May Britt, Swedish Actress and Ex-Wife of Sammy Davis Jr., Dies at 91
Swedish-born star and former spouse of the Rat Pack member died of natural causes in Los Angeles, son says.
May Britt, the Swedish-born actress who was married to Sammy Davis Jr., died Dec. 11 of natural causes at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center in Los Angeles, her son told The Hollywood Reporter. She was 91.
Britt was born Maj-Britt Wilkens on the Swedish island of Lidingö in 1934 and was discovered by Italian filmmakers Carlo Ponti and Mario Soldati when she was 18. She soon signed with 20th Century Fox in 1957 and appeared in The Hunters (1958). She also played Marlon Brando’s love interest in The Young Lions, a role that helped elevate her profile in the United States. Her international breakthrough came with the title role Lola-Lola in The Blue Angel, a part that has been cited as a potential fit for Marilyn Monroe before Monroe turned it down. The Hollywood Reporter described that early period as Britt’s ascent from European cinema to the American stage.
Britt’s career included periodic television appearances, and she later married her first husband, Edwin Gregson, in 1958; the couple divorced a year later. She met Davis after the singer performed at the Mocambo, a famed Los Angeles nightclub. The couple announced their engagement in June 1960 and wed in November of that year, when Britt was 26 and Davis was 34. Their interracial marriage drew fierce backlash at a time when such unions were illegal in many states, and they faced death threats that led to 24-hour security protection. Records and interviews from the period note that Davis’s invitation to the presidential inauguration of John F. Kennedy was rescinded in part because of the marriage, a political ripple effect cited by contemporaries.
The couple welcomed a daughter, Tracey, in July 1961 and later adopted two sons, Jeff and Mark. They divorced in December 1968 amid persistent rumors of a Davis affair with dancer Lola Falana. Tracey Davis later told the Los Angeles Times that her parents never fell out of love; she attributed the separation to Davis’s demanding performance schedule rather than a fracture in their bond.
Britt married her third husband, Lennart Ringquist, in 1993, a union that lasted until Ringquist’s death in 2017. She is survived by two sons, a sister named Mary and several grandchildren, though her daughter Tracey died in 2020 at the age of 59.
Her long career spanned European cinema and American television, and she remains a notable figure in the history of mid-20th-century film and cross-cultural celebrity. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed the death and noted Britt’s enduring legacy as part of the era’s cultural dialogue surrounding race, fame, and transatlantic cinema.
