May Britt obit

May Britt, Swedish Actress and Wife of Sammy Davis Jr., Dies at 91

She starred in such films as 'The Blue Angel' and 'Murder, Inc.,' but Fox declined to renew her contract after she and the legendary entertainer got engaged in 1960. 

She was not on the list.

May Britt, the statuesque Swedish actress who starred in such films as The Blue Angel and Murder, Inc. before becoming the second wife of legendary entertainer Sammy Davis Jr., has died. She was 91.

Britt died Dec. 11 of natural causes at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center, her son Mark Davis told The Hollywood Reporter.

Spotted and signed by famed Italian producer Carlo Ponti when she was 18, Britt starred in several films in Italy before she was screen-tested in Rome and signed to a contract by 20th Century in 1957.

She portrayed the wife of a pilot (Lee Phillips) in the Korean War drama The Hunters (1958), starring Robert Mitchum, then was a love interest of Marlon Brando‘s German officer in the World War II-set The Young Lions (1958), directed by Edward Dmytryk.

Often described as a warmer, more approachable Greta Garbo, Britt came to fame when she starred as the scandalous cabaret entertainer Lola-Lola in Dmytryk’s The Blue Angel (1959).

The film was a remake of a 1930 drama that had ignited the career of the original Lola, Marlene Dietrich, and most everyone in Hollywood at the time thought Marilyn Monroe was getting the part.

She then played another singer-dancer, Eadie Collins, the ill-fated wife of a singer (Stuart Whitman) menaced by New York mobsters, in Murder, Inc. (1960).

Britt and Davis first met after he performed at the Mocambo nightclub on the Sunset Strip and invited her to a party, according to the 2014 book Sammy Davis: A Personal Journey With My Father, written by Tracey Davis, their daughter.

Soon after, Davis broke off his engagement to Canadian dancer Joan Stuart. Britt converted to Judaism (her fiance had converted in 1961), and he announced to the press in June 1960 while in England that they were engaged.

Britt and Davis were married by a rabbi on Nov. 13, 1960, at his home on Evanview Drive in Los Angeles, followed by a reception for about 200 guests at the Beverly Hilton. Frank Sinatra, Davis’ partner in the Rat Pack, served as the best man. She was 26, he was 34.

At the time, interracial marriages were illegal in 31 states, and coincidentally or not, Fox elected not to renew her contract shortly after their engagement was announced. They received death threats throughout their relationship and at times employed 24-hour armed guards to protect them.

Amid reports linking Davis to singer-dancer-actress Lola Falana, the couple divorced in December 1968, but their daughter told the Los Angeles Times in 2014 that her parents never fell out of love.

When she asked her dad why they broke up, Davis replied, “I just couldn’t be what she wanted to me to be. A family man. My performance schedule was rigorous.”

The older of two daughters, Majbritt Wilkens was born on March 22, 1934, in Lidingö, Sweden, on the outskirts of Stockholm. Her father, Hugo, was a postal clerk and her mother, Hillevi, a housewife.

Working as a photographer’s assistant when she was 18, she was spotted in Stockholm by Ponti, who signed her to a contract and cast her in leading roles in the 1953 films The Unfaithfuls (with Gina Lollobrigida), Jolanda la Figlia del Corsaro Nero and The Devil Is a Woman.

The 5-foot-8 Britt also starred with Anthony Quinn in Fatal Desire (1953) and in Modern Virgin (1954) with Vittorio De Sica before Fox chief Buddy Adler spotted her in King Vidor’s War and Peace (1956), starring Andrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda.

In America, Britt showed off her singing and dancing skills in both Blue Angel and Murder, Inc.

One month after she met him, Britt married Edwin Gregson, a Stanford student and son of a real estate mogul, in February 1958 in Tijuana. She appeared on the cover of Life magazine in August 1959 — the cover line was “May Britt: Star With a New Style” — with an article describing her as a Hollywood ingenue who enjoyed motorcycles and played tennis in the morning in a see-through nightdress.

A month after the story appeared, she and Gregson separated, and they finalized their divorce in September 1960.

Davis, meanwhile, had hurriedly married Black dancer Loray White at the Sands in Las Vegas in January 1958 after gangsters, with instructions from Columbia Pictures chief Harry Cohn, had reportedly threatened his life because he was dating white actress and studio star Kim Novak. He paid White a lump sum (said to be between $10,000 and $25,000) to marry him and act as his wife.

“Sammy had already lost one eye in an accident and Harry Cohn threatened to take out the other one,” Novak told The Guardian in a 2021 interview. “I’m sure he would have gotten his gangster friends to do it. Cohn was definitely in with the mob.”

Davis and White lived together only briefly and divorced in April 1959.

At the insistence of Sinatra, who had campaigned to get John Kennedy elected president, Davis and Britt agreed to postpone their wedding for about a month until after the election, even though the invitations had been mailed, to avoid harming Kennedy’s chances. Davis had campaigned for JFK as well.

“It was disappointing, but I was prepared for anything, I knew what I was getting into,” Britt said in her daughter’s book.

After Kennedy won, Davis and Britt were disinvited to the inauguration gala three days before it was to be held, with JFK not wanting to alienate Southern congressmen by hosting the interracial couple. In 1963, they were asked to leave a White House reception for African-American leaders.

Their daughter, Tracey, was born in July 1961, and the couple went on to adopt sons Mark and Jeff, with the family living in a Beverly Hills mansion once owned by Gone With the Wind producer David O. Selznick.

Britt gave up her career while married to Davis and did very little acting after they divorced. She showed up on episodes of The Danny Thomas Hour, Mission: Impossible, The Most Deadly Game and The Partners and starred in the 1976 horror film Haunts.

She told Vanity Fair in 1999 that she had no regrets. “I loved Sammy, and I had the chance to marry the man I loved,” she said.

Davis wed dancer Altovise Gore in May 1970 in a Philadelphia courthouse ceremony that was officiated by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. They were together until his death on May 16, 1990, from throat cancer at age 64.

Britt didn’t get married again until May 1993, when she wed Lennart Ringquist, an entertainment executive and horse breeder (his former wife, Penny Chenery, bred and owned Triple Crown winner Secretariat). He died in January 2017.

In addition to her sons, survivors include her sister, Margot, and her grandchildren, Andrew, Ryan, Sam, Montana, Greer and Chase. Tracey Davis died in November 2020 after a short illness at age 59.

Actress

Probe (1988)

Probe

7.9

TV Series

Helga

1988

1 episode

 

May Britt in Haunts (1976)

Haunts

4.7

Ingrid

1976

 

Hans Conried in The Partners (1971)

The Partners

7.1

TV Series

Miss Winters

1971

1 episode

 

Ralph Bellamy, George Maharis, and Yvette Mimieux in The Most Deadly Game (1970)

The Most Deadly Game

6.3

TV Series

Lili

1971

1 episode

 

Barbara Bain, Martin Landau, Peter Graves, Peter Lupus, and Greg Morris in Mission: Impossible (1966)

Mission: Impossible

7.9

TV Series

Eva Gollan

1969

1 episode

 

Danny Thomas in The Danny Thomas Hour (1967)

The Danny Thomas Hour

7.2

TV Series

Anna

1968

1 episode

 

Murder, Inc. (1960)

Murder, Inc.

6.6

Eadie Collins

1960

 

The Blue Angel (1959)

The Blue Angel

6.1

Lola-Lola

1959

 

Robert Mitchum, Robert Wagner, May Britt, Richard Egan, and Lee Philips in The Hunters (1958)

The Hunters

6.4

Kristina 'Kris' Abbott

1958

 

Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and Dean Martin in The Young Lions (1958)

The Young Lions

7.1

Gretchen Hardenberg

1958

 

War and Peace (1956)

War and Peace

6.7

Sonia Rostova

1956

 

Prigionieri del male (1955)

Prigionieri del male

5.3

Nadia Ulianova, giornalista Sovietica

1955

 

L'ultimo amante (1955)

L'ultimo amante

5.7

Maria Spanisch

1955

 

Ça va barder (1955)

Ça va barder

5.8

Gina

1955

 

Vergine moderna (1954)

Vergine moderna

5.2

Claudia Bardi

1954

 

Fatal Desire (1953)

Fatal Desire

7.0

Santuzza

1953

 

The Ship of Damned Women (1953)

The Ship of Damned Women

7.1

Consuelo Silveris

1953

 

Totò in Funniest Show on Earth (1953)

Funniest Show on Earth

6.3

Brigitte - la domatrice

1953

 

The Devil Is a Woman (1953)

The Devil Is a Woman

6.7

Maria Maricchia

1953

 

Jolanda la figlia del corsaro nero (1953)

Jolanda la figlia del corsaro nero

6.3

Jolanda

1953

 

May Britt, Pierre Cressoy, and Gina Lollobrigida in The Unfaithfuls (1953)

The Unfaithfuls

6.8

Liliana Capacci Rodgers

1953

 

Soundtrack

Murder, Inc. (1960)

Murder, Inc.

6.6

performer: "Hey! Mister"

1960

 

The Blue Angel (1959)

The Blue Angel

6.1

performer: "Lola-Lola", "Falling in Love Again"

1959

 

Thanks

Jonas Fjeld in Jonas Fjeld i 70-sonen (2023)

Jonas Fjeld i 70-sonen

TV Movie

thanks to

2023

 

Self

Unsung Hollywood (2014)

Unsung Hollywood

8.1

TV Series

Self (as May Britt Ringquest)

2015

1 episode

 

Brando (2007)

Brando

8.2

TV Movie

Self

2007

 

Kings of Black Comedy (2002)

Kings of Black Comedy

TV Series

Self

2002

1 episode

 

E! True Hollywood Story (1996)

E! True Hollywood Story

6.5

TV Series

Self

2001

1 episode

 

Hollywood Greats (1977)

Hollywood Greats

7.7

TV Series

Self

2001

1 episode

 

V.I.P.-Schaukel (1971)

V.I.P.-Schaukel

7.7

TV Series

Self

1976

1 episode

 

Alec Guinness, Sandy Dennis, Carol Channing, and Bert Lahr in The 18th Annual Tony Awards (1964)

The 18th Annual Tony Awards

TV Special

Self - Audience Member

1964

 

Bob Hope in The Bob Hope Show (1950)

The Bob Hope Show

7.3

TV Series

Self - Guest

1959

1 episode

 

Archive Footage

Sammy by Sammy, mes années 60 (2022)

Sammy by Sammy, mes années 60

6.8

Self (archive footage)

2022

 

Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me (2017)

Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me

7.6

Self (archive footage)

2017

 

Deborah Norville in Inside Edition (1988)

Inside Edition

4.1

TV Series

Self (archive footage)

2015

1 episode

 

Sinatra: All or Nothing at All (2015)

Sinatra: All or Nothing at All

8.0

TV Mini Series

Self (archive footage)

2015

1 episode

 

Bruce Lee in Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 2 (1999)

Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 2

7.4

TV Special

Self (archive footage, uncredited)

1999