Sammy Davis, Jr was one of the most recognisable showbiz entertainers of the twentieth century. But his story was also one of contradiction and compromise: a black man trying to make his name as a star during a time of racial prejudice and even segregation, Sammy Davis, Jr never came to terms with the complexities of his situation, as Wil Haygood's comprehensive new biography shows. He endured patronising humiliation from his fellow Rat Pack members; he marched with Martin Luther King while, notoriously, cozying up to ...
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Sammy Davis, Jr was one of the most recognisable showbiz entertainers of the twentieth century. But his story was also one of contradiction and compromise: a black man trying to make his name as a star during a time of racial prejudice and even segregation, Sammy Davis, Jr never came to terms with the complexities of his situation, as Wil Haygood's comprehensive new biography shows. He endured patronising humiliation from his fellow Rat Pack members; he marched with Martin Luther King while, notoriously, cozying up to President Nixon and conducting numerous affairs with white women. Above all, he made his name as a vaudevillian entertainer by arguably accepting the role of honorary white man. With the new stage show, Rat Pack Confidential, now playing in the West End, this new book offers the definitive portrait of the Rat Pack's most interesting and maverick member.
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