I remember hearing about Altovise Davis's financial issues after Sammy Davis Jr. died.They were so immense that it was rumored that she tried to commit suicide.Here's an excerpt from a 1990 People magazine article on that very trying time for Altovise Davis:
"The mourners who once thronged outside the iron gate to pay their respects have long since gone, and the black, custom-made Cadillac station wagon sits on the circular driveway shrouded in a canvas tarp, as if to emphasize that he is no longer there to drive it.
There has been a pall, it seems, for the past four months over the house on Summit Drive, ever since performing great Sammy Davis Jr. died of throat cancer last May at age 64. "I know when he died he wanted me to celebrate his life," says his widow, Alto-vise, who was his wife for 20 years. "But I didn't see it that way. How could I?"
Now that the initial shock of his passing is gone, Altovise, 42, has even less cause for joy. After a tabloid report that a bodyguard found her unconscious last summer from an overdose of alcohol and pills, the onetime dancer now faces the prospect of raising the couple's recently adopted son, Manny, alone. She must also untangle a complicated financial skein: making good on the raft of charitable bequests in Davis's will and facing IRS charges that he owed $4.5 million in back taxes as a result of what Alto-vise's attorney, Vasilios Choulos, calls questionable shelter investments.
Altovise, who has admitted to her own past bout with alcoholism, adamantly denies the report that she tried to kill herself last July. "It wasn't true. I don't take drugs. I do drink," she says. "But I want to live for my husband, for my son, for the kids. I think the rumors started because, in the beginning, after his death. I didn't go out."
But she does not minimize her financial burden, which includes not only the IRS tab but also a $2.5 million mortgage on her Beverly Hills home. "If all obligations were met." says Choulos. "that would wipe out 80 percent of the estate." According to Altovise, Davis had hoped that the 11-country tour with Frank Sinatra and Liza Minnelli that he launched a year and a half before his death would earn enough to settle his debts. "Sammy thought the tour would solve a lot of problems," says Altovise. "He was very honest about it. Even when he had the throat cancer, we thought he'd get better, get through it and finish the tour."
Ultimately he did not."(END OF EXCERPT)Read the entire article here.
Altovise Davis was still entangled in money-related issues when she died on Mar.14 at the age of 65.Here's more on that from CBC News.ca:
"When the tax liability was settled in 1997, she set about restoring Sammy Davis Jr.'s legacy, organizing a musical touring show called Mr. Bojangles: The Ultimate Entertainer in 2006.
Last year, she sued two former business associates for the rights to her husband's life story and the management of his legacy.
She claimed they tricked her into ceding some of the rights to his estate, and asked for unspecified monetary and punitive damages. The suit is still pending."(END OF EXCERPT)Read the rest here.
Now,Altovise Davis will no longer be plagued by financial difficulties because she has moved on from all of that.May she find peace & happiness on the other side.
