Sam Jaffe Biography

Fast Facts

• Won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the 1950 Venice Film Festival for "The Asphalt Jungle․"
• Worked as a math teacher for several years before switching to acting as a profession
• His characters were often very smart, but strange in some way
• Was known to draw upon his own emotions and memories to realistically portray his characters before method acting was mainstream
• It is rumored that he came up with the calculus equations written on his character's blackboard in "The Day the Earth Stood Still․"
• Though he was blacklisted before filming for "The Day the Earth Stood Still" began, producer Julian Blaustein thought that he was so crucial to the film that he appealed to the studio's chief and won approval for Jaffe to remain signed
• Was close friends with such notable figures as author Ray Bradbury and composer Igor Stravinsky