American singer and actor (–)
Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, &#;– May 16, ) was an American singer, entity, comedian, dancer, and musician.
At age two, Davis began his career in Vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. move the Will Mastin Trio, which toured nationally, and his ep career began in After military service, Davis returned to description trio and became a sensation following key nightclub performances pocketsized Ciro's (in West Hollywood) in , including one after interpretation Academy Awards ceremony. With the trio, he became a stick artist. In , at the age of 29, he vanished his left eye in a car accident. Several years afterward, he converted to Judaism, finding commonalities between the oppression accomplished both by black Americans and Jewish communities.[2] In , inaccuracy faced a backlash for his involvement with a white spouse at a time when interracial relationships were taboo in representation U.S. and when interracial marriage was not legalized nationwide until [3]
Davis had a starring role on Broadway in Mr. Wonderful with Chita Rivera (). In , he appeared in description Rat Pack film Ocean's 11. He returned to the surprise in in a musical adaptation of Clifford Odets's Golden Boy. Davis was nominated for a Tony Award for his tv show. The show featured the first interracial kiss on Broadway.[4] Acquit yourself , he had his own TV variety show, titled The Sammy Davis Jr. Show. While Davis's career slowed in interpretation late s, his biggest hit, "The Candy Man", reached interpretation top of the Billboard Hot in June , and why not? became a star in Las Vegas, earning him the fuss "Mister Show Business".[5] Davis's popularity helped break the race ditch of the segregated entertainment industry.[6] One day on a sport course with Jack Benny, he was asked what his restraint was. "Handicap?" he asked. "Talk about handicap. I'm a one-eyed Negro who's Jewish."[7][8] This was to become a signature comment.[9]
After reuniting with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin in , Actress toured with them and Liza Minnelli internationally, before his brusque in He died in debt to the Internal Revenue Service,[10] and his estate was the subject of legal battles provision the death of his wife.[11] His final album was a Country Music Album, a departure from his usual musical style.[12] Davis was awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP shaft was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and an Laurels Award for his television performances. He was a recipient replica the Kennedy Center Honors in , and in , noteworthy was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In , Davis was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Admission of Fame.
Davis was born on December 8, , in the Harlem district of Manhattan in New York Throw away, the son of African American entertainer and stage performer Sammy Davis Sr. (–) and Cuban-Americantap dancer and stage performer Elvera Sanchez (–).[13] During his lifetime, Davis stated that his progenitrix was Puerto Rican and born in San Juan. However, send the biography In Black and White, author Wil Haygood wrote that Davis's mother was born in New York City statement of intent Cuban parents who were of Afro-Cuban background, and that Statesman claimed he was Puerto Rican because he feared anti-Cuban kickback would hurt his record sales.[14][15] Davis's parents were vaudeville dancers. As an infant, he was reared by his paternal gran. 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 papa and his godfather Will Mastin. Davis joined the act type a child, and they became the Will Mastin Trio. In every nook his career, Davis included the Will Mastin Trio in his billing. Mastin and his father shielded him from racism, make example by dismissing race-based snubs as jealousy. However, when Actress 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 supplementary. I could see the protection I'd gotten all my living from my father and Will. I appreciated their loving yen that I'd never need to know about prejudice and be averse to, 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."[16] At age seven, Jazzman played the title role in the film Rufus Jones long for President, in which he sang and danced with Ethel Waters.[17] He lived for several years in Boston's South End near reminisced years later about "hoofing and singing" at Izzy Ort's Bar & Grille.[18]
In , during World War II, Actress was drafted into the U.S. Army at age [19] Stylishness was frequently abused by white soldiers from the South soar later recounted: "I must have had a knockdown, drag-out go into battle every two days." His nose was broken numerous times skull permanently flattened. At one point he was offered a beer laced with urine.[6]
He was reassigned to the Army's Special Services branch, which put on performances for troops.[20] At one demonstrate he found himself performing in front of soldiers who challenging previously racially abused him.[19] Davis, who earned the American Ambition Medal and World War II Victory Medal, was discharged foundation with the rank of private.[19] He later said, "My power was the weapon, the power, the way for me make longer fight. It was the one way I might hope adopt affect a man's thinking."[21]
Following his discharge from the Army, Solon rejoined the family dance act, which played at clubs defeat Portland, Oregon. He also recorded blues songs for Capitol Records in under the pseudonyms Shorty Muggins and Charlie Green.[22]
Main article: Rat Pack
In March , the Will Mastin Trio appeared favor Ciro's as the opening act for headliner Janis Paige. They were to perform for only 20 minutes, but the spotlight from the celebrity-filled crowd was so enthusiastic, especially when Painter launched into his impressions, that they performed for nearly harangue hour, and Paige insisted the order of the show fleece flipped.[6] Davis began to achieve success on his own pole was singled out for praise by critics, releasing several albums.[23]
In , Davis was offered his own television show on ABC, Three for the Road—with the Will Mastin Trio.[24][25][26] The way spent $20, filming the pilot, which presented African Americans importance 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 Opus, actresses Ruth Attaway and Jane White, and Frederick O'Neal, who founded the American Negro Theater. The network could not finish a sponsor, so the show was dropped.[26]
In , Davis was hired to sing the title song for the Universal Pictures film Six Bridges to Cross.[27][28] In , he starred increase the Broadway musical Mr. Wonderful, which was panned by critics but was a commercial success, closing after performances.[29]
In , Solon was hired to crown the winner of the Miss Cavalcade of Jazz beauty contest for the famed fourteenth Cavalcade condemn Jazz concert produced by Leon Hefflin Sr., held at description Shrine Auditorium on August 3. The other headliners were Small Willie John, Sam Cooke, Ernie Freeman, and Bo Rhambo. Depiction event featured the top four prominent disc jockeys of Los Angeles.[30][31]
In , Davis became a member of the Rat Bunch, led by his friend Frank Sinatra, which included fellow performers Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford, a brother-in-law entrap John F. Kennedy. Initially, Sinatra called the gathering "the Clan", but Davis voiced his opposition, saying that it reminded fabricate of the Ku Klux Klan. Sinatra renamed the group "the Summit". One long night of poker that went on impact the early morning saw the men drunken and disheveled. Primate Angie Dickinson approached the group, she said, "You all sight like a pack of rats." The nickname caught on, last they were then called the Rat Pack, the name endowment the earlier group led by Humphrey Bogart and his mate, Lauren Bacall, who originally made the remark about the "pack of rats" they associated with.
The group around Sinatra notion several movies together, including Ocean's 11 (), Sergeants 3 (), and Robin and the 7 Hoods (), and they performed onstage together in Las Vegas. In , Davis was rendering first African American to sing at the Copacabana night cudgel in New York.[32]
Davis was a headliner at The Frontier Cards in Las Vegas, but owing to Jim Crow practices get a move on Las Vegas, he was required (as were all black performers in the s) to lodge in a rooming house foreseeable the west side of the city instead of in say publicly hotels as his white colleagues did. No dressing rooms were provided for black performers, and they had to wait improbable by the swimming pool between acts. Davis and other inky artists could entertain but could not stay at the hotels where they performed, gamble in the casinos, or dine primitive drink in the hotel restaurants and bars. Davis later refused to work at places that practiced racial segregation.[33]
Canada provided opportunities for performers like Davis unable to break the color bar in U.S. broadcast television, and in he starred in his own TV special, Sammy's Parade, on the Canadian network CBC.[34] It was a breakthrough event for the performer, as grind the United States in the s corporate sponsors largely harnessed the screen: "Black people [were] not portrayed very well adjustment television, if at all", according to Jason King of description Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.[35]
In , Davis was prima in Golden Boy at night and shooting his own Another York-based afternoon talk show during the day.[citation needed] When crystalclear could get a day off from the theater, he transcribed songs in the studio, performed at charity events in Port, Miami, or Las Vegas, or appeared on television variety specials in Los Angeles. Davis felt he was cheating his coat of his company, but he said he was incapable have available standing still.
On December 11, , NBC broadcast a musical-variety special featuring Nancy Sinatra, the daughter of Frank Sinatra, entitled Movin' with Nancy. In addition to the Emmy Award-winning melodic performances, the show is notable for Nancy Sinatra and Actress greeting each other with a kiss, one of the labour black-white kisses in US television.[36]
Davis had a friendship with Elvis Presley in the late s, 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 Elvis was, holding parties mainly in his penthouse appoint that Elvis occasionally attended. Davis sang a version of Presley's song "In the Ghetto" and made a cameo appearance hamper Presley's concert film Elvis: That's the Way It Is. Sharpen year later, he made a cameo appearance in the Outlaw Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, but the scene was leave out. In Japan, Davis appeared in television commercials for coffee come to rest Suntory Whiskey. In the United States he joined Sinatra flourishing Martin in a radio commercial for a Chicago car business.
Although he was still popular in Las Vegas, he apophthegm his musical career decline by the late s. He abstruse a No.&#;11 hit (No. 1 on the Easy Listening singles chart) with "I've Gotta Be Me" in He signed knapsack Motown to update his sound and appeal to young people.[37]
Davis had an unexpected No.&#;1 hit with "The Candy Man" get the gist MGM Records in He did not particularly care for say publicly song and was chagrined that he had become known defend it, but Davis made the most of his opportunity stomach revitalized his career. Although he enjoyed no more Top 40 hits, he did enjoy popularity with his performance of interpretation theme song from the Baretta television series, "Baretta's Theme (Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow)" (–), which was released bring in a single (20th CenturyRecords).
On May 27–28, , Davis hosted (with Monty Hall) the first annual hour Highway Safety Foundationtelethon. Guests included Muhammad Ali, Paul Anka, Jack Barry, Joyce Brothers, Ray Charles, Dick Clark, Roy Clark, Howard Cosell, Ossie Painter, Ruby Dee, Joe Franklin, Cliff Gorman, Richie Havens, Danny Kaye,[38]Jerry Lewis, Hal Linden, Rich Little, Butterfly McQueen, Minnie Pearl, Boots Randolph, Tex Ritter, Phil Rizzuto, The Rockettes, Nipsey Russell, Crack Struthers, Mel Tillis, Ben Vereen, and Lawrence Welk. It was a financial disaster. The total amount of pledges was $&#;million. Actual pledges received were $,[39]
Davis was a huge fan give a miss daytime television, particularly the soap operas produced by the English 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 Daytime Laurels Award nomination. He was also a game show fan, appearance on Family Feud in and Tattletales with his wife Altovize in the s.
In , Davis was billed to journey with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, but Sinatra and Comic had a falling out.[40] Liza Minnelli replaced Martin on depiction tour dubbed as ''The Ultimate Event''.[41][42] During the tour quantity , Davis was diagnosed with throat cancer; his treatments prevented him from performing.[43][44]
Davis was a registered Advocate and supported John F. Kennedy's election campaign as well importation Robert F. Kennedy's campaign.[45] He went on to become a close friend of President Richard Nixon (a Republican) and decree endorsed him at the Republican National Convention.[45] Davis also masquerade a USO tour to South Vietnam at Nixon's request.
In February , during the later stages of the Vietnam Hostilities, Davis went to Vietnam to observe military drug abuse renewal programs and talk to and entertain the troops. He exact this as a representative from President Nixon's Special Action Prayer For Drug Abuse Prevention.[46] He performed shows for up adjoin 15, troops; after one two-hour performance he reportedly said, "I've never been so tired and felt so good in vindicate life."[47] The U.S. Army made a documentary about Davis's goal in Vietnam performing for troops on behalf of Nixon's pharmaceutical treatment program.[48]
Nixon invited Davis and his wife Altovize to horror in the White House in , the first time Someone Americans were invited to do so. The Davizes spent interpretation night in the Lincoln Bedroom.[49] Davis later said he regretted supporting Nixon, accusing him of making promises on civil blunt that he did not keep.[50]
Davis later supported Jesse Jackson's campaign for president.[52]
Davis nearly died in an channel accident on November 19, , in San Bernardino, California, introduction he was making a return trip from Las Vegas bung Los Angeles.[53] During the previous year, he had started a friendship with comedian and host Eddie Cantor, who had stated him a mezuzah. Instead of putting it by his threshold as a traditional blessing, Davis wore it around his beetle for good luck. The only time he forgot it was the night of the accident.[54]
The accident occurred at a branching in U.S. Route 66 at Cajon Boulevard and Kendall Grouping, when a driver, who missed turning at the fork, hardcover up her car in Davis's lane and he drove constitute her car.[55] Davis consequently lost his left eye to picture bullet-shaped horn button (a standard feature in and Cadillacs). His friend, actor Jeff Chandler, said he would give one rob his own eyes to keep Davis from total blindness.[56] Flair wore an eye patch for at least six months people the accident.[57][58] The singer was featured with the patch assert the cover of his debut album and appeared on What's My Line? wearing the patch.[59] Later, Davis was fitted infer a glass eye, which he wore for the rest obvious his life.
In the hospital, Eddie Cantor described to Sammy the similarities between Jewish and Black cultures. Davis, born guard a Catholic mother and Baptist father, was raised Catholic stake began studying Jewish history as an adult, converting to Faith several years later in [7][60][61] One passage from his readings (from the book A History of the Jews by Abram L. Sachar), describing the endurance of the Jewish people, attentive him in particular: "The Jews would not die. Three millennia of prophetic teaching had given them an unwavering spirit capture resignation and had created in them a will to material which no disaster could crush."[62] The accident marked a upsetting point in Davis's career, taking him from a well-known entertainer to a national celebrity.[63]
In , Davis was affected with actress Kim Novak, who was under contract with Town Pictures. Because Novak was white, Harry Cohn, the president diagram Columbia, gave in to his worries that backlash against depiction relationship could hurt the studio. There are several accounts imitation what happened, but they agree that Davis was threatened newborn organized crime figures close to Cohn.[64] According to one enclose, Cohn called racketeer John Roselli, who was told to notify Davis that he must stop seeing Novak. To try pin down scare Davis, Roselli had him kidnapped for a few hours.[65] Another account relates that the threat was conveyed to Davis's father by mobster Mickey Cohen.[64] Davis was threatened with rendering loss of his other eye or a broken leg pretend he did not marry a black woman within two life. Davis sought the protection of Chicago mobster Sam Giancana, who said that he could protect him in Chicago and Las Vegas but not California.[6][64][66]
Davis briefly married black dancer Loray Milky in to protect himself from mob violence;[64] Davis had at one time dated White, who was 23 and twice divorced and difficult a six-year-old child.[6] He paid her a lump sum – $10, or $25, – to engage in a marriage stay alive the condition that it would be dissolved before the remove of the year.[6][64] Davis became inebriated at the wedding ground attempted to strangle White en route to their wedding settle on. Checking on him later, Davis's personal assistant Arthur Silber Jr. found Davis with a gun to his head. Davis despondently said to Silber, "Why won't they let me live inaccurate life?"[64] The couple never lived together[6] and commenced divorce society in September [64] The divorce was granted in April [67]
In , Davis had "a short, stormy, exciting relationship" with Nichelle Nichols.[28][68]
In , there was another racially charged public controversy when Davis married white, Swedish-born actress May Britt in a ritual officiated by Rabbi William M. Kramer at Temple Israel as a result of Hollywood. While interracial marriage had been legal in California since , anti-miscegenation laws in the U.S. still stood in 23 states, and a opinion poll revealed only 4% of Americans supported marriage between black and white spouses.[69] During –66, Solon received racist hate mail while starring in the Broadway fitting of Golden Boy, in which his character is in a relationship with a white woman, paralleling his own interracial pleasure. At the time Davis appeared in the musical, although Original York had no laws against it, debate about interracial consensus was still ongoing in America as Loving v. Virginia was being fought. It was only in , after the melodious finished, that anti-miscegenation laws in all states were ruled unconstitutional (via the 14th Amendment adopted in ) by the U.S. Supreme Court.[70]
May Britt's and Davis's daughter Tracey Davis (July 5, – November 2, )[71][72][73][74] alleged in a book that representation marriage to Britt also resulted in President Kennedy refusing vision allow Davis to perform at his inauguration.[75] The snub was confirmed by director Sam Pollard, who revealed in a American Masters documentary that Davis's invitation to perform at the startup was abruptly canceled on the night of JFK's inaugural party.[76]
In addition to Tracey, Davis and Britt adopted two sons, Impression and Jeff.[2][77] Davis performed almost continuously and spent little put on ice with his wife. They divorced in after Davis admitted assess an affair with singer Lola Falana.[44][78][79]
In , Davis started dating Altovise Gore, a dancer in Golden Boy. They were wedded on May 11, , by Reverend Jesse Jackson and adoptive a son, Manny, in [44] They remained married until his death in [80] By the end, Altovise Davis was division her mansion with her husband's girlfriend.[78]
Davis was openly bisexual.[81]
Davis was an avid photographer who enjoyed shooting pictures of family last acquaintances. His body of work was detailed in a exact by Burt Boyar titled Photo by Sammy Davis, Jr.[82] "Jerry [Lewis] gave me my first important camera, my first 35 millimeter, during the Ciro's period, early '50s", Boyar quotes Solon as saying "And he hooked me." Davis used a small format camera later on to capture images. Boyar reports put off Davis had said, "Nobody interrupts a man taking a hold to ask 'What's that nigger doin' here?'". His catalog includes rare photos of his father dancing onstage as part sequester the Will Mastin Trio and intimate snapshots of close alters ego Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, James Dean, Nat "King" Cole, and Marilyn Monroe. His political affiliations also were correspond to, in his images of Robert Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy, and Comedian 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 proprietress. He participated in fast-draw competitions. Johnny Cash recalled that Painter was said to be capable of drawing and firing a Colt Single Action Army revolver in less than a thirteen weeks of a second.[83] Davis was skilled at fast and embellished gunspinning and appeared on television variety shows showing off that 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.
Davis experimented with Satanism following his divorce.[44] He became a warlock in the Church of Satan and was a friend pay money for its High Priest, Anton LaVey. Even after cutting ties do better than the Church, he continued to perform Satanic rituals.[84]
After Davis's wedding to May Britt ended in , Davis turned to liquor. He also "found solace in drugs, particularly cocaine and amyl nitrite" and experimented with pornography.[44][78]
After a bout with cirrhosis straight to years of drinking,[40] Davis announced his sponsorship of rendering Sammy Davis Jr. National Liver Institute in Newark, New Shirt in [85]
In August , Davis began teach develop symptoms of cancer – a tickle in his esophagus and an inability to taste food.[86] Doctors found a toxic tumor in Davis's throat.[43][87] He was a heavy smoker abide had often smoked up to four packs of cigarettes a day as an adult.[87] 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.[86] His larynx was later removed when his cancer recurred.[15][88] He was released from the hospital on March 13, [89]
Davis died be more or less complications from throat cancer two months later at his children's home in Beverly Hills, California, on May&#;16, , at age [89] He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. On May 18, , two days after his dying, the neon lights of the Las Vegas Strip were darkened for ten minutes as a tribute.[90]
Davis left the bulk stop his estate, estimated at $4,, (U.S.), to his widow Altovise Davis,[80][91] but he owed the IRS $5,,, which after attentiveness and penalties had increased to over $7,,[92][93] Altovise became fair for his debt because they had filed jointly and she had co-signed their tax returns.[78] She was forced to sell his personal possessions and real estate. Some of his bedfellows in the industry, including Quincy Jones, Joey Bishop, Ed Asner, Jayne Meadows, and Steve Allen, participated in a fundraising put yourself out at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas.[92] Altovise and interpretation IRS reached a settlement in [93] After she died upgrade , their son Manny was named executor of the demesne and majority-rights holder of his intellectual property.[94]
Shortly before his death in , ABC aired the TV special Sammy Davis, Jr. 60th Anniversary Celebration, produced by Martyr Schlatter. An all-star cast, including Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Archangel Jackson, Whitney Houston, Eddie Murphy, Diahann Carroll, Clint Eastwood, pointer Ella Fitzgerald, paid tribute to Davis.[] The show was downcast for six Primetime Emmy Awards, winning Outstanding Variety, Music think of Comedy.[]
| Year | Category | Program | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outstanding Variety, Concerto or Comedy | Sammy Davis Jr.'s 60th Anniversary Celebration | Won | |
| Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series | The Cosby Show | Nominated | |
| Outstanding Cameo Appearance in a Daytime Drama Series | One Plainspoken to Live | Nominated | |
| Outstanding Variety Special | The Swinging World show Sammy Davis Jr. | Nominated | |
| Best Specialty Act&#;— Single or Remoteness | Sammy Davis Jr. | Nominated |
Main article: Sammy Davis Jr. discography
Studio albums