The ex-wife of entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. has died.
May Britt was 91 years old.
Britt’s death was confirmed by her son Mark, who said his mother died in Los Angeles on Dec. 11.
She died at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center of natural causes, he told The Hollywood Reporter.
Britt was born Maybritt Wilkens on an island near Stockholm to a postal clerk father and a homemaker mother, The New York Times said.
She got her break at 18 while working as a photographer’s assistant when filmmakers visited the studio looking at images for a new actress.
They hired her instead, moved her to Rome with her mother, and had her take the screen name May Britt.
She got a studio contract with 20th Century in 1957, THR reported. Britt had married Ed Gregson in 1958 but divorced in 1959, the Times reported.
The Times said she was an up-and-coming movie star when she met her future husband, Davis, at an LA nightclub in 1959. He broke off an engagement to Joan Stuart, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
She had been in films such as “The Hunters,” “The Young Lions,” and “The Blue Angel.” She was called “the most interesting Swede to hit Hollywood since Garbo” by famed columnist Hedda Hopper. Her final major film was “Murder, Inc.,” which came out in 1960.
While legal in California, interracial marriages were still illegal in many states at the time. Dating between people of different races was also taboo in areas that were considered liberal, such as Hollywood, the Times pointed out.
They were targeted at the start of their relationship with death threats, hate mail and protests when Davis would perform, the Times reported.
At one point, they needed 24-hour armed guards for protection, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The couple became engaged in 1960 and the intolerance escalated, the newspaper said, even spilling over to the presidential campaign where Davis, a vocal supporter of then Sen. John F. Kennedy, was booed during the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.
Despite having an October wedding planned, Britt and Davis eventually married in November 1960 in Hollywood with Frank Sinatra as the best man and several members of the Rat Pack in attendance. Peter Lawford, who was a part of the group and married into the Kennedy family, was there too.
It was alleged that the wedding was delayed until after the election because of pressure from the Kennedy campaign, which was worried about the fallout it might have on the campaign. It was also alleged that Kennedy’s personal secretary disinvited Davis from performing at an inaugural party at the White House, the Times reported.
Davis’ and Britt’s daughter, Tracy, wrote about the allegations in her book “Sammy Davis Jr.: A Personal Journey with My Father.”
The daughter of fellow Rat Pack member Dean Martin also didn’t go to the inaugural party because of the shunning of Davis.
“My dad said, ‘Well, if you’re not going, I’m not going,’’ Deana Martin told People magazine. “And Dad did not go because Sammy was uninvited. He was so unhappy that they had done that to my Uncle Sammy.”
Davis and Britt divorced in 1968 after he admitted to having an affair with singer Lola Falana. After their breakup, she returned to acting, but in bit parts in films and TV series. Her last role was in 1988. The former couple remained friends until Davis’ death in 1990.
Britt married Lennart Rindquist in 1993. He died in 2017.
She leaves behind her two sons, a sister and six grandchildren. Daughter Tracy Davis died in 2020.
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