He and his former wife Elvera Sanchez were both dancers in a vaudeville troupe.
Davis took custody of his son, who then went into show business with his father.
Sammy Jr. once stated, "When I was nine I told my father, 'I can outdance you'.
Davis also appeared in two movies, Sweet and Low (1947) with the Will Mastin Trio, and The Benny Goodman Story (1956), in which he played the bandleader and arranger Fletcher Henderson.
Davis died May 21, 1988, in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 87, of natural causes,[2] just two years before the death of his son, Sammy Davis Jr.[3] He was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) in Glendale, California.