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Sammy Davis Jr.

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Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, actor, comedian, dancer, and musician.

At age two, Davis began his career in Vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the Will Mastin Trio, which toured nationally, and his film career began in 1933. After military service, Davis returned to the trio and became a sensation following key nightclub performances at Ciro's (in West Hollywood) in 1951, including one after the Academy Awards ceremony. With the trio, he became a recording artist. In 1954, at the age of 29, he lost his left eye in a car accident. Several years later, he converted to Judaism, finding commonalities between the oppression experienced both by black Americans and Jewish communities.<ref name="biography1">Sammy Davis Jr. Biography. Biography.com. Retrieved June 6, 2013.</ref> In 1958, he faced a backlash for his involvement with a white woman at a time when interracial relationships were taboo in the U.S. and when interracial marriage was not legalized nationwide until 1967.<ref>Lanzendorfer, Joy (August 9, 2017) "Hollywood Loved Sammy Davis Jr. Until He Dated a White Movie Star", Smithsonian. Retrieved April 17, 2024.</ref>

Davis had a starring role on Broadway in Mr. Wonderful with Chita Rivera (1956). In 1960, he appeared in the Rat Pack film Ocean's 11. He returned to the stage in 1964 in a musical adaptation of Clifford Odets's Golden Boy. Davis was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance. The show featured the first interracial kiss on Broadway.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1966, he had his own TV variety show, titled The Sammy Davis Jr. Show. While Davis's career slowed in the late 1960s, his biggest hit, "The Candy Man", reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1972, and he became a star in Las Vegas, earning him the nickname "Mister Show Business".<ref>Casey Kasem's American Top 40 – The 70's from April 29 & May 6, 1972.</ref> Davis's popularity helped break the race barrier of the segregated entertainment industry.<ref name="Kashner"/> One day on a golf course with Jack Benny, he was asked what his handicap was. "Handicap?" he asked. "Talk about handicap. I'm a one-eyed Negro who's Jewish."<ref name="Time1960">Religion: Jewish Negro Time February 1, 1960.</ref><ref>Sammy Davis Jr. "Is My Mixed Marriage Mixing Up My Kids", Ebony, October 1966, p. 124.</ref> This was to become a signature comment.<ref>Rebecca Dube, "Menorah Illuminates Davis Jr.'s Judaism", The Jewish Daily Forward, May 29, 2009.</ref>

After reuniting with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin in 1987, Davis toured with them and Liza Minnelli internationally, before his death in 1990. He died in debt to the Internal Revenue Service,<ref>Sammy Davis, Jr.'s 'Music, Money, Madness' – NPR.</ref> and his estate was the subject of legal battles after the death of his wife.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His final album was a Country Music Album, a departure from his usual musical style.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Davis was awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award for his television performances. He was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 1987, and in 2001, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2017, Davis was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.

Early lifeEdit

Davis was born on December 8, 1925, in the Harlem district of Manhattan in New York City, the son of African American entertainer and stage performer Sammy Davis Sr. (1900–1988) and Cuban-American tap dancer and stage performer Elvera Sanchez (1905–2000).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> During his lifetime, Davis stated that his mother was Puerto Rican and born in San Juan. However, in the 2003 biography In Black and White, author Wil Haygood wrote that Davis's mother was born in New York City to Cuban parents who were of Afro-Cuban background, and that Davis claimed he was Puerto Rican because he feared anti-Cuban backlash would hurt his record sales.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name=Haygood516>Template:Cite book</ref>

Davis's parents were vaudeville dancers. As an infant, he was reared by his paternal grandmother. When he was three years old, his parents separated. His father, not wanting to lose custody of his son, took him on tour. Davis learned to dance from his father and his godfather Will Mastin. Davis joined the act as a child, and they became the Will Mastin Trio. Throughout his career, Davis included the Will Mastin Trio in his billing. Mastin and his father shielded him from racism, for example by dismissing race-based snubs as jealousy. However, when Davis served in the United States Army during World War II, he was confronted by strong prejudice. He later said: "Overnight the world looked different. It wasn't one color any more. I could see the protection I'd gotten all my life from my father and Will. I appreciated their loving hope that I'd never need to know about prejudice and hate, but they were wrong. It was as if I'd walked through a swinging door for 18 years, a door which they had always secretly held open."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> At age seven, Davis played the title role in the film Rufus Jones for President, in which he sang and danced with Ethel Waters.<ref>"Rufus Jones for President", British Film Institute, (1933)</ref> He lived for several years in Boston's South End and reminisced years later about "hoofing and singing" at Izzy Ort's Bar & Grille.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Military serviceEdit

In 1944, during World War II, Davis was drafted into the U.S. Army at age 18.<ref name="army">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was frequently abused by white soldiers from the South and later recounted: "I must have had a knockdown, drag-out fight every two days." His nose was broken numerous times and permanently flattened. At one point he was offered a beer laced with urine.<ref name="Kashner"/>

He was reassigned to the Army's Special Services branch, which put on performances for troops.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> At one show he found himself performing in front of soldiers who had previously racially abused him.<ref name="army"/> Davis, who earned the American Campaign Medal and World War II Victory Medal, was discharged in 1945 with the rank of private.<ref name="army"/> He later said, "My talent was the weapon, the power, the way for me to fight. It was the one way I might hope to affect a man's thinking."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

While in Paris in September 1944, he found himself being introduced and guided around the city by the French resistance fighter and left-wing journalist, Madeleine Riffaud.<ref name="mons">Template:Cite book</ref>

CareerEdit

1940sEdit

Following his discharge from the Army, Davis rejoined the family dance act, which played at clubs around Portland, Oregon. He also recorded blues songs for Capitol Records in 1949 under the pseudonyms Shorty Muggins and Charlie Green.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

1950sEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In March 1951, the Will Mastin Trio appeared at Ciro's as the opening act for headliner Janis Paige. They were to perform for only 20 minutes, but the reaction from the celebrity-filled crowd was so enthusiastic, especially when Davis launched into his impressions, that they performed for nearly an hour, and Paige insisted the order of the show be flipped.<ref name="Kashner">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Davis began to achieve success on his own and was singled out for praise by critics, releasing several albums.<ref>E.g. Billboard, July 25, 1953, p. 11.</ref>

In 1953, Davis was offered his own television show on ABC, Three for the Road—with the Will Mastin Trio.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> The network spent $20,000 filming the pilot, which presented African Americans as struggling musicians, not slapstick comedy or the stereotypical mammy roles of the time. The cast included Frances Davis, who was the first black ballerina to perform for the Paris Opera, actresses Ruth Attaway and Jane White, and Frederick O'Neal, who founded the American Negro Theater. The network could not get a sponsor, so the show was dropped.<ref name=":0"/>

File:Sammy Davis Jr. Steve Allen Steve Allen Show 1956.JPG
Davis and host Steve Allen rehearsing for the premiere of The Steve Allen Show in 1956

In 1954, Davis was hired to sing the title song for the Universal Pictures film Six Bridges to Cross.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="GreatThingsBio">Template:Cite book</ref> In 1956, he starred in the Broadway musical Mr. Wonderful, which was panned by critics but was a commercial success, closing after 383 performances.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In 1958, Davis was hired to crown the winner of the Miss Cavalcade of Jazz beauty contest for the famed fourteenth Cavalcade of Jazz concert produced by Leon Hefflin Sr., held at the Shrine Auditorium on August 3. The other headliners were Little Willie John, Sam Cooke, Ernie Freeman, and Bo Rhambo. The event featured the top four prominent disc jockeys of Los Angeles.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>"Sammy Davis Jr will crown..." Photo caption Mirror News July 31, 1958.</ref>

In 1959, Davis became a member of the Rat Pack, led by his friend Frank Sinatra, which included fellow performers Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford, a brother-in-law of John F. Kennedy. Initially, Sinatra called the gathering "the Clan", but Davis voiced his opposition, saying that it reminded people of the Ku Klux Klan. Sinatra renamed the group "the Summit". One long night of poker that went on into the early morning saw the men drunken and disheveled. As Angie Dickinson approached the group, she said, "You all look like a pack of rats." The nickname caught on, and they were then called the Rat Pack, the name of the earlier group led by Humphrey Bogart and his wife, Lauren Bacall, who originally made the remark about the "pack of rats" they associated with.

File:Cal-Neva Casino, NV, Lake Tahoe, The Rat Pack 9-2010 (5782322671).jpg
The Rat Pack at The Sands casino. From left to right: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop.

1960sEdit

The group around Sinatra made several movies together, including Ocean's 11 (1960), Sergeants 3 (1962), and Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964), and they performed onstage together in Las Vegas. In 1964, Davis was the first African American to sing at the Copacabana night club in New York.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Davis was a headliner at The Frontier Casino in Las Vegas, but owing to Jim Crow practices in Las Vegas, he was required (as were all black performers in the 1950s) to lodge in a rooming house on the west side of the city instead of in the hotels as his white colleagues did. No dressing rooms were provided for black performers, and they had to wait outside by the swimming pool between acts. Davis and other black artists could entertain but could not stay at the hotels where they performed, gamble in the casinos, or dine or drink in the hotel restaurants and bars. Davis later refused to work at places that practiced racial segregation.<ref>Sammy Davis Jr., Burt Boyar, and Jane Boyar, Sammy: The Autobiography of Sammy Davis Jr. (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000).</ref>

Canada provided opportunities for performers like Davis unable to break the color barrier in American broadcast television, and in 1959 he starred in his own TV special, Sammy's Parade, on the Canadian network CBC.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> It was a breakthrough event for the performer, as in the United States in the 1950s corporate sponsors largely controlled the screen: "Black people [were] not portrayed very well on television, if at all", according to Jason King of the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

File:Sammy Davis Jr. performing 1966.JPG
Davis performing in 1966

In 1964, Davis was starring in Golden Boy at night and shooting his own New York-based afternoon talk show during the day.Template:Citation needed When he could get a day off from the theater, he recorded songs in the studio, performed at charity events in Chicago, Miami, or Las Vegas, or appeared on television variety specials in Los Angeles. Davis felt he was cheating his family of his company, but he said he was incapable of standing still.

On December 11, 1967, NBC broadcast a musical-variety special featuring Nancy Sinatra, titled Movin' with Nancy. In addition to the Emmy Award-winning musical performances, the show is notable for Nancy Sinatra and Davis greeting each other with a kiss, one of the first black-white kisses on American television.<ref>Template:Cite interview</ref>

Davis had a friendship with Elvis Presley in the late 1960s, as they both were top-draw acts in Las Vegas at the same time. Davis was in many ways just as reclusive during his hotel gigs as Presley was, holding parties mainly in his penthouse suite that were occasionally attended by Presley. Davis sang a version of Presley's song "In the Ghetto" and made a cameo appearance in Presley's 1970 concert film Elvis: That's the Way It Is. One year later, he made a cameo appearance in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, but the scene was cut. In Japan, Davis appeared in television commercials for coffee and Suntory Whiskey. In the United States he joined Sinatra and Martin in a radio commercial for a Chicago car dealership.Template:Cn

Although he was still popular in Las Vegas, he saw his musical career decline by the late 1960s. He had a No. 11 hit (No. 1 on the Easy Listening singles chart) with "I've Gotta Be Me" in 1969. He signed with Motown to update his sound and appeal to young people.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

1970s–1980sEdit

File:Sammy Davis Jnr Allan Warren.jpg
Davis at home in 1986

Davis had an unexpected No. 1 hit with "The Candy Man" with MGM Records in 1972. He did not particularly care for the song and was chagrined that he had become known for it, but Davis made the most of his opportunity and revitalized his career.Template:Cn Although he enjoyed no more Top 40 hits, he did enjoy popularity with his 1976 performance of the theme song from the Baretta television series, "Baretta's Theme (Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow)" (1975–1978), which was released as a single (20th Century Records).

On May 27–28, 1973, Davis hosted (with Monty Hall) the first annual 20-hour Highway Safety Foundation telethon. Guests included Muhammad Ali, Paul Anka, Jack Barry, Joyce Brothers, Ray Charles, Dick Clark, Roy Clark, Howard Cosell, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Joe Franklin, Cliff Gorman, Richie Havens, Danny Kaye,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Jerry Lewis, Hal Linden, Rich Little, Butterfly McQueen, Minnie Pearl, Boots Randolph, Tex Ritter, Phil Rizzuto, The Rockettes, Nipsey Russell, Sally Struthers, Mel Tillis, Ben Vereen, and Lawrence Welk. It was a financial disaster. The total amount of pledges was $1.2 million. Actual pledges received were $525,000.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Davis was a huge fan of daytime television, particularly the soap operas produced by the American Broadcasting Company. He made a cameo appearance on General Hospital and had a recurring role as Chip Warren on One Life to Live, for which he received a 1980 Daytime Emmy Award nomination. Davis was also a massive fan of Australian cult soap opera Prisoner: Cell Block H and in 1986 he famously visited the Network 10 studios in Melbourne.Davis watched several scenes being filmed and met with cast and crew. He described the experience as not knowing who was more starstruck - him for meeting the cast of Prisoner or the cast for meeting Davis.

Davis was also a self confessed lover of game shows, appearing on Family Feud in 1979 and Tattletales with his wife Altovize in the 1970s.

In 1988, Davis was billed to tour with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, but Sinatra and Martin had a falling out.<ref name=":4"/> Liza Minnelli replaced Martin on the tour dubbed as ''The Ultimate Event''.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> During the tour in 1989, Davis was diagnosed with throat cancer; his treatments prevented him from performing.<ref name=":5">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=":6"/>

Political beliefs and activismEdit

File:Sammy Davis Jr.jpg
Davis during the 1963 March on Washington

Davis was a registered Democrat and supported John F. Kennedy's 1960 election campaign as well as Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 campaign.<ref name=pi>Template:Cite news</ref> He went on to become a close friend of President Richard Nixon (a Republican) and publicly endorsed him at the 1972 Republican National Convention.<ref name=pi/> Davis also made a USO tour to South Vietnam at Nixon's request.

In February 1972, during the later stages of the Vietnam War, Davis went to Vietnam to observe military drug abuse rehabilitation programs and talk to and entertain the troops. He did this as a representative from President Nixon's Special Action Office For Drug Abuse Prevention.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He performed shows for up to 15,000 troops; after one two-hour performance he reportedly said, "I've never been so tired and felt so good in my life."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The U.S. Army made a documentary about Davis's time in Vietnam performing for troops on behalf of Nixon's drug treatment program.<ref>Template:YouTube</ref>

File:Davis Nixon 1973.jpg
In the Yellow Oval Room of the White House with President Richard Nixon, March 4, 1973

Nixon invited Davis and his wife Altovize to sleep in the White House in 1973, the first time African Americans were invited to do so. The Davises spent the night in the Lincoln Bedroom.<ref>Early, G. L. (2001). The Sammy Davis Jr. reader. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.</ref> Davis later said he regretted supporting Nixon, accusing him of making promises on civil rights that he did not keep.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

"By early 1973, a desperate Sy Marsh (Davis's agent) told (Jesse) Jackson that Davis really needed help getting out of the Nixon imbroglio (1972 reelection endorsement). "Jesse (Jackson) said, 'If you can come up with $25,000 for my charity (Operation PUSH), then (have Davis) come to Chicago,'" Marsh recalls."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Davis later supported Jesse JacksonTemplate:'s 1984 campaign for president.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Personal lifeEdit

Accident and conversion to JudaismEdit

File:Dan Hadani collection (990044347890205171) (retouched).jpg
Davis at the Western Wall, Jerusalem, during a tour of Israel, 1969

Davis nearly died in an automobile accident on November 19, 1954, in San Bernardino, California, as he was making a return trip from Las Vegas to Los Angeles.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> During the previous year, he had started a friendship with comedian and host Eddie Cantor, who had given him a mezuzah. Instead of putting it by his door as a traditional blessing, Davis wore it around his neck for good luck. The only time he forgot it was the night of the accident.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The accident occurred at a fork in U.S. Route 66 at Cajon Boulevard and Kendall Drive, when a driver, who missed turning at the fork, backed up her car in Davis's lane and he drove into her car.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Davis consequently lost his left eye to the bullet-shaped horn button (a standard feature in 1954 and 1955 Cadillacs). His friend, actor Jeff Chandler, said he would give one of his own eyes to keep Davis from total blindness.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Davis wore an eye patch for at least six months following the accident.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The singer was featured with the patch on the cover of his debut album and appeared on What's My Line? wearing the patch.<ref>Template:YouTube</ref> Later, Davis was fitted for a glass eye, which he wore for the rest of his life.

In the hospital, Eddie Cantor described to Sammy the similarities between Jewish and Black cultures. Davis, born to a Catholic mother and Baptist father, was raised Catholic and began studying Jewish history as an adult, converting to Judaism several years later in 1960.<ref name="Time1960"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> One passage from his readings (from the book A History of the Jews by Abram L. Sachar), describing the endurance of the Jewish people, interested him in particular: "The Jews would not die. Three millennia of prophetic teaching had given them an unwavering spirit of resignation and had created in them a will to live which no disaster could crush."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The accident marked a turning point in Davis's career, taking him from a well-known entertainer to a national celebrity.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Relationships and marriagesEdit

In 1957, Davis was involved with actress Kim Novak, who was under contract with Columbia Pictures. Because Novak was white, Harry Cohn, the president of Columbia, gave in to his worries that backlash against the relationship could hurt the studio. There are several accounts of what happened, but they agree that Davis was threatened by organized crime figures close to Cohn.<ref name="Smithsonian">Template:Cite news</ref> According to one account, Cohn called racketeer John Roselli, who was told to inform Davis that he must stop seeing Novak. To try to scare Davis, Roselli had him kidnapped for a few hours.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Another account relates that the threat was conveyed to Davis's father by mobster Mickey Cohen.<ref name="Smithsonian"/> Davis was threatened with the loss of his other eye or a broken leg if he did not marry a black woman within two days. Davis sought the protection of Chicago mobster Sam Giancana, who said that he could protect him in Chicago and Las Vegas but not California.<ref name="Kashner"/><ref name="Smithsonian"/><ref>December 2014 BBC documentary, Sammy Davis, Jr. The Kid in the Middle.</ref>

Davis briefly married black dancer Loray White in 1958 to protect himself from mob violence;<ref name="Smithsonian"/> Davis had previously dated White, who was 23, twice divorced, and had a six-year-old child.<ref name="Kashner"/> He paid her a lump sum – $10,000 or $25,000 – to engage in a marriage on the condition that it would be dissolved before the end of the year.<ref name="Kashner"/><ref name="Smithsonian"/> Davis became inebriated at the wedding and attempted to strangle White en route to their wedding suite. Checking on him later, Davis's personal assistant Arthur Silber Jr. found Davis with a gun to his head. Davis despairingly said to Silber, "Why won't they let me live my life?"<ref name="Smithsonian"/> The couple never lived together<ref name="Kashner"/> and commenced divorce proceedings in September 1958.<ref name="Smithsonian"/> The divorce was granted in April 1959.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

File:Sammy Davis, Jr. and May Britt, 1960.jpg
Davis and May Britt in 1960

In 1959, Davis had "a short, stormy, exciting relationship" with Nichelle Nichols.<ref name="GreatThingsBio"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

File:Mr & Mrs Sammy Davis Jnr 2 Allan Warren.jpg
Davis with his third wife, Altovise Gore, in 1986

In 1960, there was another racially charged public controversy when Davis married white Swedish-born actress May Britt in a ceremony officiated by Rabbi William M. Kramer at Temple Israel of Hollywood. While interracial marriage had been legal in California since 1948, anti-miscegenation laws in the U.S. still stood in 23 states, and a 1958 Gallup Poll revealed only 4% of Americans supported marriage between black and white spouses.<ref>Newport, Frank "In U.S., 87% Approve of Black-White Marriage, vs. 4% in 1958", Gallup News, July 25, 2013.</ref> During 1964 through 1966, Davis received racist hate mail while starring in the Broadway adaptation of Golden Boy in which his character is in a relationship with a white woman, paralleling his own interracial relationship. Although New York had no laws against interracial marriage, at the time Davis appeared in the musical debate about it was still ongoing in the U.S. as Loving v. Virginia was being adjudicated. It was only in 1967 after the musical finished that anti-miscegenation laws in all states were ruled unconstitutional via the 14th Amendment adopted in 1868 by the U.S. Supreme Court.<ref>Loving v. Virginia.</ref>

Template:AnchorMay Britt's and Davis's daughter Tracey Davis (July 5, 1961 – November 2, 2020)<ref name="nydailynews/tracey-davis-sammy">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="forward/458921">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="nytimes/tracey-davis-dead">Template:Cite news</ref> alleged in a 2014 book that the marriage to Britt also resulted in President Kennedy refusing to allow Davis to perform at his inauguration.<ref name="1961snubber">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The snub was confirmed by director Sam Pollard, who revealed in a 2017 American Masters documentary that Davis's invitation to perform at the inauguration was abruptly canceled on the night of JFK's inaugural party.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In addition to Tracey, Davis and Britt adopted two sons, Mark and Jeff.<ref name="biography1"/><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Davis performed almost continuously and spent little time with his wife. They divorced in 1968 after Davis admitted to an affair with singer Lola Falana.<ref name=":6">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

In 1968, Davis started dating Altovise Gore, a dancer in Golden Boy. They were married on May 11, 1970, by Reverend Jesse Jackson and adopted a son, Manny, in 1989.<ref name=":6"/> They remained married until his death in 1990.<ref name="LATimes-1990-08-08"/> Toward the end of their marriage, Altovise Davis was sharing her mansion with Davis' girlfriend.<ref name=":1"/>

InterestsEdit

Davis was an avid photographer who enjoyed shooting pictures of family and acquaintances. His body of work was detailed in a 2007 book by Burt Boyar titled Photo by Sammy Davis, Jr.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> "Jerry [Lewis] gave me my first important camera, my first 35 millimeter, during the Ciro's period, early '50s", Boyar quotes Davis as saying "And he hooked me." Davis used a medium format camera later on to capture images. Boyar reports that Davis had said, "Nobody interrupts a man taking a picture to ask... 'What's that nigger doin' here?'". His catalog includes rare photos of his father dancing onstage as part of the Will Mastin Trio and intimate snapshots of close friends Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, James Dean, Nat "King" Cole, and Marilyn Monroe. His political affiliations also were represented, in his images of Robert Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. His most revealing work comes in photographs of wife May Britt and their three children, Tracey, Jeff and Mark.

Davis was an enthusiastic shooter and gun owner. He participated in fast-draw competitions. Johnny Cash recalled that Davis was said to be capable of drawing and firing a Colt Single Action Army revolver in less than a quarter of a second.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Davis was skilled at fast and fancy gunspinning and appeared on television variety shows showing off this skill. He also demonstrated gunspinning to Mark on The Rifleman in "Two Ounces of Tin". He appeared in western films and as a guest star on several television westerns.

In 1968, Davis attended a Satanist ceremony for the first time. Following his appearance in the 1973 comedy Poor Devil, he became an honorary warlock in the Church of Satan and was a friend of its High Priest, Anton LaVey. Even after cutting ties with the Church, he continued to perform Satanic rituals.<ref name=rs>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

HealthEdit

After Davis's marriage to May Britt ended in 1968, Davis turned to alcohol. He also "found solace in drugs, particularly cocaine and amyl nitrite" and experimented with pornography.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":1" />

After a bout with cirrhosis due to years of drinking,<ref name=":4">Template:Cite book</ref> Davis announced his sponsorship of the Sammy Davis Jr. National Liver Institute in Newark, New Jersey in 1985.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Final illness and deathEdit

File:Sammy Davis Jr. Grave.JPG
Davis's grave in the Garden of Honor, Forest Lawn Glendale

In August 1989, Davis began to develop symptoms of cancer – a tickle in his throat and an inability to taste food.<ref name=CRmagazine/> Doctors found a malignant tumor in Davis's throat.<ref name=":5"/><ref name=LASentinel/> He was a heavy smoker and had often smoked up to four packs of cigarettes a day as an adult.<ref name=LASentinel>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> When told that surgery (laryngectomy) offered him the best chance of survival, Davis replied he would rather keep his voice than have a part of his throat removed; he was treated with definitive radiation therapy.<ref name=CRmagazine>Template:Cite journal</ref> His larynx was later removed when his cancer recurred.<ref name=Haygood516/><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> He was released from the hospital on March 13, 1990.<ref name=NYTimesObit/>

Davis died of complications from throat cancer two months later at his home in Beverly Hills, California, on May 16, 1990, at age 64.<ref name=NYTimesObit>Template:Cite news</ref> He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. On May 18, 1990, two days after his death, the neon lights of the Las Vegas Strip were darkened for ten minutes as a tribute.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Several media outlets reported his death alongside Jim Henson, who died the same day.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

EstateEdit

Davis left the bulk of his estate, estimated at $4,000,000 (U.S.), to his widow Altovise Davis,<ref name="LATimes-1990-08-08">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> but he owed the IRS $5,200,000, which after interest and penalties had increased to over $7,000,000.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=":3">Template:Cite journal</ref> Altovise became liable for his debt because they had filed jointly and she had co-signed their tax returns.<ref name=":1"/> She was forced to auction his personal possessions and real estate. Some of his friends in the industry, including Quincy Jones, Joey Bishop, Ed Asner, Jayne Meadows, and Steve Allen, participated in a fundraising concert at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas.<ref name=":2"/> Altovise and the IRS reached a settlement in 1997.<ref name=":3"/> After she died in 2009, their son Manny was named executor of the estate and majority-rights holder of his intellectual property.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

LegacyEdit

PortrayalsEdit

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Honors and awardsEdit

Shortly before his death in 1990, ABC aired the TV special Sammy Davis, Jr. 60th Anniversary Celebration, produced by George Schlatter. An all-star cast, including Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Eddie Murphy, Diahann Carroll, Clint Eastwood, and Ella Fitzgerald, paid tribute to Davis.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The show was nominated for six Primetime Emmy Awards, winning Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Grammy AwardsEdit

Year Category Song Result Notes
2002 Grammy Hall of Fame Award "What Kind of Fool Am I?" Inducted Recorded in 1962
2001 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Posthumously
1972 Pop Male Vocalist "Candy Man" Nominee
1962 Record of the Year "What Kind of Fool Am I?" Nominee
1962 Male Solo Vocal Performance "What Kind of Fool Am I?" Nominee

Emmy AwardsEdit

Year Category Program Result
1990 Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special Sammy Davis Jr.'s 60th Anniversary Celebration Template:Won
1989 Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series The Cosby Show Template:Nom
1980 Outstanding Cameo Appearance in a Daytime Drama Series One Life to Live Template:Nom
1966 Outstanding Variety Special The Swinging World of Sammy Davis Jr. Template:Nom
1956 Best Specialty Act — Single or Group Sammy Davis Jr. Template:Nom

Other honorsEdit

Year Category Organization Program Result
2022 National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum Inducted
2017 Singer National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame Inducted
2008 International Civil Rights Walk of Fame Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site Inducted
2006 citation CitationClass=web

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front of Riviera Hotel Inducted
1989 NAACP Image Award NAACP Winner
1987 Kennedy Center Honors John F. Kennedy Center for
the Performing Arts 		Honoree
1985 Worst Supporting Actor Golden Raspberry Awards Cannonball Run II (1984) Nominee
1977 Best TV Actor — Musical/Comedy Golden Globe Sammy and Company (1975) Nominee
1974 Special Citation Award National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Winner
1968 NAACP Spingarn Medal Award NAACP Winner
1965 Best Actor — Musical Tony Award Golden Boy Nominee
1961 Man of the Year<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> American Guild of Variety Artists Winner
1960 citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Hollywood Walk of Fame Inducted

DiscographyEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Studio albums Template:Col div

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Work on screen and stageEdit

FilmographyEdit

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TelevisionEdit

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TheaterEdit

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

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Further readingEdit

AutobiographiesEdit

  • Yes, I Can (with Burt and Jane Boyar) (1965), Template:ISBN
  • Why Me? (with Burt and Jane Boyar) (1989), Template:ISBN
  • Sammy (with Burt and Jane Boyar) (2000), Template:ISBN; consolidates the two previous books and includes additional material
  • Hollywood in a Suitcase (1980), Template:ISBN

BiographiesEdit

OtherEdit

  • Photo by Sammy Davis, Jr. (Burt Boyar) (2007) Template:ISBN
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External linksEdit

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  • Sammy Davis Jr. FBI Records: The Vault – at fbi.gov
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