May Britt, Swedish Actress and Sammy Davis Jr.’s Ex-Wife, Dies at 91
Swedish-born screen star of The Blue Angel and Murder, Inc. died of natural causes Dec. 11 in Los Angeles, family says.
May Britt, the Swedish actress who became a fixture in Italian cinema and later the wife of Sammy Davis Jr., died following natural causes on Dec. 11 at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center in Los Angeles. She was 91. Britt’s son, Mark Davis, confirmed the news to The Hollywood Reporter.
Born Maj-Britt Wilkens on the Swedish island of Lidingö in 1934, Britt was discovered by renowned filmmakers Carlo Ponti and Mario Soldati when she was 18 and began appearing in Italian films. She signed with 20th Century Fox in 1957 after a string of Italian roles and appeared in The Hunters (1958), followed by a turn as Marlon Brando’s love interest in The Young Lions. Her breakout role came as Lola-Lola, the young cabaret entertainer in The Blue Angel, a part many observers associate with Marilyn Monroe’s early screen trajectory—had she not turned it down. Britt’s last major screen credit was as Eadie Collins in Murder, Inc. (1960).
Britt’s personal life drew intense public scrutiny when she wed Davis in November 1960, becoming the second wife of the Rat Pack star. The interracial union drew fierce backlash at a time when interracial marriage was illegal in several states, and the couple faced threats that required round-the-clock security. Accounts tied to the period note that Davis was disinvited from John F. Kennedy’s presidential inauguration after he helped Kennedy’s campaign, a decision described by filmmaker Tom Donahue and Deana Martin in interviews with Fox News in 2021.
The couple welcomed a daughter, Tracey, in July 1961 and later adopted two sons, Jeff and Mark. Britt and Davis divorced in December 1968 amid persistent tabloid speculation about Davis’s relationship with dancer Lola Falana. Tracey Davis later said her parents never stopped loving one another, even as their careers and schedules kept them apart. In later years, Britt married Lennart Ringquist in 1993, and the couple remained together until Ringquist’s death in 2017.
Britt is survived by her two sons and a sister, as well as grandchildren. Her daughter Tracey died in 2020 at age 59. Britt’s film career — spanning Swedish beginnings, Italian cinema, and American productions — left a mark on both sides of the Atlantic, highlighting a path that bridged cultures during a transformative era in Hollywood history.
As an artist who navigated the complexities of cross-cultural romance and a groundbreaking era in American entertainment, May Britt’s legacy endures in the cinematic records she helped shape and in the enduring memory of her family and fans.