Swedish-born actress May Britt. Davis received hate mail and at that time, interracial marriages were still forbidden by law in 31 US states, but completely legal in New York (which is where Sammy was from). It wasn’t until 1967 that the laws banning interracial marriages were ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court.
Davis performed almost continuously and spent little time with his wife, May. They had one daughter and adopted two sons, but they divorced in 1968, after Sammy admitted to having had an affair with singer, Lola Falana.
That year, Davis started dating Altovise Gore, a dancer in Golden Boy (the Broadway music Sammy Davis Jr. starred in). They were married on May 11, 1970, by the Reverend Jesse Jackson. Kathy McKee replaced Altovise in Davis’s nightclub act. They adopted a son, Manny, in 1989. Davis and Altovise remained married until his death in 1990.
And there ya’ have it folks. Sammy had a complex love life, but there’s no denying that the brotha was an incredibly talented man.
MMM…not completely true. The part about Sammy and Kim having a relationship is true. So is the reaction of Harry Cohn. However, Cohn couldn’t get the Outfit to do anything to Sammy. They didn’t care, plus Sammy made so much money in Outfit controlled clubs, they would never have ‘killed the golden goose’. That eye injury was from a car accident well before Sammy dated Kim. Think about it: do you really think a mostly Italian run group like the Outfit (all of the Mobs, not just the Mafia and such) cared if a Polish girl wanted to date a Black man? It’s also a fact that people like Sinatra, Martin and such protected Sammy, even making some people do things they wouldn’t…when the owners of the Sands wouldn’t allow Sammy to stay there, Sinatra told them, “Sam gets to stay here. Or I GO.” Sinatra and his buddies were the big draw at the Sands .. they even built Sam a bungalow of his own to stay in.
MMM…not completely true. The part about Sammy and Kim having a relationship is true. So is the reaction of Harry Cohn. However, Cohn couldn’t get the Outfit to do anything to Sammy. They didn’t care, plus Sammy made so much money in Outfit controlled clubs, they would never have ‘killed the golden goose’. That eye injury was from a car accident well before Sammy dated Kim. Think about it: do you really think a mostly Italian run group like the Outfit (all of the Mobs, not just the Mafia and such) cared if a Polish girl wanted to date a Black man? It’s also a fact that people like Sinatra, Martin and such protected Sammy, even making some people do things they wouldn’t…when the owners of the Sands wouldn’t allow Sammy to stay there, Sinatra told them, “Sam gets to stay here. Or I GO.” Sinatra and his buddies were the big draw at the Sands .. they even built Sam a bungalow of his own to stay in.