Elijah Kelley To Play Sammy Davis Jr. In Lee Daniels Limited Series For Hulu
Deadline is reporting that Hulu has ordered eight episodes of a limited series about Sammy Davis, Jr. from Lee Daniels and 20th Television. It’s based on the Wil Haygood book In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr.
Multi-hyphenate performer Elijah Kelley will portray the title role in the untitled series, having starred in NBC’s The Wiz Live! and New Line’s Hairspray. He previously collaborated with Daniels on Lee Daniels’ The Butler and Fox’s Star.
Sammy Davis, Jr. rose from childhood stardom on the vaudeville stage to become one of the most famous African American entertainers of the 1950s and ’60s (and the only Black member of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack). At the same time, he spent most of his career surrounded by controversy and ridicule–over his affairs with white film stars, his 1960 marriage to Swedish actress May Britt, his conversion to Judaism, his closeness to the Kennedys (and later Richard Nixon), and his problems with alcohol and drugs.
Daniels also will direct the first two episodes. Kelley also will produce and collaborate on some of the show’s original music. Co-EP is Thomas Westfall, while Haygood will produce. Marc Toberoff is also an EP on the project.
A production location or start date has not been set.
Kelley, who also starred in BET’s The New Edition Story