Bettye Ackerman, 82, "Ben Casey" star
Stephen Bowie
state of South Carolina. She was a very gracious woman and rather
circumspect, when I interviewed her in 1996, on the subject of her
co-star Vince Edwards, whose bad behavior supposedly pushed her husband
Sam Jaffe to leave the cast of "Ben Casey" in 1965.
Here's the obit from the Columbia State:
Bettye Ackerman Jaffe | S.C. stage, TV actress
By PAT BERMAN
pbe...@thestate.com
Bettye Ackerman Jaffe, who died Wednesday at age 82, wasn't looking
for fame and fortune when she graduated from Columbia College in 1945
and left soon after for New York with one new dress, $25 in her pocket
and dreams of being a serious actress.
"I was on my way," she recalled in a 1986 interview with The State
newspaper. "New York was the Mecca for theater. I thought it was the
promised land. How my parents let me go, I'll never know."
The oldest of four children and the only daughter, Ackerman Jaffe grew
up in Williston, where her father, Clarence Ackerman, was school
superintendent and her younger brothers idolized her.
"She was completely open - without guile. She persisted in seeing
the good in people," said her brother Robert Ackerman, who lives in
Lexington.
She took classes and quickly landed a role in Moliere's
"Tartuffe," but before the play opened, the lead actor left. She
and another actor were sent to recruit a replacement, Sam Jaffe.
She was smitten. "My husband told me later, 'You came as bait you
know,'" she told an interviewer.
The couple married in 1956 and were together until his death in 1984.
They also performed together frequently, including on the popular 1960s
television show, "Ben Casey."
Sam Jaffe, a New York actor who had been blacklisted in Hollywood in
the 1950s, auditioned for the role of Dr. Zorba. But he didn't drive
and Bettye said she would chauffeur him in L.A.
When she showed up with him on the first day, the director had her read
for the part of nurse Maggie Graham.
Onstage, the couple appeared in "The Merchant of Venice" and in an
adaptation of the story of Job. Their last joint TV performance was on
"The Love Boat."
Ackerman Jaffe also appeared on a number of television series in the
1950s through the '80s, from "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" to
"Perry Mason" and "The Waltons."
She began a career as an artist in the early 1960s - drawing a
much-praised picture of her husband. The subject seemed an easy choice
as she recalled being on the set of a John Wayne movie and hearing the
actor say to Sam, "You know, you're the cutest man I ever saw."
Ackerman Jaffe took classes and began painting and sculpting in earnest
by the mid 1960s. Her work was exhibited in New York, Los Angeles and
Columbia.
When Ackerman Jaffe gave the Columbia College commencement address in
1986, she donated one of her paintings, a floral monotype, to the
school in memory of a favorite teacher, Mary Lou Kramer.
Ackerman Jaffe sold her Beverly Hills home in 1998 and moved back to
Columbia to be near family and friends. Shortly after returning, she
was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
"She had a great life. It was not a tragic death at all," Bob
Ackerman said. "You know she played Portia in Shakespeare's
'Merchant of Venice.' And I'm going to read Portia's first line
in the play for Bettye's eulogy:
"By my troth, Nerissa, my little body is aweary of this great
world."
Ackerman Jaffe's funeral will be at 4 p.m. today at the Folk Funeral
Home chapel in Williston, with burial in Williston Cemetery.
Stephen Bowie
reported in all the reference books -- born in 1924, not 1928. So she
was "only" 33 years younger than her husband, not 37....
eatwe...@aol.com
Sandra
Ed Varner
Stephen Bowie wrote:
> "Ben Casey" leading lady Bettye Ackerman died November 1 in her home
> state of South Carolina. She was a very gracious woman and rather
> circumspect, when I interviewed her in 1996, on the subject of her
> co-star Vince Edwards, whose bad behavior supposedly pushed her husband
> Sam Jaffe to leave the cast of "Ben Casey" in 1965.
photo from "Ben Casey" :
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/24/Bettye_Ackerman.jpg
photo from 2003:
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Show/2764/bettyeackerman.html
Ed
Brad Ferguson
<eatwe...@aol.com> wrote:
> I remember both of them. Did she and Sam have children?
No. Sam was married twice; his wife Lillian died in 1941 (no children
there, either), and he married Bettye in 1956. Sam was Bettye's first
and only husband. Sam died in 1984.