Quote · Last Podcast On The Left
Episode 669: Anton LaVey Part IV - Old Wizards Die Hard
Where this was said
Christopher Lee, Frank Sinatra, and the Collapse of LaVey's Hollywood Dream
At 39:05 · chapter starts 18:20
As Anton LaVey finally began to feel like he belonged at Davis's Hollywood parties, his insecurities sabotaged him. When Davis invited both LaVey and his Poor Devil co-star Christopher Lee to a dinner party, LaVey bristled — Lee was another spooky figure, and LaVey wanted to be Sammy's only one. What LaVey didn't know is that Lee was a committed Christian occultist who believed Satanism was folly. When LaVey baited Lee by insisting Bela Lugosi was a superior Dracula to Lee's ten portrayals, Davis had to physically step between them before a fight broke out — a comic image given that the 5'4" Davis was mediating between two men well over 6 feet. [1] — Marcus Parks "Sammy Davis Jr. diagnosed with terminal throat cancer, 1989: When Sammy Davis Jr.'s 1989 tribute show aired after his terminal cancer diagn…" 36:26 More damage came from Frank Sinatra, who told Davis to cool it with the Satanists in the late '70s, apparently unaware these were Sammy's most pharmaceutical-free evenings. The friendship faded, and when Davis was diagnosed with terminal cancer and his 1989 tribute was televised, LaVey watched from home. He hadn't spoken to Sammy in a decade, and the chance to break into Hollywood through the greatest entertainer alive had evaporated permanently.
Frank Sinatra told Sammy Davis Jr. to cool it with the drugs, booze, and above all, the Satanists. The delicious irony: Davis's nights with LaVey were his most sober and sexless. Sinatra should have been encouraging the Satanist friendship, not killing it.
When Sammy Davis Jr.'s 1989 tribute show aired after his terminal cancer diagnosis, Anton LaVey was not invited and watched from home, marking the definitive end of their friendship.
