Search the Collection

Carl Jaffe (Jaffé)

(1902-1974), German-British actor and producer

Sitter in 1 portrait

 Like voting
is closed

Thanks for Liking

Please Like other favourites!
If they inspire you please support our work.

Make a donation Close

List Thumbnail

Carl Jaffe, by Rex Coleman, for  Baron Studios - NPG x191711

Carl Jaffe

by Rex Coleman, for Baron Studios
half-plate film negative, 19 September 1963
NPG x191711

Comments back to top

We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.

If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.

Mr. Michael Jaffé

10 September 2020, 00:37

In 1940-42 Jaffé headed up the Army Theatre of the No.3 Royal Pioneer Corp (Ilfracombe, Devon) - his corporal was CoCo the Clown. Jaffé worked closely with the later famed Bletchley Park Intelligence Listener Fritz Lustig.

Michael Jaffé; Grandson

09 July 2015, 23:22

Jaffé was a German/Jewish actor with a prolific six-decade career in theatre, film, radio and TV. Classic German theatre training during the 1920s, in his native Hamburg, Kassel and Wiesbaden, then Berlin with Max Reinhardt. Early successes included Shakespearean performances and a rolein Germany’s most watched film; Persil’s 1932 PR-piece. His Jewish roots forced migration to England in 1936 where he remained, his wife and two young sons having already escaped in 1935. After “Alien Internment” 1939-42, then MOD Political Intelligence Dept., from 1945-1973 he was Head of BBC German Radio Language Services at Bush House London, producing and directing over 3,000 of his English lesson programmes for German speakers; “Lernt Englisch Im Londoner Rundfunk”. Jaffé gained British Naturalisation in 1947. Jaffé starred in over 30 West End/national stage productions, 57 feature films and 43 TV appearances on BBC/ITV - consistently cast as dubious German or Central European characters, often with military/espionage themes. Credits include: 1938: “Idiot’s Delight” (Sherwood), 1943: “The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp”, 1950/1: Leone d’Oro/BAFTA nominated “State Secret”, 1952: “Gay’s The Word” (Novello), 1964: NSPCC Royal Charity Premiere London: “She Loves Me” (Masteroff/Bock/Harnick), 1968: “Dad’s Army”, 1971: “Fiddler On The Roof”.