Altovise Davis
*This date in 1943 marks the birth of Altovise Davis. She was a Black actress and dancer.
Born Altovise Gore in Charlotte, North Carolina, she was the only child of Altovise and John Gore. When she was very young, her family moved to Brooklyn, N. Y., where she graduated from the School of Performing Arts in 1961. After school, she began her career as a dancer on Broadway.
During the late 1960s, she won an audition to play the role of Sammy Davis Jr.'s wife in the London production of “Golden Boy." Gore also worked as a chorus-line dancer in various musical shows in London and Broadway theaters and as Davis’ principal dancer in his European and American Tours.
Her relationship with Sammy Davis, Jr. started in 1968 while working on the same show. They were married by Rev. Jesse Jackson on May 10, 1970, in Philadelphia. They lived a very full life personally and professionally. They adopted one child, performed for the Queen of England, and spent the night at the White House. They were married until Sammy Davis, Jr.'s death in 1990.
In the 1970s and 1980s, she made guest appearances in major TV series such as Charlie's Angels and CHiPs. “Can’t Stop the Music,” “Kingdom of the Spiders,” “Pipe Dreams,” and “View at the Top.”
She was active in many benefits and with many charities, including SHARE, and in 1984, she was the first person to receive the NAACP’s Black Woman of Achievement Award. Altovise Davis died on March 13, 2009, in Los Angeles.
