Legendary actress Might Britt, who was married to Rat Pack icon Sammy Davis Jr., died of pure causes on the age of 91 on Thursday December 11, at Windfall Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Heart. Her son Mark Davis confirmed the information. The Swedish star was noticed and signed by famed Italian producer Carlo Ponti when she was simply 18 and starred in a number of Italian movies earlier than securing a contract with twentieth Century Fox in 1957.
She first discovered worldwide fame in 1959 starring because the scandalous cabaret entertainer Lola-Lola in a remake of Marlene Dietrich‘s 1930 traditional The Blue Angel. She additionally starred in 1956’s Battle and Peace and 1960’s Homicide, Inc., alongside TV appearances in exhibits corresponding to Mission: Inconceivable. However she was finest identified by many for her then controversial marriage to Sammy Davis Jr., whom she met in 1959. After a short engagement, they have been married on 13 November 1960 and their marriage ceremony induced large ontroversy at a time when interracial marriage was nonetheless unlawful in 17 US states.
Previous to the marriage, she transformed to Judaism and the couple have been married by Reform Rabbi William M. Kramer.
The couple’s daughter Tracey, Nancy Sinatra, and documentarian Sam Pollard have confirmed the wedding resulted in John F. Kennedy rejecting an invite for Sammy to carry out at his Inauguration.
This was regardless of the actual fact Sammy had campaigned for Kennedy and agreed to postpone his marriage ceremony to Britt till after the 1960 election in an effort to not stoke controversy. But, Harry Belafonte, who was married to a white girl on the time, was invited to sing.
Might was forcibly retired from movies after they wed when twentieth Century Fox declined to resume her contract. Explaining how her mom coped with the tip of her profession daughter Tracey informed CBS in 2014: “She threw herself into her household but it surely was troublesome for my mother, as a result of what she did for a dwelling got here to an finish.”
Reflecting on the backlash to her mother and father’ relationship she recalled: “It was very troublesome… there have been loss of life threats, there have been dangerous phrases written on our automotive, they regarded for bombs, we had armed guards.”
For her half Britt informed Vainness Truthful in 1999 she by no means regretted the lack of her profession. “I liked Sammy and I had the prospect to marry the person I liked,” she mentioned.
The couple have been collectively for seven years earlier than separating in 1967 and divoring in 1968, amid rumours of an affair between Davis and dancer Lola Falana.
After her marriage ended, she resumed performing, taking roles in episodes of The Danny Thomas Hour, Mission: Inconceivable, The Most Lethal Sport and The Companions. Her closing position was in 1988, in an episode of the sci-fi and detective collection Probe.
