SAM JAFFE BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Sam Jaffe was born on march 10th, 1891 in New York City, New York with the birth name Shalom Jaffe to Russian Jewish parents, Heida and Barnett Jaffe.  He was the youngest of four children.  His mother was an actress and also performed in vaudeville, so as a young child he was already exposed to the lifestyle of entertaining and would participate in theater with his mother.
 
After High School he went onto study engineering at City college of New York and then earned a degree from Columbia university.  Following college he pursued a career for some time as a math teacher but then decided to return back to his initial interest of acting.
 
He began working as a stage actor in 1915 when he joined the Washington Square Players and soon was working on the Broadway circuit.  In 1934 he was cast in the film "The Scarlet Empress" and it was from his role in this film that Hollywood critics began to take an interest in Jaffe.

He began getting roles in such films as "Lost Horizon" (1937) and "Gunga Din" (1939).  He continued to work as a stage actor and it was actually eight years before he returned to Hollywood and take on another film role in "Gentleman's Agreement" (1947) followed by "The Asphalt Jungle" (1950).  

In the early 1950's, Hollywood actually blacklisted Jaffe and accused him of being a communist sympathizer, however he was still cast in the film, "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951).  When he was welcomed back to the industry he began getting hired for a number of television roles such as "Ben Casey" (1961-1965), "Batman" (1966) and "Alias Smith and Jones" (1971-1972).   
 
Throughout his acting career Jaffe appeared in a total of twenty one Broadway plays and a number of films and television series.  He was married twice throughout his lifetime, first to an operas singer and musical comedy star, Lillian Tais from 1926 until she passed away from cancer in 1941. He then married his second wife, an actress by the name of Bettye Ackerman in 1956 and they remained married and never fathered any biological children.  Jaffe passed away on March 24th, 1984 in Beverly Hills, California after suffering from cancer. 

 
Filmography

1984 Downstream
1984 Nothing Lasts Forever
1983 The Love Boat
1981 Foul Play
1980 Battle Beyond the Stars 
1980 Hallmark Hall of Fame
1980 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
1978 Flying High 
1977 Kojak 
1976 The Bionic Woman 
1976 The Sad and Lonely Sundays
1975 Medical Story 
1975 Harry O
1975 Columbo
1975 S.W.A.T. 
1974 The Streets of San Francisco 
1974 QB VII 
1973 The Snoop Sisters 
1973 Saga of Sonora
1972 Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
1972 Love, American Style
1972 Circle of Fear
1971-1972 Alias Smith and Jones
1971 Bedknobs and Broomsticks 
1971 Sam Hill: Who Killed Mr. Foster? 
1971 The Tell-Tale Heart 
1971 Enemies
1970 The Old Man Who Cried Wolf 
1970 Quarantined 
1970 Nanny and the Professor 
1970 The Dunwich Horror 
1969 Rod Serling's Night Gallery 
1969 The Great Bank Robbery 
1968 Guns for San Sebastian 
1967 Tarzan
1967 A Guide for the Married Man 
1966 Batman 
1966 Bonanza
1965 Daniel Boone 
1961-1965 Ben Casey 
1964 The Donna Reed Show 
1962 The Defenders
1961 Cain's Hundred
1960-1961 The Law and Mr. Jones
1961 Naked City
1961 The Robert Herridge Theater
1960-1961 Alfred Hitchcock Presents 
1961 The Untouchables
1961 The Islanders 
1961 Shirley Temple Theatre 
1960 The Westerner
1960 Play of the Week
1959-1960 Playhouse 90
1959 Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse 
1959 Ben-Hur
1958 The Barbarian and the Geisha 
1957 Les espions 
1951 The Day the Earth Stood Still
1951 I Can Get It for You Wholesale 
1951 Under the Gun 
1950 The Asphalt Jungle
1949 Rope of Sand
1949 The Accused
1947 Gentleman's Agreement 
1947 13 Rue Madeleine 
1939 Gunga Din 
1937 Lost Horizon 
1934 We Live Again
1934 The Scarlet Empress