Sammy Davis Jr. And Hardships He Faced During His Lifetime

Dec 09, 2020 by apost team

Born in Harlem in 1925, Sammy Davis Jr. enjoyed a six-decade spanning career that earned him his nickname, 'Mr.Entertainment,' with the musical legend making his debut as a toddler. Some might even say Davis Jr. was destined for the stage – after all, his parents, father Sammy Davis Sr. and mother Elvera Sanchez, were both vaudeville dance performers. We're taking a look back at the singer's remarkable career and the obstacles he had to overcome over the years.

Samuel George Davis Jr. would join the 'Will Mastin Trio,' a troupe of vaudeville dancers and singers formed by his father, his uncle Will Mastin, and young performer Howard M. Colbert Jr. on stage at their nightclub performances from the tender age of four. David Jr. would land his first role in a film at just seven years old in the 1933 film, Rufus Jones for President.

 Howard M. Colbert Jr. left the trio in 1941 and was replaced by Davis Jr., then just 16 years old. In his autobiography, Yes I Can: The Story of Sammy Davis, Jr, released in 1965, Davis Jr. revealed that as a child, his father and uncle would shield him from racist remarks and discrimination, claiming the race-based snubs the trio would be subject to came from a place of 'jealousy,' according to Vanity Fair. However, that all changed when he was drafted into the U.S. Army as a young adult during WWII. 

The late performer recounted much of the appalling abuse he experienced while serving, which even led to his nose becoming permanently damaged after getting beaten one-too-many times by 'Southerners.' 

"I had been drafted into the army to fight, and I did . . . with Southerners and Southwesterners who got their kicks out of needling me. . . . I must have had a knockdown, drag-out fight every two days," Davis Jr. shared in his autobiography.

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After his discharge in 1945, Davis Jr. rejoined his family trio and began performing in clubs. In the meantime, the young singer would record blues tracks under pseudonyms. Sometime in the late 40's, he would also meet one of his idols, Frank Sinatra, and the two would become great friends. In 1951, the trio landed the gig of a lifetime as the opening act for Janis Paige at Ciro's, an exclusive entertainment nightclub in West Hollywood frequented by celebrities. James Bacon, an American journalist and author covering Hollywood for the Associated Press at the time, said the crowd was especially fond of Davis Jr. and his celebrity impersonations.

"It was such a big night for Sammy that Janis Paige [the main act] told George Schlatter [then a show producer at Ciro's], 'You'd better put them on as headliners.' Sammy Davis was made after that," Bacon wrote of the night, according to Vanity Fair. 

A tragic car accident in 1954 saw Davis Jr. lose his left eye, and the up-and-coming singer went through a rigorous rehabilitation but returned to his beloved stage just weeks later. The entertainer kept his head high and continued to perform in clubs, as usual, even making self-deprecating jokes about his eyepatch. Towards the end of the '50s, David Jr. would join his friend Frank Sinatra and performers Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford to form the group, the Rat Pack. The supergroup would star in many T.V. shows and movies together and perform at prestigious Las Vegas casino venues. Around that time, Davis Jr. would find love as well. 

Just as filming for Alfred Hitchcock's film Vertigo wrapped up, the stunning, blue-eyed actor Kim Novak found herself at the Chez Paree nightclub, Chicago's most lively hotspots at the time. Sammy Davis Jr., who was performing that night, took an immediate interest in the young actress, and the two began a relationship. Her boss, Harry Cohn, opposed the relationship as he believed it would make Novak undesirable in Hollywood and recruited the mafia to threaten the performer. Mobsters told Sammy Davis Jr. that if he did not marry a black woman within 48 hours, they would beat him to a pulp. He paid a friend, Loray White, $10,000 to marry him for protection, and the couple divorced just months later. 

Davis Jr.'s love life would again become the subject of controversy in 1960 when he married Swedish actor May Britt. The couple had a daughter, Tracey, that following year, who died in November 2020 after a 'short illness,' according to ABC. Britt and Davis Jr. also adopted two sons, Mark and Jeff, and divorced after eight years of marriage. In 1970, Davis Jr. married Altovise Gore, and the couple remained together until his death in 1990. They adopted one son together, Manny.

In 1989, Davis Jr. was diagnosed with throat cancer. While doctors recommended the singer undergo throat surgery to treat the illness, Davis Jr. refused, as he feared he didn't want to lose his voice and opted for chemotherapy instead. He died just one year later, at the age of 64. Many across the world mourned his death, with 2,500 fans attending his funeral and the city of Las Vegas switching off its lights in his honor. 

Thirty years later, and there still hasn't been an entertainer out there that can top Davis Jr.'s talent. Did you know about his tragic life? Let us know in the comments, and make sure you pass this along to your friends and family!