Sammy Davis, Jr.

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Sammy Davis, Jr. (center) at the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C.
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Sammy Davis, Jr. (center) at the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C.
This article is about the entertainer. For the football player, see Sammy Davis (American football).

Sammy Davis, Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American entertainer. He was a dancer, singer, multi-instrumentalist (playing vibraphone, trumpet, and drums), impressionist, comedian, and actor.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Davis was born in the Harlem neighborhood of New York to Elvera Sanchez, a Cuban-American dancer, and Sammy Davis, Sr., an African-American entertainer. The couple were both dancers in vaudeville. As an infant, he was raised by his paternal grandmother. When he was three years old, his parents split up. His father, not wanting to lose custody of his son, took him on tour. Sammy Davis Jr. claimed that his mother was Puerto Rican, however the 2003 biography In Black and White alleges that he made this claim due to the political sensitivities of the 1960s (during the Cuban Missile Crisis), and that his mother was born in New York of Cuban descent rather than in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

As a child he learned how to dance from his father, Sammy Davis, Sr., and his "uncle" Will Mastin, who led the dance troupe for which his father worked. Davis joined the act as a young child and they became the Will Mastin Trio. Throughout his long career, Davis included the Will Mastin Trio in his billing.

Sammy Davis, Jr. performing at a National Urban League benefit at Birdland, photo by Carl Van Vechten, June 10, 1956
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Sammy Davis, Jr. performing at a National Urban League benefit at Birdland, photo by Carl Van Vechten, June 10, 1956

Mastin and his father had shielded him from racism. Snubs were explained as jealousy. But during World War II, Davis served in the United States Army, where he was first confronted by strong racial prejudice. As he said later, "Overnight the world looked different. It wasn't one color anymore. 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 eighteen years, a door which they had always secretly held open."

[edit] Career

While in the service, however, he joined an entertainment unit, and found that the spotlight removed some of the prejudice. "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," he said.[citation needed]

Sammy Davis, Jr. (left) with Roy Wilkins (right) at the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C.
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Sammy Davis, Jr. (left) with Roy Wilkins (right) at the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C.

After he was discharged, he rejoined the dance act and began to achieve success. The next year, he released his second album. The next move in his growing career was to appear in the Broadway show Mr. Wonderful in 1956. In 1959 he became a charter member of the Rat Pack, which was led by his old friend Frank Sinatra. After he achieved success, he refused to work at venues which would practice racial segregation. His demands eventually led to the integration of Miami Beach nightclubs and Las Vegas, Nevada casinos.

In Japan, Davis appeared in television commercials for coffee.

[edit] Personal life

Davis suffered a setback on November 19, 1954, when he almost died in an automobile accident in San Bernardino, California on a return trip from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and lost his left eye. The accident occurred on a bend in U.S. Highway 66 at a railroad bridge. While in the hospital, his friend Eddie Cantor told him about the similarities between the Jewish and black cultures. During his hospital stay, Davis converted to Judaism after reading a history of the Jews. One paragraph about the ultimate endurance of the Jewish people intrigued him in particular: "The Jews would not die. Three millenia 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".[1]

In his autobiography, Davis describes his swinger lifestyle which included alcohol, cocaine, and women. He also chronicles his financial difficulties.

In the mid-1950s, Sammy was involved with Kim Novak, who was a valuable star under contract to Columbia Studios. The head of the studio, Harry Cohn called one of the mob bosses, who was asked to tell Sammy that he had to stop the affair with Miss Novak. In 1960, Davis caused controversy when he married white Swedish-born actress May Britt. Davis received hate mail when he was cast in the Broadway musical adaptation of Golden Boy in 1964, but that did not bother his fans. The play was (at first) a success, but closed quickly. At the time Davis starred in the play, interracial marriages were forbidden by law in 31 US states, and only in 1967 were those laws abolished by the US Supreme Court. The couple had one daughter and adopted two sons. Davis performed almost continuously and spent little time with his wife. They divorced in 1968, after Davis admitted to having had an affair with singer Lola Falana. That year, Davis started dating Altovise Gore, a dancer in "Golden Boy". They were wed in 1970 by Jesse Jackson. They remained married until Sammy Davis, Jr.'s death in 1990.

Sammy Davis, Jr. in the Oval Office with President Richard Nixon, March 4, 1973
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Sammy Davis, Jr. in the Oval Office with President Richard Nixon, March 4, 1973

Davis was one of the first male celebrities to admit to watching television soap operas, particularly the shows produced by the American Broadcasting Company. This admission led to him making a cameo appearance on General Hospital and playing the recurring character Chip Warren on One Life to Live for which he received a Daytime Emmy nomination in 1980.

Near the end of his life when accepting a reward from the black community in a televised event, he thanked Jesus for making it possible. The resulting furor was only quelled when Davis later said he was caught up in the moment and was not referring to his personal beliefs.[citation needed]

Davis died in Beverly Hills, California on May 16, 1990 (the same day as Jim Henson) of complications from throat cancer at age 64. Davis is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California next to his father and Will Mastin.

Because of his past-due federal income taxes, many of his memorabilia were auctioned to pay the IRS.[citation needed]

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Performances on Broadway

[edit] Autobiographies

[edit] Trivia

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  • Adam Sandler mentions Sammy Davis, Jr. in his song, "Love to Eat Turkey":
Turkey and sweet po-ta-to pie
Sammy Davis, Jr. only had one eye.
  • The character Josephus in History of the World Part I, while pretending to be Jewish, told Roman soldiers that "Sammus Davis, Jr." would "vouch for him."
  • The Rhythm of Life, from the musical Sweet Charity, was used in an award-winning television commercial for Guinness beer.
  • L.A. Punk stalwarts The Dickies wrote a song about Sammy Davis, Jr., entitled "Where Did His Eye Go?". It featured on their second album "Dawn of the Dickies" (A&M Records, 1979).
  • Sammy Davis, Jr. is mentioned by Alice Cooper in the 1980 song "Model Citizen":
I might be the saviour, here to save us
I'm a friend of Sammy Davis'
Casually
You were there, before we came
You took the hurt, you took the shame
They built the walls to block your way
You beat them down, you won the day
It wasn't right, it wasn't fair
You taught them all, you made them care
Yes, you were there, and thanks to you
There's now a door we all walk through
And we are here, for all to see
To be the best that we can be
Yes, I am here
Because you were there
She didn't understand
That I'm a happy dappy Sammy Davis, Jr. man.
  • The band Lagwagon wrote a song about Sammy Davis, Jr.'s death entitled "May 16".
  • Bill Cosby, a good friend of Davis' (who in fact once guest starred on a 1989 episode of The Cosby Show in what would be one of his last television appearances), wore a black pin that read "SDJR" in commemoration of his friend's death, from 1990 until the show's end in 1992.
  • The Soul Train Music Awards have an award named in Sammy's honor, given to the entertainer who has lived up to the high standards of quality and achievement that he himself met. Michael Jackson was one of the first awardees.
  • Sammy And Me, a musical by Eric Jordan Young and Wendy Dann, gives thoughtful tribute to and examination of the life of Sammy Davis, Jr.
  • In the film Everything Is Illuminated, the family dog is named Sammy Davis, Jr., Jr., after the grandfather's favorite singer.
  • In They Might Be Giants Podcast 8A his name appeared "Now over there in the celebrity corner, Sammy Davis, are you ready?".
  • On the TV series All in the Family (playing himself), Sammy left something in Archie Bunker's taxi. Archie, when relating the whole thing to Edith, was ecstatic about giving Sammy a ride, and the fact that he would be coming to the house to reclaim his property. (Archie completely dropped his bigoted views.) At the conclusion of Sammy's visit, he gave Archie a sustained kiss on the cheek while posing for a photo, much to the chagrin of a flummoxed Bunker.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] Footnotes

    [edit] External links

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