Few entertainers ever achieved greater dominance than that attained by Dean Martin in the second half of the 20th century. Martin’s popularity made him a major star in the recording industry, with radio, film, television, and frequent live appearances. He developed a persona as a devil-may-care playboy with a taste for alcohol, gambling, fast women, and an endless pursuit of fun. Yet in reality, he was a family man who drank mostly sparingly, preferring to spend his time when not performing at home with his family.
His recording career saw him releasing several songs which remain indelibly linked to his image, including “Volare”, “That’s Amore”, and his signature song, “Everybody Loves Somebody”. His film career saw him portray a diverse number of roles. He started as the hapless straight man to the slapstick of his longtime partner, Jerry Lewis, in a series of comedies beginning in the 1940s. He graduated to serious acting, alongside such luminaries of Hollywood as Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Robert Mitchum, and John Wayne. He spoofed the spy thrillers birthed by the James Bond films, as well as his own lifestyle, in the Matt Helm series in the 1960s. All were financially successful.
He branched into television with his own variety series, as well as appearing as a guest on shows hosted by Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and his longtime friend Frank Sinatra, as well as many others. His onstage appearances with Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop, and others became legendary, especially those at the famed Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Many are still popular videos on YouTube and other sites today.
In the 1970s, Frank Sinatra was known around Hollywood circles as The Chairman of the Board. Dean Martin held title as the King of Cool. Yet to friends and fans, he was known affectionately simply as Dino. It was wholly appropriate, since Dino was his real name, given to him by his immigrant parents at birth. Dino’s story is a classic rags-to-riches tale of rising from hard times to the top of the world. It wasn’t always easy, nor always smooth, but somehow Dean always made it look effortless, always as if he was playing a great joke upon the world. Here is part of his story.
The Immigrant’s Son
Dino Paul Crocetti was born in the hardscrabble Ohio town of Steubenville on June 17, 1917. His father, Gaetano, was a barber who had been born in Italy, his mother Angela was the daughter of immigrants, born in Fernwood, Ohio. The language of the Crocetti household was Italian; Dean did not begin to learn English until the age of five. His first school, Steubenville’s Grant Elementary, was where young Dino first learned to defend himself. Bullied because of his then-small size, as well as his broken English, Dino learned the rudiments of boxing. Eventually, he named himself Kid Crochet, scheduling his own bare-knuckle fights and charging Steubenville’s steelworkers to watch his bouts.
Much later in life, Dino admitted to participating in 12 “professional” fights, and with tongue in cheek, claimed that he had won all but 11 of them. The true measure of his boxing career is unknown since the fights were unsanctioned, illegal, and for the most part unrefereed. They would end when one fighter or the other could not continue. Yet, Dean Martin bore the marks of a boxer throughout his career, including scarring about the eyes and an improperly set broken nose.
By the time Dino was a sophomore at Steubenville High School, he was of the opinion that he knew as much about the subjects being taught as did the teachers supposedly educating him. He dropped out of school in tenth grade. He had then been working as a stock boy in a cigar store since the age of 12. The cigar store served as a front for an illegal casino and speakeasy, and the youngster saw earning opportunities beyond those offered in the legal part of the store.
Steubenville was a steel town, with a port on the Ohio River, and the customers Dino served in the speakeasy were steelworkers, bargemen, stevedores, and other blue-collar workers: hardworking, hard-gambling, and hard-drinking men. In addition to working as a croupier, Dino dealt blackjack, served liquor, collected gambling losses, and occasionally entertained the customers by singing.
His singing led to other opportunities with local groups, and the former Kid Crochet began calling himself Dino Martini when he sang with local orchestras. He adopted a crooning style of singing, and by 1940, he began appearing with a Cleveland orchestra led by bandleader Sammy Watkins. He was drafted during World War Two but was deemed medically unfit due to a previously undiagnosed hernia. By 1943, having by then adopted the name of Dean Martin, he was appearing with different orchestras in New York nightclubs, having left the somewhat seedier atmosphere of Steubenville behind him. He maintained his home in Cleveland, having married his first wife there in late 1941. Eventually, the couple had four children together before divorcing in 1949. By then, the entertainment career of Dean Martin was well underway.
Martin and Lewis
In 1944, Dean Martin was appearing in the Glass Hat Club in New York’s Belmont Plaza Hotel. Another act on the same bill in the locally famous club was a comedian going by the name Jerry Lewis. The two became close friends, and often introduced each other to the audience during their respective performances. On July 24, 1946, the two appeared together as an act at the 500 Club in Atlantic City, New Jersey. According to legend, the two were warned after their first performance together that if the act did not improve immediately they were both fired. According to Lewis, they agreed that Martin would appear as a straight singing act when Lewis, costumed as a busboy, would interrupt him with heckling, slapstick humor, and other material from his comedy act.
The performance was a smash hit, and led to bookings up and down the East Coast, eventually to a hit run at New York’s famed Copacabana. That booking led in turn to an appearance on the new medium of television, on a program called Talk of the Town, hosted by a New York celebrity and newspaper columnist. Eventually the show changed its name to that of its host, becoming The Ed Sullivan Show. In 1948, Martin and Lewis hired outside writers to help develop new material; until then, they had scripted their shows themselves. Among the writers they hired was Norman Lear, who would eventually create iconic television productions including All in the Family, The Jeffersons, One Day at a Time, and Good Times, among many others.
Martin and Lewis branched into radio in 1949 and film later that same year. Their first appearance on film was in My Friend Irma. As the decade of the 1950s began, Martin and Lewis appeared on radio, television, motion pictures, and in live appearances in clubs and concert halls. They were the highest-paid act in the United States during the early 1950s, but dissension had begun. The series of films, a total of 17 made between 1949 and 1956, irritated Martin due to their similarity to each other. To appease Dino, the act, known as Martin and Lewis, changed its name to Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, giving the performers greater recognition as individuals. Yet it was not enough for Dino. The frenetic work pace, the blandness of the films, and his desire to perform in more serious roles, eventually led Dino to snarl at Lewis, “You’re nothing but a dollar sign to me pal”, in 1956. The act, then the highest-paid act in all of show business, formally dissolved in 1956.
Martin’s recording career was already well underway, with several hits having appeared on the charts, but he wanted to be considered a serious actor in films. The repetitive scripts and sight gags that featured in the Martin and Lewis films had become distasteful to him; he saw himself as an actor with dramatic abilities, much more talented than a mere straight man to Jerry’s antics and pratfalls. Changes in popular music, not to his taste, also loomed. He started lobbying for serious film roles.
He also wanted to curtail traveling and staying in hotels. Throughout his life, Martin held a distaste for tall buildings, elevators, and rooms above the third floor in any building, since he also did not like climbing stairwells. These and other reasons, such as crowded streets, made him dislike New York and other Eastern cities. He preferred the West Coast and the Los Angeles area, since at that time, the city was largely barren of skyscrapers.
Becoming a Motion Picture Star
In 1957, although his name was well known as a star in motion pictures, Dean Martin’s ability as a serious actor was questioned among film critics. His first film without his former partner, Jerry Lewis, did little to improve his reputation. The film, Ten Thousand Bedrooms, was panned by critics and flopped at the box office. In 1958, he was cast in The Young Lions for mere pennies on the dollar compared to the fees he had commanded as part of Lewis and Martin. The film saw him sharing star billing with Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift, two of the leading male actors of the day.
Both Brando and Clift found themselves the target of critical displeasure for their performances, while Martin drew praise. That same year, he performed in the film Some Came Running, alongside Shirley MacLaine and Frank Sinatra. Again, Martin’s performance drew critical praise with Variety magazine commenting that Martin portrayed a man dying of a terminal disease “…with grace and humor”.
The following year, Martin cemented his place as a serious actor when he portrayed a character known only as Dude in the Howard Hawks western, Rio Bravo. Martin starred as an alcoholic ne-er-do-well alongside John Wayne, rising star Ricky Nelson, and Walter Brennan. Once again, the critics singled out Martin’s performance as superior to the more established stars with whom he shared the billing. From that point, his film career blossomed. At the same time, he became better known to audiences through television appearances and his records. By 1960, he was an established triple threat in entertainment: wildly popular as a recording star, a television celebrity, and a serious film actor.
He began a series of performances on film with Frank Sinatra during the 1960s, including the original Ocean’s 11, and several additional films with Shirley MacLaine. In 1964, Dean spoofed his own image of a womanizing playboy in the film Kiss Me, Stupid, alongside Kim Novak. Poking fun at himself became a major part of his persona both on and off screen during the 1960s, including in the popular Matt Helm series of films, which also spoofed the spy films of the day.
Dean Martin co-produced the Matt Helm series of films, which consisted of four films beginning in 1965. Though the character was created in a series of spy novels by writer Donald Hamilton, the Matt Helm portrayed by Martin bore little resemblance to the character from the books. Martin depicted Helm as a reflection of his own carefully crafted public persona; a smooth, happy-go-lucky, hard-drinking, womanizing, devil-may-care playboy. To help him in his portrayal, the films cast some of the leading Hollywood actresses of the day, including Ann-Margret, Elke Sommer, Sharon Tate, and from Gilligan’s Island, Tina Louise.
Martin carried off the Matt Helm films with an appearance of seemingly effortless performances. At the same time he was making the films, and a goodly pile of money from them, he was expanding his appearances on television and in the recording studio. His self-parody became a dominant feature of his live appearances, as well as in his films. The habit of mocking himself proved highly popular with audiences and fans, and Dean Martin found himself continually referred to as the “King of Cool”, a moniker that he did nothing to discourage.
Martin’s last appearance in film was in 1984, when he joined Sammy Davis Jr. as entrants in an unsanctioned cross-country automobile race, disguised as priests. Archival footage of him has appeared in films since, including in Once Upon a Time In Hollywood, and likely will continue to surface from time to time, as filmmakers want to convey images of what was considered cool in the recent past.
The Recording Star
As a singer, Dean Martin developed his style as a crooner from the school of Harry Mills of the Mills Brothers, Perry Como, or Bing Crosby. He never learned to read music. Yet he worked hard at his singing, polishing his style, and as he did in acting, developed the appearance of nearly effortless performance.
In 1964, Dean Martin recorded what was to become his signature song, Everybody Loves Somebody. At that stage of his career, his recordings continued to sell, but failed to reach the top forty on the charts. Everybody Loves Somebody soared to the top of the charts in the United States, reaching number one on Billboard. In doing so, it displaced A Hard Day’s Night by The Beatles. It remained at number one for eight weeks.
For Martin, the song’s success was doubly sweet, as he had little use for rock and roll music, nor the stars performing it. In June 1964, Dean Martin guest hosted the ABC Television variety program The Hollywood Palace. The occasion was the first US television appearance by The Rolling Stones. Martin expressed contempt for the band and its members’ personal appearances both before and following their performance. At one point he told the audience, “…you’re under the impression they have long hair…not true at all…they just have low foreheads and high eyebrows.”
As was his usual practice, Dean hosted the program while acting as if he was drinking heavily. The comments, coupled with Dean’s performance, led to an undying legend that Martin introduced the Stones while drunk. Other comments included his claiming that the Stones were leaving for London immediately after the show, allegedly to challenge The Beatles to “…a hair-pulling contest”. Martin’s disdain for The Rolling Stones and their music was part of his contempt for the changes in the music business that rock and roll helped bring about.
Everybody Loves Somebody was Martin’s last chart topping hit. Yet his recordings still sell well around the world and are frequently featured in film soundtracks, video games, and on radio broadcasts. It is far from his only remembered hit. In fact, the list of iconic tracks he recorded is too long to name all but a few. As a singer, Dean Martin recorded 37 studio albums, 108 singles, and more than 20 compilation albums, beginning in 1953, and ending with the album The Nashville Sessions three decades later. On that final album, Martin sang two duets, one with Conway Twitty, and another with Merle Haggard. The former, My First Country Song, appeared on the Billboard country charts, Martin’s final such achievement while living.
Career in Television
Dean Martin first came to television in an era during which variety programs, often named for their sponsors, were popular. His earliest appearances were those of Martin and Lewis in the early days of the medium. As a solo artist, he appeared on programs hosted by the likes of Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, and other stars of the day. He hosted several variety shows as a guest host, including the aforementioned Hollywood Bowl, and others that aired on Ford Startime in the late 1950s. In 1965, he launched his own variety show on NBC, The Dean Martin Show. It used Everybody Loves Somebody as its theme music, with Dean hosting music and comedy acts, appearing in skits, and often singing duets with musical guests. Eventually, it ran for 264 shows until it was retooled and renamed in 1974.
He continued to appear as a guest on other programs, including specials featuring performers such as Frank Sinatra. Martin appeared in Christmas specials, including his own, as well as those of other leading entertainers of the period, and was a regular guest on talk shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. During all of his television appearances, Martin revealed an aversion to rehearsing, preferring instead to elicit spontaneous reactions from both himself and the audience.
On his own program, Martin featured a weekly event in which he would open a door beside the stage, allowing the entry of an unannounced special guest. According to the show’s insiders, Martin usually did not know in advance who the mystery guest for the week would be. Another segment that took place nearly every week had Martin, while singing one of his songs, inserting nonsense lyrics in an attempt to make his accompanying pianist break down laughing. Martin often leaped onto the piano as part of the performance, striking a provocative pose as he crooned to his pianist.
Martin wanted to avoid doing the program when it was pitched to him by NBC executives in 1964. He preferred using his time in live stage performances or doing films. Accordingly, he made a list of difficult demands as his price for agreeing to the show, including working only on Sunday, when the show would be recorded for broadcast. He also demanded what one author described as an “outrageous amount of money”. To his surprise, NBC agreed to these and many other demands which demonstrated the star power he wielded in the 1960s entertainment industry.
On the show itself, Martin continued to demonstrate his persona as a slightly befuddled, slightly drunk, irreverent playboy, with a decided opposition to work. His lines were read off of cue cards, and if he made a mistake there were no second takes. Both his mistake and recovery appeared on the air, and he often played the error as being the result of too much sampling from the old-fashioned glass which was constantly in his hand.
In its final season, the program was renamed the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast. These revived the ratings for Martin’s show, and the roasts were moved to the MGM Grand Hotel in the autumn of 1974. The roasts continued for a decade on NBC, broadcast as a special rather than as a weekly series. The show came to an end in 1984, after Martin declined the opportunity to renew his contract with the network. After the end of his commitments to his own programs, Martin remained a popular guest on other programs, specials, and talk shows, demonstrating his mastery of the medium of television had not weakened over time.
The Rat Pack
The original Rat Pack was an informally organized group of friends which included Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, David Niven, and Frank Sinatra. Their name came from a comment by Bacall when she viewed some of the male members returning from a night on the town. The more famous group, which included Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis Jr., and several peripheral members called themselves The Summit. It was the media that tagged them as The Rat Pack.
Their most enduring popular image is of the members sharing a Las Vegas stage, tuxedo-clad, drinks in hand, cutting up, clowning, interrupting each other’s performances, and in general being outrageous and unrehearsed. Their most famous period began when the performers were in Las Vegas filming Ocean’s 11, filming during the day and appearing on the stage at night. It was during this period that Dean Martin scoffed at acting being called hard work, claiming it was nothing compared to standing all day dealing blackjack, or acting as a croupier.
The Rat Pack cronies appeared in several films together, as well as live in Las Vegas, though all members being together at the same time was relatively rare. Usually Dean, Frank, and Sammy were sufficient to call a gathering one of the Rat Pack. Lawford fell out with Sinatra in the early 1960s after Lawford’s brother-in-law, President John F. Kennedy, declined to stay at Sinatra’s California compound, accepting instead the hospitality of Bing Crosby.
Dean Martin used the Rat Pack to further his image as the inveterate playboy with a taste for the sauce, but the late-night or all night convivial sessions of the group were more imaginary than real. Dean was usually the first to call it a night, both on the road and while at home. Once he had reached financial comfort, he preferred to spend his leisure time at home with his family, rather than party the night away with friends. He had a personalized license plate which read “DRUNKY” but his glass onstage usually contained tea or apple juice, just another stage prop. His humor was fueled by his own quick wits, rather than by alcohol.
Martin’s Private Life
Over the course of his life, Dean Martin was married three times. His first marriage produced four children before ending in divorce. His second marriage, to Jeanne Biegger, produced three more children before it too ended in divorce in 1973, after 24 years of marriage. He married a third time in 1973, though that marriage ended in divorce in 1976. Eventually, Martin and his second wife reconciled, though they never remarried.
Martin presented a public image nearly opposite to his private life. He preferred to be at home with family over enjoying the partying style of his public image. He was an avid golfer, and frequent participant in golf charity events. He was also a horseman of note, breeding Andalusian horses at his California ranch, where he also took refuge from prying eyes.
His son Dean Paul Martin, from his second marriage, briefly formed a pop group with Desi Arnaz Jr. and Billy Hinsche in the mid-1960s and appeared in several films and on television. Dean Paul also served in the California Air National Guard, reaching the rank of captain before being killed in a crash during a training mission. Following Dean Paul’s 1987 death, Dean Martin became reclusive. His long friendship with Frank Sinatra became strained after Martin withdrew from the Together Again tour in 1988. The tour, touted by Sinatra, had been billed as the Ultimate Event, but Martin’s heart was not in it.
In late 1993, Dean Martin was diagnosed with lung cancer. Rather than accept surgery to remove part or all of the affected tissue, Martin retired from public life. He remained mostly reclusive at his home in Beverly Hills until it was announced he had died on Christmas Day, 1995. In Las Vegas, the lights of the Strip were temporarily dimmed in his honor. He was interred in Los Angeles, beneath the epitaph “Everybody loves somebody sometime.”
Numerous communities have named streets and parks in his honor, including in his hometown of Steubenville. In Italy, the town of Montesilvano, where Dean Martin’s father was born, named a public square in honor of the son of immigrants. His films remain popular and his records still sell, including his many Christmas recordings. He remains, in the eyes of many of his fans, the undisputed King of Cool.
