Product Description

Adored by millions, Sammy Davis Jr. was considered an entertainment icon and a national treasure. But despite lifetime earnings that topped $50 million, Sammy died in 1990 near bankruptcy.

Years later his once-vivacious wife, Altovise, heir to one of the greatest entertainment legacies of the twentieth century, was living in poverty. With nowhere else to turn, she asked a former federal prosecutor, Albert “Sonny” Murray, to try to resolve Sammy's debts and restore his estate. For seven years Sonny probed Sammy's life and came to understand the tormented artist as a man of tragic complexity.

Deconstructing Sammy is the extraordinary story of an international celebrity whose outsize talent couldn't save him from himself.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #477559 in Books
• Published on: 2009-09-01
• Released on: 2009-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780061450679
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"Exceptionally detailed.makes tax law sexy," (Library Journal )

"Davis's remarkable life is certainly well-trod territory. Nevertheless, through interviews with close friends and confidants who had never spoken publicly before, Birkbeck digs up many startling details." (MICHAEL RUBINKAM, ASSOCIATED PRESS )

"A piece of investigative journalism that unravels what happened to Davis' estate, and reveals more about the man...Birkbeck spoke to people that have never spoken before -- and the portrait of Sammy that emerges is difficult, demanding, and ultimately tragic." (NPR's Talk of the Nation )

"Birkbeck has killer leads, gripping kickers and sensational descriptions. This cinematic book reads more like a detective story than a traditional 'life of." (New York Times Book Review )

"With a journalist's eye toward a great story, author Matt Birkbeck leads readers through a decades-long financial mess including cover-ups. mob connections, political friendships and snubbing..Un-put-down-able.Stunning." (TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER, NATIONAL BOOK REVIEWER )

"Tremendous. . . Birkbeck tells the epic of Sammy Davis Jr... from his Harlem boyhood to his wrenching deathbed (he died of cancer in 1990) in his Beverly Hills mansion, where various hangers-on, seeing the circling vultures, stripped his corpse even before it was a corpse." (Los Angeles Times Book Review )

From the Back Cover

"Birkbeck has killer leads, gripping kickers and sensational descriptions. This cinematic book reads more like a detective story than a traditional `life of."

--New York Times Book Review

"Tremendous. . . Birkbeck tells the epic of Sammy Davis Jr... from his Harlem boyhood to his wrenching deathbed (he died of cancer in 1990) in his Beverly Hills mansion, where various hangers-on, seeing the circling vultures, stripped his corpse even before it was a corpse."

--Los Angeles Times Book Review

About the Author

Award-winning investigative journalist Matt Birkbeck is a former correspondent for People magazine and has written for the New York Times, Reader's Digest, Boston Magazine, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is the author of A Beautiful Child and A Deadly Secret, which was the subject of an MSNBC documentary, and coauthor of Till Death Do Us Part. He lives in Pennsylvania.

Customer Reviews

Talented Darkness...
Deconstructing Sammy by Matt Birkbeck provides the reader with an inside view of Sammy Davis Jr.'s life. It was obvious from the first page this would not be a light, fun-filled, flattering book. By page two, there was information that caused my jaw to drop and would not allow me to stop reading until I had completed the book.

Birkbeck exposes how Davis' zest for life and desire to live and spend as though there was no tomorrow, wreaked havoc in the life of this huge talent. The author also paints an unflattering view of the entertainment industry and how it literally feeds off the largesse of egocentric entertainers. There were moments in this book when I actually had to read it again, unable to believe that family and friends would do some of the things indicated, such as literally stealing from the home of a dying man.

Deconstructing Sammy, also exposes the frailties of his wife, Altovise, and tells in no uncertain terms how she dealt with her emotional issues with a jar full of vodka. I could literally feel the pain of this woman who lived in her husband's shadow, with no personal identity. There is also much mention of how Sammy squandered millions and ended up in debt to the IRS. This book could serve as Entertainment 101 on what not to do.

I found Deconstructing Sammy to be fascinating and at times harrowing. I recommend the book to all who love biographies and those who simply want to know what a celebrity's life can really be, behind closed doors.

Angelia Menchan
APOOO BookClub

A cautionary tale for aspiring entertainers
In his two autobiographies, Sammy Davis, Jr. made it clear how determined he was, at all costs, to be a legend in the entertainment industry on par with Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and his friend, Frank Sinatra. Sadly for Davis and his family, the memories of his controversial 60 year career are continuing to fade 18 years after his death.

In Deconstructing Sammy, Matt Birkbeck shows how Davis' live for today philosophy, his poor business decisions and his neglect of his wives and children led to the shambles of his legacy and finances. Although Davis himself had a happy public persona, Birbeck shows how the seedy and exploitative aspects of the entertainment industry contributed to the darker aspects of his personality. In one chilling passage, Birkbeck writes how the people in his life, including his manager and wife, were busy looting his house as Davis lay on his deathbed. Davis' widow, Altovise, serves as one of the story's primary characters. A barely functioning alcoholic who eventually frustrates and alienates almost everyone she meets, one can't help but feel sorry for Altovise who comes across as a modern day Norma Desmond with severe emotional issues after years of being exploited and ignored by Sammy for most of their marriage and scorned by his family and associates. With her best years seemingly behind her, she spends her days drinking vodka out of mayonaise jars, reflecting on her husband's glory days in Hollywood and holding onto the delusion that she can return to her A-list, Beverly Hills lifestyle despite the loss of money and celebrity.

Unfortunately, Davis is not the first nor last celebrity to spend his way through a fortune. The book makes for depressing reading but it should be required for all future entertainers hoping to make their fortune in show business. If nothing else, it shows how the entertainment industry can coldly use and discard so-called stars who let themselves be distracted by partying and what they consider to be the glamourous life.

Extraordinary and Shocking!
I wish there were endless books like this. Revealing and stunning information about how Sammy Davis lived his life. A thorough look into the man he really was (not who I thought he was) The racist world he came from which orchestrated his eventual plunge into excess and waste. His friends who weren't so friendly, his wives and lovers who contributed to the darkest side of his life. This man who was a giant in the entertainment world and his tragic demise. Completely riveting. One of those books you don't want to finish but can't stop reading.