You will find
as you look back upon your life
that the moments when you have truly lived
are the moments when you have done things
in the spirit of love. ~ Henry DrummondSAMUEL GEORGE DAVIS, JR. ~
DECEMBER 8, 1925 ~ MAY 16, 1990Sammy Davis was born December 8, 1925 in the Harlem neighborhood of New York to Elvera Sanchez, a Puerto Rican 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. Unknown to most Sammy had a sister Ramona Cecelia Davis who died in April of 2001.Recognized throughout much of his career as "the world's greatest living entertainer," Sammy Davis Jr. was a remarkably popular and versatile performer equally adept at acting, singing, dancing, and impersonations -- in short, a variety artist in the classic tradition.
THE "RAT PACK"A member of the famed Rat Pack, he was among the very first African-American talents to find favor with audiences on both sides of the color barrier, and he remains a perennial icon of cool. Born in Harlem on December 8, 1925, Davis made his stage debut at the age of three, performing with Holiday in Dixieland, a black vaudeville troupe featuring his father and helmed by his de facto uncle, Will Mastin. Dubbed "Silent Sam, the Dancing Midget," he proved phenomenally popular with audiences and the act was soon renamed Will Mastin's Gang Featuring Little Sammy. At the age of seven, Davis made his film debut in the legendary musical short Rufus Jones for President, and later received tap dancing lessons courtesy of the great Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. In 1941, the Mastin Gang opened for Tommy Dorsey at Detroit's Michigan Theater. There Davis first met Dorsey vocalist Frank Sinatra, what was the beginning of a lifelong friendship.
THE WILL MASTIN TRIOIn 1943, Davis joined the U.S. Army, where he endured a constant battle with racism. Upon his return from duty, the group was renamed the Will Mastin Trio. Three years later, they opened for Mickey Rooney, who encouraged Davis to begin including his many impersonations in the trio's act. Where previously they had exclusively performed music, the addition of comedy brought new life to the group, and by the beginning of the next decade, they were headlining venues including New York's Capitol Club and Ciro's in Hollywood.In 1952, at the invitation of Sinatra, they also played the newly integrated Copacabana. In 1954, Davis signed to Decca, topping the charts with his debut LP, Starring Sammy Davis Jr. That same year he lost his left eye in a much-publicized auto accident, but upon returning to the stage in early 1955 was greeted with even greater enthusiasm than before on the strength of a series of hit singles including "Something's Gotta Give," "Love Me or Leave Me," and "That Old Black Magic." A year later, Davis made his Broadway debut in the musical Mr. Wonderful, starring in the show for over 400 performances and launching a hit with the song "Too Close for Comfort."
In 1958, Davis resumed his film career after a quarter-century layoff with Anna Lucasta, followed a year later by his acclaimed turn in Porgy and Bess. Also in 1959, he became a charter member of the Rat Pack, a loose confederation of Sinatra associates (also including Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop) which began regularly performing together at the Sands Casino in Las Vegas. In 1960, they made Ocean's Eleven, the first in a series of hip and highly self-referential Rat Pack films. Although Davis' inclusion in the group was perceived in many quarters as an egalitarian move, many black audiences felt he was simply a token -- the butt of subtly racist jokes -- and declared him a sellout.His earlier conversion to Judaism had been met with considerable controversy within the African-American community as well. Still, nothing compared to the public outcry over his 1960 marriage to Swedish actress May Britt, which even elicited death threats. Still, Davis remained a major star, appearing in the 1962 Rat Pack film Sergeants 3 and scoring a major hit with "What Kind of Fool Am I?" Two years later, he returned to Broadway in the long-running Golden Boy, scoring a Tony nomination for his performance.
In 1964, the third Rat Pack film, Robin and the Seven Hoods, was released. Two years later, in the wake of the publication of his autobiography, Yes I Can, Davis was also among a number of musical luminaries, including Sinatra and Louis Armstrong, who co-starred in the jazz drama A Man Called Adam. In 1968 he and Lawford teamed as the titular characters in Salt and Pepper. The picture was a hit, and a sequel, One More Time, appeared in 1970. In between the last two films, Davis delivered one of his most memorable screen performances in Bob Fosse's 1969 musical Sweet Charity; he also appeared in a number of television features, including The Pigeon, The Trackers, and Poor Devil. In 1972, Davis topped the pop charts with "The Candy Man," from the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. From 1975 to 1977, he hosted his own syndicated variety show, Sammy and Company, and in 1978 starred in the film Sammy Stops the World. However, in the late '70s and through much of the 1980s, Davis' profile diminished, and he was primarily confined to the casino circuit, with a 1988 comeback tour he mounted with Sinatra and Martin largely unsuccessful. His appearance in the 1989 film Tap was much acclaimed, but it was to be his last screen performance -- a lifelong smoker, Davis died at age 64 in Beverly Hills, California on May 16, 1990 (the same day Jim Henson died), of complications from throat cancer. Earlier, when he was told he could be saved by surgery, Davis replied he'd rather keep his voice than have a part of his throat removed
He was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California next to his father and Will Mastin.Davis was honored posthumously in 2001 with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
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