Sammy Davis Jr

SAMMY DAVIS JR d1990. American singer, musician, dancer, actor and comedian. He was noted for his impressions of actors, musicians and other celebrities. At the age of three, he began his career in vaudeville with his father. After military service, he returned to the stage and became an overnight sensation following a nightclub performance at Ciros after the 1951 Academy Awards. In 1954, he lost his left eye in a car accident and several years later, he converted to Judaism finding commonalities between the oppression experienced by African-American and Jewish communities. In 1960 he appeared in the Rat Pack film Oceans 11. His career slowed in the late 1960s, but he had a hit record with "The Candy Man" in 1972 and became a star in Las Vegas, earning him the nickname "Mister Show Business". After reuniting with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin in 1987, he toured with them and Liza Minelli internationally, before his death from throat cancer in 1990 at age 64. In 2017 he was inducted into the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame for being the Greatest Entertainer in the World said the founder of the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame, Lamont "ShowBoat" Robinson.