Lee Daniels to Develop Sammy Davis Jr. Miniseries

Lee Daniels Entertainment has teamed up with Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman's Playtone to develop miniseries about the life of Sammy Davis Jr., according to Deadline.

The project, titled Sammy, is in preliminary stages, with In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr. by Wil Haygood as source material.

Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father, Sammy Davis Sr. and the Will MastinTrio, which toured nationally. After military service, Davis returned to the trio. Davis became an overnight sensation following a nightclub performance at Ciro's (in West Hollywood) after the 1951 Academy Awards. With the trio, he became a recording artist. In 1954, he lost his left eye in a car accident, and several years later, he converted to Judaism finding commonalities between the oppression experienced by African-American and Jewish communities.

Davis's film career began as a child in 1933. In 1960, he appeared in the Rat Pack film Ocean's 11. After a starring role on Broadway in Mr Wonderful (1956), he returned to the stage in 1964's Golden Boy. In 1966 he had his own TV variety show, titled The Sammy Davis Jr. Show. Davis's career slowed in the late 1960s, but he had a hit record with "The Candy Man" in 1972 and became a star in Las Vegas, earning him the nickname "Mister Show Business".

After reuniting with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin in 1987, Davis toured with them and Liza Minnelli internationally. Davis was awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award for his television performances. He was the recipient of THE KENNEDY CENTER HONORS in 1987, and in 2001, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2017 he was inducted into the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame for being the Greatest Entertainer in the World said the founder of the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame, Lamont "ShowBoat" Robinson.

Read the original article on Deadline.