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Sammy Davis Jr.

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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.

Biography

Early life

Davis, Jr. was born in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York to Elvera Sanchez, a 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 during his lifetime 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 [1].

As a child he learned how to dance from his father, Sammy Davis, Sr. and his "uncle" Will Mastin, who led the dance troupe his father worked for. 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

Mastin and his father had shielded him from racism. Snubs were explained as jealousy, for instance, 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."

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.

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.

Personal life

Davis, Jr. 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. Davis converted to Judaism after reading a history of the Jews in the hospital. One paragraph about the ultimate endurance of the Jewish people intrigued him in particular: "The Jews would not die. Three centuries 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 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, Jr. 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 Richard Nixon, March 4, 1973

Davis, Jr. 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, Jr. died in Beverly Hills, California on May 16, 1990 (the same day as Jim Henson) of complications from throat cancer at the age of 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, much of his memorabilia was auctioned to pay the IRS. [citation needed]

Filmography

Performances on Broadway

Autobiographies

  • Yes I Can (with Burt and Jane Boyar) (1965) ISBN 0-374-52268-5
  • Why ? (with Burt and Jane Boyar) (1980) ISBN 0-446-36025-2
  • Sammy (with Burt and Jane Boyar) (2000) ISBN 0-374-29355-4 Consolidates the two previous books and includes additional material.
  • Hollywood in a Suitcase (1980) ISBN 0-425-05091-2

Trivia

  • The Rhythm of Life, from the musical Sweet Charity, was used in an award-winning television commercial for Guinness beer.
  • Sammy Davis Jr. is mentioned by Alice Cooper in the 1980 song "Model Citizen", in the lines "I might be the saviour, here to save us / I'm a friend of Sammy Davis' / Casually".
  • Michael Jackson wrote a song for Sammy Davis titled, "You Were There".
    • "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." - Words and music by Michael Jackson
  • Metal band GWAR has made at least two references to Sammy Davis: a song on the 1997 album Carnival of Chaos called "Sammy", and the 1999 song "Child" on We Kill Everything.
    • "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. Visit www.wendydann.com/sammypage/htm

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ Haygood, Wil (2003). In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr. New York: A.A. Knopf (Random House). p. 516. ISBN 0-375-40354-X. Retrieved 2006-04-29.

Web sites

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