This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Sammy Davis Sr." – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(September 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Samuel George Davis Sr. (December 12, 1900 – May 21, 1988) was an American dancer and the father of entertainerSammy Davis Jr.

Davis was born inWilmington, North Carolina, to Rosa B. Taylor (1870–1956) and Robert Davis (1868–1948). He and his former wifeElvera Sanchez were both dancers in avaudeville troupe. The couple split up when their son Sammy Jr. was three. Davis took custody of his son, who then went into show business with his father. He andWill Mastin, the leader of the dance troupe, taught Sammy Jr. how to dance and they performed together as the Will Mastin Trio.

Sammy Jr. once stated, "When I was nine I told my father, 'I can outdance you'. 'Oh yeah? What makes you think that?' he asked. 'Cause you taught me everything I know'. 'Yeah, but I didn't teach you everythingI know.'"^[1]

Davis began dancing early in life, and as a young man joinedWill Mastin to form a dancing troupe. Soon Sammy Jr. joined the act and they became known as theWill Mastin Trio. The three appeared in the 1956Broadway musicalMr. Wonderful.

Davis also appeared in twomovies,Sweet and Low (1947) with the Will Mastin Trio, andThe Benny Goodman Story (1956), in which he played the bandleader and arrangerFletcher Henderson.

Davis died May 21, 1988, inBeverly Hills, California, at the age of 87, ofnatural causes,^[2] just two years before the death of his son,Sammy Davis Jr.^[3]

He was interred atForest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) inGlendale, California.

• Sammy Davis Sr. atIMDb
• Sammy Davis Sr. in photograph of the Will Mastin Trio c. 1935 with Sammy Davis Jr. and Will Mastin
• Sammy Davis Sr. atFind a Grave

• American vaudeville performers
• American male film actors
• African-American male dancers
• African-American dancers
• American male dancers
• Male actors from Wilmington, North Carolina
• 1900 births
• 1988 deaths
• Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
• 20th-century American male actors
• Sammy Davis Jr.
• 20th-century American dancers
• 20th-century African-American male actors

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles needing additional references from September 2022
• All articles needing additional references
• Articles with hCards
• No local image but image on Wikidata