Old Hollywood Stars Who Were Forced to Live a Double Life

Few entertainers could match Sammy Davis Jr., the singer, dancer, actor, and Rat Pack star who conquered Broadway, Las Vegas, and Hollywood. Yet even his enormous talent could not protect him from the intense racism surrounding his secret 1957 relationship with rising actress Kim Novak.

When Columbia chief Harry Cohn learned about them, Davis reportedly received a mob threat warning him to marry a Black woman immediately. He ended the romance, paid singer Loray White to become his wife, and entered a brief marriage created mainly to quiet the scandal.