(Photo: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency)
The Sammy Davis Jr. bio series is not moving forward at Hulu, but the series about the legendary singer/actor/comedian/dancer could still make it to the small screen. Starring Elijah Kelley as Sammy Davis Jr., 20th Television is shopping the eight-episode series to other outlets.
Deadline revealed the following about the potential series:
Written by Daniels and Thomas Westfall based on Will Haygood’s biography, In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr., and inspired by Alex Haley’s interview of Davis, the eight-episode series explores the entertainer’s life through the lens of his racial identity and his complex relationship with the Black community.
It centers on Davis (Kelley), who rose from childhood stardom on the vaudeville stage to become one of the most famous African American entertainers of the 1950s and ’60s (and the only Black member of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack). At the same time, he spent most of his career surrounded by controversy and ridicule – over his affairs with white film stars, his 1960 marriage to Swedish actress May Britt, his conversion to Judaism, his closeness to the Kennedys (and later Richard Nixon) and his problems with alcohol and drugs.”
If the project is picked up elsewhere, additional details will be revealed later.
What do you think? Have you enjoyed Davis’ work? Do you want to see this biography series produced?
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