June Star Of The Month: Dean Martin

 

DEAN MARTIN

BIRTH: June 7, 1917

DEATH: December 25, 1995

AGED: 78 yrs old

DIED FROM: Lung Cancer and his COPD

REAL NAME:Dino Paul Crocetti

NICK NAME: Dino, The King Of Cool

MARRIED: 3 times. 

AFFAIRS: Inger Stevens, Angie Dickenson, June Allyson, Elizabeth Montgomery- that’s a rumour, Dinah Shore

CHILDREN: 8 kids! All but one went into show business in some form

FAMOUS FRIENDS: Frank Sinatra

FAMOUS PARTNERS: Jerry Lewis and the Rat Pack team. Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop

FEAR: claustrophobic- wanted his hotel rooms on the main floor or would walk up. Considered elevators moving coffins

TALENT: take a wild guess?…lol…singing- That’s Amore, Remember Me, etc…

KNOWN FOR: his Affable Manner, being a lush( he wasn’t really), having 3 Stars on the Walk of Fame

Dean Martin is one of the most well known entertainers in the world for his singing, his movie making and his television work but most don’t know his humble beginnings. He grew up in Ohio to Italian parents and only taught him to speak Italian because, they only spoke Italian. This lead to many issues when Dino started school since he could not speak English which resulted in constant bullying. He learned how to fight back because he became a boxer winning a few matches in his level plus he and his roommate started a fight club in their apartment as a way to pay the rent. He had quite a few jobs including rubbing too close to crime when he helped in bootlegging even dating Meyer Lansky’s daughter for a time( thank God he lived through that!). He worked at a gas station, a dealer at a casino and as a steel worker. He found his way onto the stage and met up with Jerry Lewis where they started to talk about teaming up. When they did…they bombed! They decided to just free talk through their schtick which included Dino singing and the stars made it big. They became so popular, that they ended up making many films plus starred on TV shows like Ed Sullivan. It seemed the star was more Jerry Lewis who was the clown up against Martin who was the straight man which went straight to Jerry Lewis’s head. Martin was becoming more disgruntled especially when he saw Lewis and actress, Sheree North on a magazine cover and Martin was cropped out! The last film they made, “Hollywood or Bust”, was not pleasant since neither spoke to the other once a scene was done. They ended up not speaking for years until Frank Sinatra surprised Jerry Lewis, on his annual telethon ( for Muscular Dystrophy), bringing Dean Martin on and they seemed to bury the hatchet…kinda. Dino was also part of the very famous Rat Pack group ( originally created by Humphrey Bogart and whom Lauren Bacall, Bogart’s wife, coined them the “Rat Pack” the morning after booze laden night) that consisted of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. Actually, Shirley MacClaine and Judy Garland were part of this troupe as well, but the men were the most famous. They were major liners at Las Vegas singing, drinking, making jokes, drinking and having tons of fun. Later on, it seems Dino never really drank and had apple juice in his glass but I’m not completely convinced. Maybe he did this often, but not all the time and I recall him being quite inebriated when on The Johnny Carson Show. It is quite a funny time to see him on the show.

Speaking of TV, he had his own Dean Martin Show that I have only seen snippets of and often, you see Martin lose it when a comedian was just way too funny. He, also, started the “ Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts” where, unlike the ones we see today which, are about “stars” no one cares about plus are way too rude and off-putting, he roasted some very famous people like Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, Elizabeth Taylor, and Michael Landon. He had his staple of comedians that came on like Phyllis Diller, Don Rickles, Nypsy Russell, Jonathan Winters but also famous stars from the people mentioned above to Bob Hope, Flip Wilson and President Ronald Reagan. Did I mention Foster Brooks?  I LOVE Fister Brooks who truly knew how to play a drunkard. 

Dean was also quite a good actor who could hold his own against stars like Wayne and Stewart plus could make fun of the James Bond franchise and his own cool image, but when Sharon Tate was murdered ( she was to be his co-star in the next Matt Helm movie), devastated over her death, he stopped making that movie and never went back. The same thing happened a few years earlier when he was to star opposite Marilyn Monroe in the film, “Something’s Got to Give”. When she was fired from the film, he went to bat for her and, it seems the Execs decided to hire her back but, when she died, Dean would not make the film without her and it was shelved ( later to be made with James Garner and Doris Day in “Move Over, Darling”).

By the 1970s, his chain-smoking habit was doing a number on his lungs and his voice but he continued to croon until his beloved son, Dean Jr., died in an air accident when the F14 Phantom jet crashed into the Pacific Ocean in 1987. Dean never recovered despite help from family and friends like Sinatra. Dean became somewhat of a recluse going out to his regular restaurant haunt to eat dinner looking nothing like the charismatic, handsome man he used to be. When he developed lung cancer, he was told her could get surgery which would prolong his life but he refused and died on Christmas Day with his family believing he wanted to see his son again. It’s a sad end to a most gregarious and loyal ( to friends) man who deserves all the accolades he got and, I think, was better than Jerry Lewis. 

My Favourite Films:

1. Rio Bravo-1959

2. The Sons of Katie Elder-1965

3. Some Came Running-1958

4. Scared Stiff-1953

5. The Young Lions-1958

6. The Silencers-1966

7. Bandolero-1968

8. Airport-1970

9. The Cannonball Run-1981

10. Ocean’s 11-1960

I still need to see a few of his others like “The Bells are Ringing” but that’s my list for now.