Biography

Sammy Davis Jr.

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Overview

Born
December 8, 1925 · Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
Died
May 16, 1990 · Beverly Hills, California, USA (complications from throat cancer)
Birth name
Samuel George Davis
Nickname
- Smoky
Height
5′ 4½″ (1.64 m)

Mini bio

Sammy Davis Jr. was often billed as the "greatest living entertainer in the world".

He was born in Harlem, Manhattan, the son of dancer Elvera Davis (née Sanchez) and vaudeville star Sammy Davis Sr.. His father was African-American and his mother was of Cuban and African-American ancestry. Davis Jr. was known as someone who could do it all, sing, dance, play instruments, act, do stand-up and he was known for his self-deprecating humor; he once heard someone complaining about discrimination, and he said, "You got it easy. I'm a short, ugly, one-eyed, black Jew. What do you think it's like for me?" (he had converted to Judaism).

A short stint in the army opened his eyes to the evils of racism. A slight man, he was often beaten up by bigger white soldiers and given the dirtiest and most dangerous assignments by white officers simply because he was black. He helped break down racial barriers in show business in the 1950s and 1960s, especially in Las Vegas, where he often performed; when he started there in the early 1950s, he was not allowed to stay in the hotels he played in, as they refused to take blacks as customers. He also stirred up a large amount of controversy in the 1960s by openly dating, and ultimately marrying, blonde, blue-eyed, Swedish-born actress May Britt.

He starred in the Broadway musical "Golden Boy" in the 1960s. Initially a success, internal tensions, production problems and bad reviews--many of them directed at Davis for playing a role originally written for a white man resulted in its closing fairly quickly. His film and nightclub career were in full swing, however, and he became even more famous as one of the "Rat Pack", a group of free-wheeling entertainers that included Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford.

A chain smoker, Davis died from throat cancer at the age of 64. When he died, he was in debt. To pay for Davis' funeral, most of his memorabilia was sold off.
- IMDb mini biography by: rocknrollunderdawg

Family

Spouses
Children
Parents
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Trademarks

His glass eye (the left eye)
Frequently worked with fellow Rat Pack members Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford
Short stature

Trivia

Despite being 64 at the time of his death, he was survived by his mother Elvera Sanchez (1905-2000) and his grandmother, Elvera's mother Luisa (who died in 1995 at 112).
Shortly after his death on May 16, 1990, the hotels on the Las Vegas Strip turned off their exterior lights for 10 minutes in tribute. There is currently an outdoor theater in Las Vegas named in his honor, the Sammy Davis Jr. Festival Plaza.
He and the other members of the Rat Pack were banned from Marilyn Monroe's funeral by Joe DiMaggio
He lost his left eye in a car crash when he was on his way to record the theme song for the Tony Curtis film, Six Bridges to Cross (1955). He wore an eyepatch for sometime after that, but Humphrey Bogart ultimately convinced him to unmask when he told him that he didn't want to be known as the kid with the eyepatch.
Shortly before his death surgeons removed his voice box in a larengectomy, but the cancer had spread.

Quotes

Being a star has made it possible for me to get insulted in places where the average Negro could never hope to get insulted.
[when asked what his golf handicap was] My handicap? Man, I am a one-eyed black Jew! THAT'S my handicap!
I'm colored, Jewish and Puerto Rican. When I move into a neighborhood, I wipe it out!
You have to be able to look back at your own life and say, "Yeah, that was fun." The only person I ever hurt was myself and even that I did to the minimum. If you can do that and you're still functioning, you're the luckiest person in the world.
I'm 64 years old, but I feel I've lived the life of a person at 164.