Sammy Davis Jr.

Despite considerable career earnings, Davis spent or gave away enormous sums and was left owing the IRS several million dollars in unpaid taxes in the 1980s.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Davis acknowledged that during this period he used large amounts of cocaine, drank heavily and had replaced much of his musical activity with drugs and sex. His health, finances and family life were affected.

State of the evidence

Admitted by the person

Attribution

Directly implicated

Davis's public persona within the Rat Pack rested partly on repeated jokes about his race, height, eye and religion. This dynamic has been criticised as humiliating and as reflecting his search for acceptance in a world dominated by powerful white men.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

J. Edgar Hoover's FBI monitored Davis's donations, speeches, civil rights commitments, political contacts and even his love life. His file periodically treated him as potentially subversive, although his public activities included fundraising and appeals for racial coexistence.

State of the evidence

Documented

Davis joined a White House council and supported Richard Nixon's re-election. His public embrace of the president at a 1972 rally became an iconic image and provoked an intense backlash among parts of the Black and liberal communities.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

After actively supporting Kennedy, Davis was invited to the presidential inauguration but was then asked not to attend because his marriage to May Britt risked provoking a negative reaction in the South.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

The announcement of Davis's engagement and subsequent marriage to Swedish actress May Britt triggered a wave of hostility: demonstrations by British fascists, racist correspondence and bomb threats against venues where he performed.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

The relationship between Davis and white actress Kim Novak angered powerful Columbia boss Harry Cohn. Historical accounts indicate that Cohn had a Mafia threat conveyed to Davis unless he left Novak; Davis ended the relationship and quickly entered into a marriage of convenience.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Davis recounted that, after returning from Europe, the contrast with American racism had plunged him into a deep depression and that he had developed a heroin dependency lasting several years.

State of the evidence

Admitted by the person

Attribution

Directly implicated