Altovise Davis Explained

Altovise Davis
Birthname:Altovise Joanne Gore
Birth Date:August 30, 1943[1]
Birth Place:Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.
Death Date:[2]
Death Place:Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation:Entertainer, dancer

Altovise Joanne Davis (Gore; August 30, 1943  - March 14, 2009) was an American entertainer, best known for being Sammy Davis Jr.'s third wife.

Early life

Altovise Joanne Gore was born in Charlotte, North Carolina and raised in Brooklyn, New York.

Career

A life member of The Actors Studio,[3] Gore worked during the 1960s as a chorus-line dancer in various musical shows both in London and on Broadway.

In the 1970s and 1980s, she 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, Sammy Davis Jr., were frequent panelists on the 1970s television game show Tattletales.

Personal life

In 1968, Gore began a relationship with Sammy Davis Jr.. They were married on May 11, 1970, by Reverend Jesse Jackson and adopted a son, Manny, in 1989.[4] [5] The couple remained married until Sammy Davis Jr.'s death in 1990.[6]

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.[7]

Death

Davis died of complications from a stroke on March 14, 2009, at age 65 in Los Angeles. She is interred in an unmarked grave at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, next to her husband.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1974Welcome to Arrow Beach Deputy Molly
1976Pipe Dreams Lydia
1977Kingdom of the Spiders Birch Colby
1979Boardwalk Mrs. Bell
1980Can't Stop the Music Alicia Edwards
1986The Perils of P.K. (final film role)

Notes and References

  1. News: Altovise Davis dies at 65; widow of Sammy Davis Jr . Noland, Claire . Los Angeles Times . 15 March 2009 . March 15, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090317133259/http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-altovise-davis15-2009mar15%2C0%2C2657231.story . 17 March 2009 . live .
  2. News: Altovise Davis, Dancer and Actress, Dies at 65. New York Times. 23 October 2010. March 16, 2009.
  3. Book: Garfield, David . A Player's Place: The Story of The Actors Studio. registration. 1980. MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc.. New York. 0-02-542650-8. 278. Appendix: Life Members of The Actors Studio as of January 1980.
  4. Web site: The Entertainer. Rosen. Marjorie. May 28, 1990. People. EN.
  5. News: Cohen. Rich. As Sammy's star imploded. November 2, 2008. Los Angeles Times.
  6. Web site: March 30, 2018 . Sammy Leaves Estate to Wife; Prized Gun to Clint Eastwood. Los Angeles Times . August 8, 1990 .
  7. Web site: Delinquent Taxpayers. Orange County Register. 7 April 2008. 23 October 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20101027095021/http://ocbiz.ocregister.com/2008/04/07/ocs-top-tax-deadbeat-said-to-owe-state-27-million/. 2010-10-27. dead.