Beverly Hills, Calif: Moonstone Press. pp. 43–56. ISBN978-0-940410-79-4.
