Samuel George Davis Jr. December 8, — May 16, was an American singer, actor, comedian, dancer, and musician. After military service, Davis returned to the trio and became a sensation following key nightclub performances at Ciro's in West Hollywood in , including one after the Academy Awards ceremony.
With the trio, he became a recording artist. In , at the age of 29, he lost his left eye in a car accident. Several years later, he converted to Judaism , finding commonalities between the oppression experienced both by black Americans and Jewish communities. Davis had a starring role on Broadway in Mr.
Wonderful with Chita Rivera In , he appeared in the Rat Pack film Ocean's He returned to the stage in in a musical adaptation of Clifford Odets 's Golden Boy. Davis was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance. The show featured the first interracial kiss on Broadway. While Davis's career slowed in the late s, his biggest hit, " The Candy Man ", reached the top of the Billboard Hot in June , and he became a star in Las Vegas, earning him the nickname "Mister Show Business".
I'm a one-eyed Negro who's Jewish. After reuniting with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin in , Davis toured with them and Liza Minnelli internationally, before his death in He died in debt to the Internal Revenue Service , [ 10 ] and his estate was the subject of legal battles after the death of his wife. He was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in , and in , he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. As an infant, he was reared by his paternal grandmother.
When he was three years old, his parents separated. His father, not wanting to lose custody of his son, took him on tour. Davis learned to dance from his father and his godfather Will Mastin. Davis joined the act as a child, and they became the Will Mastin Trio. Throughout his career, Davis included the Will Mastin Trio in his billing. Mastin and his father shielded him from racism, for example by dismissing race-based snubs as jealousy.
