I've Gotta Be Me: The Many Lives of Sammy Davis, Jr.

FAIN: TR-228469-15

WNET (New York, NY 10019-7416)
Michael Kantor (Project Director: August 2014 to present)

The production of a documentary film and website chronicling the life of entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr.

WNET is seeking a production grant from the NEH for a multi-platform project about the life and influence of Sammy Davis, Jr. on the cultural and political landscape of America. The centerpiece of the project is a documentary biography of Sammy Davis, Jr. entitled "I've Gotta Be Me: The Many Lives of Sammy Davis, Jr." that will be broadcast in the fall of 2016 or in early 2017 as part of WNET's "American Masters" series. Davis was not only universally considered to be one of the finest entertainers of the twentieth century, but was also at forefront of the rapidly shifting social currents of civil rights and race relations. This would be the first documentary to consider seriously Davis' quest for personal identity as a multi-faceted entertainer whose trajectory blazed across the major flashpoints of American society from the Depression to the 1980s.

Associated Products

AMERICAN MASTERS--Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me (Film/TV/Video Broadcast or Recording)
Title: AMERICAN MASTERS--Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me
Writer: Laurence Maslon
Director: Sam Pollard
Producer: Sally Rosenthal
Producer: Michael Kantor
Abstract: “Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me” is the first major film documentary to examine Davis’ vast talent and his journey for identity through the shifting tides of civil rights and racial progress during 20th-century America. Sammy Davis, Jr. had the kind of career that was indisputably legendary, so vast and multi-faceted that it was dizzying in its scope and scale. And yet, his life was complex, complicated and contradictory. Davis strove to achieve the American Dream in a time of racial prejudice and shifting political territory. He was the veteran of increasingly outdated show business traditions trying to stay relevant; he frequently found himself bracketed by the bigotry of white America and the distaste of black America; he was the most public black figure to embrace Judaism, thereby yoking his identity to another persecuted minority. Featuring new interviews with such luminaries as Billy Crystal, Norman Lear, Jerry Lewis, Whoopi Goldberg and Kim Novak, with never-before-seen photographs from Davis’ vast personal collection and excerpts from his electric performances in television, film and concert, “Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me” explores the life and art of a uniquely gifted entertainer whose trajectory blazed across the major flashpoints of American society from the Depression through the 1980s.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: http://https://indee.tv/screener/view/KtHXri0CIcag2uws4xhCwIo9J0WW56Hp/
Primary URL Description: This is the broadcast version of the film.
Access Model: Broadcast, accessible for limited time online, then on PBS Passport for members
Format: Film
Format: DVD
Format: Web

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