Burt Boyar

New York Times bestselling author Burt Boyar is a prolific writer whose best known works are the autobiographies of Sammy Davis, Jr., written along with the multi-talented performer. Yes I Can and Why Me?, have sold over 10 million copies and been translated into 15 languages. Yes I Can reached number one on the New York Times bestseller List. Burt also published a collection of photographs taken by Sammy Davis, Jr., into a book called Photo by Sammy Davis, Jr.

Burt initially took one-year leave of absence from his job as a Broadway critic to write Sammy Davis Jr.’s life story, Yes I Can. But it would take six years to complete the project later published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux as a groundbreaking indictment of American racism. New York Herald Tribune critic Maurice Dolbier wrote: “one of the most candid, engrossing and important American autobiographies of our time.” Yes I Can stayed atop the New York Times list for 28 weeks and was short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize. Today it is in every public library in America, is required reading in numerous public school systems, and is taught at universities, among them William and Mary.

Burt also traveled the world in 1967-8 with tennis players Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Lew Hoad, Pancho Gonzalez, Tony Trabert, researching a novel, World Class, published by Random House in 1975.

Additionally, Burt wrote a syndicated Broadway column for the Annenberg and Newhouse newspapers for 10 million readers daily, a weekly column for TV Guide and feature articles for Esquire and New York.

Burt was married to his wife and frequent collaborator, Jane Feinstein Boyar, for 44 years until her death in 1997. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.