Swedish-born actress May Britt. Davis received hate mail and at that time, interracial marriages were still forbidden by law in 31 US states, but completely legal in New York (which is where Sammy was from). It wasn’t until 1967 that the laws banning interracial marriages were ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court.

Davis performed almost continuously and spent little time with his wife, May. They had one daughter and adopted two sons, but they divorced in 1968, after Sammy admitted to having had an affair with singer, Lola Falana.

That year, Davis started dating Altovise Gore, a dancer in Golden Boy (the Broadway music Sammy Davis Jr. starred in). They were married on May 11, 1970, by the Reverend Jesse Jackson. Kathy McKee replaced Altovise in Davis’s nightclub act. They adopted a son, Manny, in 1989. Davis and Altovise remained married until his death in 1990.

And there ya’ have it folks. Sammy had a complex love life, but there’s no denying that the brotha was an incredibly talented man.