Sammy Davis Jr. his left eye in a car accident, and several years later, he converted to Judaism, finding commonalities between the oppression experienced by African-American and Jewish communities. Davis's film career began as a child in 1933. In 1960, he appeared in the Rat Pack film "Ocean's 11". After a starring role on Broadway in "Mr Wonderful" (1956), he returned to the stage in 1964's "Golden Boy." In 1966 he had his own TV variety show, titled "The Sammy Davis Jr. Show". Davis's career slowed in the late 1960s, but he had a hit record with "The Candy Man" in 1972 and
Sammy Davis Jr. onstage as part of the Will Mastin Trio and intimate snapshots of close friends Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, James Dean, Nat "King" Cole, and Marilyn Monroe. His political affiliations also were represented, in his images of Robert Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. His most revealing work comes in photographs of wife May Britt and their three children, Tracey, Jeff and Mark. Davis was an enthusiastic shooter and gun owner. He participated in fast-draw competitions. Johnny Cash recalled that Davis was said to be capable of drawing and firing a Colt Single Action Army revolver in