The Complicated, Talented Life of Sammy Davis, Jr.

Samuel George "Sammy" Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, and comedian. In the early 1960s, no group of guys was cooler than the Rat Pack. With Frank Sinatra at the helm, the Rat Pack was comprised of some of show business biggest names: singer Dean Martin, actor Peter Lawford, funnyman Joey Bishop and all-around utility player Sammy Davis, Jr. Sammy died on May 16th, 1990, of throat cancer. A gifted dancer and singer, he was also an accomplished actor, musician and impressionist. When he lost an eye in an auto accident, the African-American entertainer converted to Judaism. Click "Next" to continue reading America was still very uncomfortable with race in the 60's. The desegregation movement called upon principled black people to speak out and march against racial discrimination. As a mainstream performer who earned a living on TV and (along with his Rat Pack mates) in Las Vegas, Davis found himself in an uncomfortable situation: Should he use his fame to speak out against injustice, knowing that he’d risk losing the approval of his (mostly) white audience? Click "Next" To Continue Reading While African Americans were embracing their roots and growing out their Afros, Davis continued to wear his hear conked (greased down to resemble a white mans hair style). When he hugged the enormously unpopular President Richard Nixon on TV, a liberal-leaning nation gasped. And when Jack Benny asked him on a golf course what his handicap was, he replied, "Talk about handicap I'm a one-eyed Negro Jew." Many objected to his good-natured acceptance of all the racial baiting he endured, especially after he married white Swedish actress May Britt. But dwelling on how he carried his color alone would be unfair. He supported the civil-rights cause quietly some said too quietly but no less passionately. He was a swingin’, cool cat, who sang to the stars and whose acting could bring you to tears. His was a complicated life, but also an enormously talented one.

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