Sam Jaffe (actor)

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Sam Jaffe (1891-1984)

Sam Jaffe (March 8, 1891 – March 24, 1984) was an American actor, teacher and engineer. In 1951, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Asphalt Jungle (1950) and appeared in other classic films such as Ben-Hur (1959). He may be best remembered for the playing the title role in Gunga Din (1939), and the high Lama in the 1937 version of Lost Horizon.

Born to a Jewish family in New York City, New York, as a child he appeared in Yiddish theater productions with his mother, who was a prominent actress. He studied engineering at Columbia University and then worked for several years as a math teacher before turning to acting as a career. He began to work in film in 1934 and continued throughout the rest of his life.

For a time during the 1950s Jafee was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studio bosses supposedly for being a Communist sympathizer. Despite being blacklisted, he was hired by director William Wyler for his role in the 1959 Academy Award winning version of Ben-Hur.

Jaffe co-starred in the American TV series Ben Casey as Dr. David Zorba from 1961 to 1965 and had many guest starring roles on other series, including the western Alias Smith and Jones starring Pete Duel and Ben Murphy.

Widowed since 1941, in 1956 he married actress Bettye Ackerman, who later also starred with him in Ben Casey. She died on November 20, 2006.

Sam Jaffe died of cancer in Beverly Hills, California and was interred in Eden Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

The six-year gap in his filmography was due to his having been blacklisted.