Sam Jaffe

Background

Jaffe was born in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City to Russian Jewish immigrants, the son of Hannah and Max Jaffe.

Career

He was raised on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He eventually worked his way up through the ranks to become the executive in charge of production including films directed by Ernst Lubitsch, Josef von Sternberg and Rouben Mamoulian. While running the agency, he was able to convince 20th Century Fox head Darryl F. Zanuck to let him produce The Fighting Sullivans in 1944.

He successfully represented several stars and directors of the era, including Humphrey Bogart, Fritz Language, Raoul Walsh, Stanley Kubrick, Lauren Bacall, David Niven, Zero Mostel, Richard Burton, Mary Astor, Barbara Stanwyck, Lee J. Cobb, and Jennifer Jones.

In the 1950s, his business was negatively affected by the investigations of many of his clients by the House Un-American Activities Committee investigations into Hollywood. In 1959, he retired and moved to London where he produced several films including Born Free in 1966 and Theater of Blood in 1973.

In 1985, he returned to Los Angeles where he became a collector of modern art

Connections

brother-in-law:

British Public Schulberg