Kim Novak said she loved Sammy Davis Jr. but wasn't in love with him. (Getty Images) It was 1957 when the star, who was about to film "Vertigo," saw the showman perform in a Chicago nightclub.

“We became conspirators, drawn together by the single thing we had in common: defiance,” Davis’s friend and biographer, Boyar, quoted the entertainer as saying in the 2000 book Sammy.

Sammy Davis Jr. is considered one of the best all-around entertainers ever — he was an accomplished singer, dancer, comedian and actor. Journalist Wil Haygood spent five years researching Davis ...