Hollywood liked sammy davis jr until he dated a white movie star.

1957, sammy davis jr is a new star in Ran Ran. He has just finished a well-received performance in Mr. Miracle on Broadway, and performed a very popular program named Will Mastin Trio in a nightclub with his father and uncle. This is a powerful response to a car accident three years ago, when a tube passed through Davis's eye, making him permanently blind. He will wear a glass artificial eye for the rest of his life.

However, the accident did not weaken Davis's charm and sexy. Hollywood star kim novak certainly noticed him.

When she saw Davis performing in a nightclub in Chicago, she was preparing to shoot Hitchcock's "Vertigo". Although they didn't talk much at that time, Davis still wanted to know about the actress. His friends Tony Curtis and janet leigh had to invite them to the party at home. Soon after, a braille appeared in a gossip column: "Which top female movie star (K.N.) is seriously dating which big-name artist (S.D.)?

This boring gossip is far from harmless. Novak's relationship with Davis may ruin their careers. 1957, intermarriage is illegal in half the states. Most Americans are against it. Gallup poll 1958 shows that only 4% of Americans support interracial marriage. In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ordered the desegregation of public schools, and Little Rock, Arkansas will showdown the merger of downtown high schools next year. The national atmosphere is full of racial tension.

As a black man, Davis was forbidden to date white women before, but this time it was different. Novak is a movie star. That year, the newspaper called her "the hottest woman at the box office", which was attributed to the movies "Golden Arm" and "Friends". Columbia Pictures is training her to replace Rita? Rita hayworth, who's Harry? Harry Cohn doesn't like the head of the studio. As the newest sexy goddess in Hollywood, Novak may be worth millions.

Seeing this gossip program, Davis called Novak to apologize for her embarrassing situation in the studio. According to his autobiography Sami, Novak replied, "The studio doesn't own me! Invite him over for spaghetti and meatballs. Soon after, they started dating.

Their affair lasted most of the time 1957. Both Davis and Novak know the risks they are taking, but it seems to make their relationship more exciting. Davis wrote in his autobiography: "Before she was banned, she never missed me as much as I thought." . "Then we became conspirators and were attracted by one thing on Monday: resistance."

Arthur silber, a close friend of Davis and Pagonon, often drives the couple to the seaside villa rented by Malibu. Silber said in an interview: "Davis sometimes lies on the floor of the car and hides under the blanket to avoid being seen with Novak." . "I'll send him to her house in Beverly Hills, and then we'll arrange a time or a day to pick him up." Davis also installed a private telephone line at the Las Vegas Sands Hotel where he works, so that he can talk to Novak without the monitoring of the hotel switchboard.

In 65438+February, Novak returned to his hometown in Chicago for a holiday, and Davis stayed in Las Vegas. He missed Novak so much that he found a body double and flew to visit Novak overnight to meet her parents. Chicago sun times

Irv Kupcinet heard about Novak's visit and mentioned it in his column. Rumors are heating up. Rumor has it that Davis and Novak have got marriage licenses. According to London's Daily Mirror, "kim novak is about to get engaged to sammy davis jr, and Hollywood is shocked." Cohen was furious when he found out that the star he invested in was dating a black man. The next morning, on the way to Los Angeles, he got the first of several hearts. Cohen is a ruthless studio director who worships benito mussolini and has connections with Chicago thugs. He even wore a ruby "friendship ring" to match the ring of the gangster Johnny Rosell. There are various versions of what happened next, but it is obvious that Cohen killed a group of thugs who attacked Davis. The gangster Mickey Cohen found Davis' father and passed on the threat. Silber was there when Davis got the call. Silber said:

"They said that if he didn't marry a black woman right away, they would break his leg, gouge out his other eye and bury him in the hole." . "He is as scared as I am."

Novak has always claimed that her relationship with Davis is by no means friendship, and he also said that the studio ordered her not to see him again. In 2004, she said to Larry King:

"I think this is ridiculous. I don't want to live like this. " . "I don't see anything wrong, you know? What's to be afraid of?

Davis went to his friend, the rogue Sam Jankana, for protection. Giancana told him that he could protect Davis in Las Vegas and Chicago, but he had no tentacles in Hollywood. Threats hung over him. Wedding is the only solution.

Sammy davis jr, 32, wears medium glasses, and his bride, Lori White, 23, cut the cake at the wedding in Las Vegas, Nevada, and gave it to close friends and celebrities. The guests from left to right are: joe louis, harry belafonte, Davis, White and Donna O 'Connor. (AP photo) 1958 1 Soon after, silber was sitting on the bed of Jinsha Hotel, wiping his cowboy boots, when he noticed that Davis was sitting on another bed, looking through the address book.

I said, Eve, what are you doing? Silber said. "He said, I am looking for someone to get married."

The woman he chose was Laurie White, a black singer who worked in the silver slipper shop across the street. She and Davis have dated several times. Now Davis has given her a sum of money (65,438+0,000 to 25,000 dollars) to marry him as his wife. She agreed. In the photo of the wedding in Las Vegas, White and Davis are drinking in an oversized martini glass next to a layered cake with the words "happiness" written on it. But silber, who drove the couple to their wedding suite, recalled that Davis had been drinking all night and became so depressed in the car that he tried to strangle White. Silber stopped Davis and carried him to his room.

"He was badly hurt," silber said. "When he ripped off the shoulder of my coat, he said to me,' Why don't they let me live my life?

Silber remembered that Davis was particularly sad at the hotel that night. Silber said, "When I walked into the bedroom, he was pointing a gun at his head." I jumped on him ... I took the gun from him. Then I knelt on his shoulder until he fainted.

By September, the newspaper reported that White and Davis had divorced.

One day a few years later, Sammy and silber were having lunch in 20th Century Fox when a woman came in. She is tall and lovely, with shiny blonde hair and a hoarse voice. Davis immediately introduced himself and said:

Her name is May Britt, a 26-year-old Swedish actress who is shooting a remake of Der Blaue Engel. She and Davis began to meet. Before long, he proposed to her and she accepted. Britt is an outsider in American racial politics. She doesn't understand why race keeps her away from the people she loves. 1On June 6th, 960, Davis announced his engagement to the media in Britain. Burt Bojar, a close friend who co-authored Davis' autobiography, said in an interview:

"The public is crazy." . "When they got engaged, everything was out of control. The studio immediately canceled Britt's contract. They think it is useless for her to marry a black man at the box office. The next day, British fascists picketed, booed and shouted outside the theatre where Davis performed in London, and held up racial slanderous slogans such as "Go home". Davis told the media that this was "the most barbaric racial attack I have ever experienced." In America, Davis and Britt were inundated with hate mail. Criticism comes not only from whites, but also from blacks. They have been accusing Davis of writing an article entitled "Is Sammy ashamed of being black? " ? " Davis's theaters in Reno, San Francisco and Chicago were threatened by bombs. At the Lotus Club in Washington, American Nazis picketed outside, but when Davis stepped onto the stage, the audience stood up and applauded.

Davis received so many death threats that he hired armed guards for 24 hours. He is worried that his wife will be attacked when she is seen together, so they seldom go out. When they do this, Davis is holding a gun or a walking stick with a knife hidden at the tip.

"Mei is almost like a prisoner in a mink nest," Bojar said. "I don't know when they can walk down the street and have fun like everyone else."

Meanwhile, Davis worked for the civil rights movement. According to Emily Raymond, the author of Freedom Star: Hollywood, Black Celebrities and African-American People's Rights Movement, Davis raised about 750 US dollars and provided 65,438+0,000 pounds (about 5.6 million US dollars today) to organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Martin Luther King's Southern Christian Leaders' Conference. He also campaigned for John in the 65,438+0,960 presidential campaign. But at the Democratic National Convention in Mississippi, he was booed while singing the national anthem, which made him almost cry.

After his election, Kennedy snubbed Davis twice. Davis was invited to attend Kennedy's inauguration ceremony. He went with great pride and made a suit specially. Britt bought a Balenciaga dress. But three days before the inauguration ceremony, Kennedy's secretary called to say that the president was not interested in them. This move is political. The president-elect won the election by a narrow margin, and he didn't want the controversial marriage between the Southern Congressman and Davis to alienate them. Davis was deeply hurt and embarrassed by being excluded.

Then at 1963, Davis and Britt were invited to a reception hosted by the White House for African-American leaders. Raymond said in an email that when Kennedy saw them there, he booed his assistant and told them to "get out of here" and drove the couple out of the photographer's sight.

Davis is not the first celebrity to marry a white woman through interracial marriage singers harry belafonte 1957 and 19 12. Boxer joe jackson went to prison for dating a white woman. However, no outstanding interracial marriage has attracted public attention like Davis and Britt. Gerald, editor of sammy davis jr Reader? The count said:

"I was a child when it happened." . "Everyone is talking about it. I really think it has an impact. This was part of the opening up of American society in the 1960s. He and May Britt were pioneers in promoting more acceptance of interracial marriage in the United States.

In the case of 1967, the Supreme Court ruled that the prohibition of intermarriage was unconstitutional. With the subsequent legal reform and the emergence of successful films, culture has undergone rapid changes. These movies feature cross-racial romantic stories, such as guess who will come to dinner? (Davis himself once played a black thug who fell in love with a white woman in the Broadway musical "Golden Boy" in 1964, and established relationships with other races. )

Davis divorced Britt 1968. The marriage lasted eight years and had three children. According to Gary Fishgall, the biographer of Davis, Davis and Novak met again at a ball after the 1979 Oscar ceremony. They danced together. Later, Davis was surprised-