Jeff was born in Brooklyn and attended Erasmus High School. After high
school, he took a drama course and worked in stock companies for two
years. His next role was that of an officer in World War II. After
he was discharged from the service, he became busy acting in radio
dramas and comedies until he was signed by Universal. It was in
the fifties that Jeff would become a star, making westerns and action
pictures. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as
Cochise in Der gebrochene Pfeil (1950). He followed this by playing the role of Cochise
in two sequels: Die Schlacht am Apachenpaß (1952) and Taza, der Sohn des Cochise (1954). While his premature gray hair and
tanned features served him well in his westerns and action pictures,
the studio also put him into soaps and costume movies. In his films,
his leading ladies included Maureen O'Hara, Rhonda Fleming, Jane Russell, Joan Crawford,
and June Allyson. Shortly after his last film Durchbruch auf Befehl (1962), Jeff died, at 42,
from blood poisoning after an operation for a slipped
disc.
