Quick Facts
Biography
Altovise Joanne Davis (née Gore; August 30, 1943 – March 14, 2009) was an American entertainer, best known as Sammy Davis, Jr.'s third wife.
Biography
Born in Charlotte, North Carolina as Altovise Joanne Gore, she was raised in Brooklyn, New York. A life member of The Actors Studio, Gore worked during the 1960s as a chorus-line dancer in various musical shows both in London and on Broadway.
Her relationship with Sammy Davis, Jr. started in 1968 while they were working in the same show. They were married in a Philadelphia courthouse by the Rev. Jesse Jackson on May 11, 1970 and adopted a son, Manny, in 1989.
Sammy Davis, Jr. died from throat cancer on May 16, 1990, five days after their 20th wedding anniversary.
Television and film roles
In the 1970s and 1980s Altovise Davis made a few guest appearances in major TV series such as Charlie's Angels and CHiPs and minor roles in films such as Welcome to Arrow Beach (1974), Kingdom of the Spiders (1977), Boardwalk (1979), and Can't Stop the Music (1980).
Both she and her husband were frequent panelists on the 1970s television game show, Tattletales.
In popular culture
Davis was portrayed in a sketch titled "Ghost II: Sammy's Visit" on the sketch comedy/variety show In Living Color in its third season by Kim Wayans. The sketch was a parody sequel to the Whoopi Goldberg film Ghost. In the sketch, Goldberg's character Oda Mae (T'Keyah Keymah) meets the spirit of Sammy Davis Jr. (Tommy Davidson) to help him reunite with Altovise one last time.
Taxes
Long saddled with tax problems following the death of her husband, Altovise Davis was included in 2008 on the California Franchise Tax Board's list of the top 250 delinquent taxpayers, with $2,708,901.75 in unpaid personal income tax.
Death
She died of complications from a stroke on March 14, 2009 at age 65 in Los Angeles. She is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, next to her husband, Sammy Davis, Jr.