Dean Martin

At 78 years old, Dean Martin has this physical status:

Dino Paul Crocetti (June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995), also known as Dean Martin, was an American actor, singer, and comedian.

Martin, one of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, was nicknamed "The King of Cool" for his innate charisma and self-confidence.

They appeared in nightclubs and then appeared on radio, television, and films.

Following a traumatic break in 1956, Martin began his career as a singer and actor in New York.

Martin rose to fame by recording a number of contemporary songs as well as standards from the Great American Songbook.

He was one of Las Vegas's most popular acts, and he was best known for his friendship with fellow artists Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr., who together formed the Rat Pack. Martin, who appeared on Martin's singing abilities and was characterized by his relaxed, easy-going demeanor, began in 1964.

He was roastmaster on the famous Dean Martin Celebrity Roast, which attracted famous celebrities, comedians, and politicians from 1974 to 1984. Martin performed in concert halls, nightclubs, audio recordings, and eight films and television productions throughout his career.

"I'm a Kick in the Head" -- his smattering, crooning voice earned him hundreds of hit singles, including "Memories Are Made of This," "You're Amore," "You're About This," "Everybody Loves You," "You're Amore," "Everybody Loves You" and "Sway" "Ain't That a Kick in the Head" ("You're Made of This") "Everybody Loves And "Volare" and "Volare."

Early life

Martin was born Dino Paul Crocetti in Steubenville, Ohio, to Italian father Gaetano Crocetti (1894–1967) and Italian-American mother Angela Crocetti (1897–1966). His father, a barber, was born in Montesilvano, Pescara, and his mother was born in Fernwood, Ohio, 1897. Domenico Barra, Angela's father, immigrated from Monasterolo del Castello, Bergamo. Guglielmo "William" Antonio Crocetti, Martin's older brother, was born in 1916-1968. His first language was Italian, but he did not speak English until he started learning at the age of five. He attended Grant Elementary School in Steubenville, where he was mocked for his incomplete English. He played the drums as a child, which became a hobby. According to Martin, he was smarter than his teachers. He dropped out of Steubenville High School in the tenth grade because he was more aware than his teachers. He bootlegged alcohol, worked in a steel mill, served as a croupier at a speakeasy and a blackjack dealer, and was a welterweight boxer.

At 15, he billed himself as "Kid Crochet." His prizefighting earned him a broken nose (later straightened), a cracked lip, several broken knuckles, and a bruised body. He said he "won all but 11" in his 12 matches. For a time, he shared a New York City apartment with Sonny King, who was just starting out in show business and had little resources. According to reports, the two people were charged with trying to see them bare-knuckle box each other in their apartment, before one of them was knocked out. In the first round of an amateur boxing tournament, Martin knocked out King. Martin left boxing to work as a roulette stickman and croupier in a shady casino behind a candy store, where he had started as a stock boy. He performed with local bands, "Dino Martini" (after the Metropolitan Opera tenor Nino Martini). He had his break with the Ernie McKay Orchestra. He sang in a crooning style influenced by Harry Mills of the Mills Brothers and Perry Como. He had started playing for Cleveland bandleader Sammy Watkins, who had suggested that his name be changed to Dean Martin by late 1940. He was with the Watkins until at least May 1943. He had begun performing in New York by fall 1943. Martin was drafted into the military during World War II, but after 14 months, he was postponed due to a hernia.

Martin married Elizabeth "Betty" McDonald in Cleveland in October 1941, and the couple lived in Cleveland Heights for a long time. They had four children before the marriage ended in 1949.

Personal life

Martin was married three times. Elizabeth Anne "Betty" McDonald, (July 14, 1922 – July 11, 1989) of Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, was married.

The couple had four children:

In 1949, Martin and McDonald divorced, and Dean gained custody of their children. McDonald lived out her life in San Francisco, California, in relative anonymity.

Dorothy Jean "Jeanne" Biegger, a former Orange Bowl queen from Coral Gables, Florida, was married to Martin next. Their marriage spanned 24 years (1949–1973) and produced three children: three girls, three boys:

Catherine Hawn (born 1947), a three-year marriage before Martin started divorce talks, was the subject of divorce talks. They had no biological children of their own, but Martin adopted Sasha Hawn's daughter. Martin had a brief friendship with model and longtime friend Pat Sheehan after his divorce.

Leonard Barr, Martin Barr's uncle, appeared in several of his performances. Martin lived at 363 Copa De Oro Road in Bel Air, Los Angeles, 1960s-1970s, before selling it to Tom Jones for $500,000 in June 1976.

Carl Wilson, Martin's uncle, was a member of the Beach Boys' Carl Wilson, who married Martin's daughter Gina. Dorothy Hamill, a figure skater, and actress Olivia Hussey were his daughters-in-law during their marriages to Martin's son, Dean Paul Martin. Craig, Martin's elder son, was married to Lou Costello's daughter Carole (1938-1987) before she died as a result of a stroke at age 48.

At his Hidden Valley Ranch, Thousand Oaks, California, Dean Martin raised Purebred Andalusian Horses.

In the late 1940s, Martin volunteered to help the Bergson Group with fund raisings.

Although Martin, a Republican, endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

In September 1993, Martin, a heavy smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. He was told that surgery would prolong his life, but he refused to do so. He retired from public life in early 1995 and died of acute respiratory disease due to emphysema at his Beverly Hills home on Christmas Day, 1995 (29 years to the day his own mother died) at the age 78. In his honor, the lights of the Las Vegas Strip had been dimmed. Martin was laid to rest at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. The epitaph "Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime," the crypt's title.

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Career

Martin attracted the attention of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Columbia Pictures, but no Hollywood contract was forthcoming. Jerry Lewis appeared at the Glass Hat Club in New York, where both were performing. Martin and Lewis formed a close friendship that culminated in their appearances and the establishment of a music-comedy team. They made their debut together at the 500 Club in Atlantic City on July 24, 1946, and they were not well received. Skinny D'Amato, the company's owner, warned them that if they didn't come up with a better act for their second show that night, they would be fired. Lewis and Martin decided to "go for broke" after huddled in the alley behind the club; they divided their act into songs, skits, and ad-libbed content. Martin sang and Lewis dressed as a busboy, serving plates and making a shambles of Martin's appearance and the club's decorum until Lewis was yelled out of the room as Martin pelted him with bread rolls.

They performed slapstick, ripped off old vaudeville parody tales, and did whatever else popped into their heads. The audience erupted. This success spawned a string of well-paying appearances along the Eastern seaboard, culminating in a run at Copacabana, New York. Lewis was interrupted and yelled at Martin while attempting to sing, and the two were eventually chasing each other around the stage. Both confessed to the fact that they ignored the audience and began to play to each other. On June 20, 1948, the team made its television debut on CBS-TV network's The Toast Of The Town (then called The Toast Of The Town) for the first time, with composers Rodgers and Hammerstein also appearing. The two comedians, Norman Lear and Ed Simmons, were hired by young comedy writers in order to develop their act. The two performers will take their act beyond nightclubs with the support of both Lear and Simmons.

Martin and Lewis were signed by Paramount producer Hal B. Wallis as comedy relief for the film My Friend Irma in 1949. Abby Greshler, their rep, negotiated one of Hollywood's best contracts, but they received only $75,000 between them and Wallis, Martin, and Lewis, who were able to do one outside of film a year, which they would co-produce through their own York Productions.

They also owned their own team, film, and television appearances, and from this, they earned millions of dollars. Lewis calls Martin one of America's greatest comic geniuses ever. They were friends, as well as Lewis who was the best man when Martin remarried in 1949. Martin's dissatisfaction with critics, as well as her dissatisfaction with Martin and Lewis' similarities, which producer Hal Wallis refused to change, contributed to Martin's dissatisfaction. He brought less enthusiasm to the job, contributing to more heated discussions with Lewis. Martin told his partner that he was "nothing to [him] but a dollar sign." The act came ten years to the day of the first team's debut in 1956.

Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957), Martin's first solo film, was a box-office flop. Despite the fact that "Volare" debuted at number 15 in the United States and number 2 in the United Kingdom, the pop crooner's heyday was waning with the emergence of rock and roll. Martin aspired to be a dramatic actor, despite being known for more than slapstick comedy films. Though he was given a fraction of his former earnings to co-star in a war drama, The Young Lions (1958), Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift will be in a war drama. Tony Randall was already acting in the film, but talent company MCA realized that Martin would be a triple threat in nightclubs, films, and records: they could make money from his work in nightclubs, films, and television. Randall was paid off to relinquish the role, but Martin replaced him, and Martin's return to the role was the start of Martin's comeback. For the first time in the Vincente Minnelli film Any Came Running (1958), Martin appeared alongside Frank Sinatra.

Martin was a film, recording, television, and nightclub comedian by the mid-1960s. Martin was acclaimed as Dude in Rio Bravo (1959), directed by Howard Hawks and also starring John Wayne and singer Ricky Nelson. In The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), he and Wayne were reunited as brothers. Martin appeared in the film version of the Judy Holliday stage musical comedy Bells Are Ringing in 1960. He received a Golden Globe Award for his role in the 1960 film comedy Who Was That Lady? But Hollywood actress Toys in the Attic, opposite Geraldine Page, continues to look for exciting roles, portraying a Southern politician in 1961's Ada and starring In 1963's screen adaptation of an intense stage drama, as well as in 1970's drama Airport, which was a huge box-office hit.

Sinatra and his partner produced several more films, including the crime caper Ocean's 11, the musical Robin and the 7 Hoods, and the Western comedies Sergeants 3 and 4 for Texas, often with their Rat Pack buddies Sammy Davis, Jr., and Joey Bishop, as well as a romantic comedy Marriage on the Rocks. Martin has appeared in several films, including Some Came Running, Artists and Models, Career, and What a Night's Work. In Billy Wilder's comedy Kiss Me, Stupid (1964) with Kim Novak, he played a parody version of his own womanizing role, ridiculing his appearance in films such as the Matt Helm spy spoofs of the 1960s in which he was a co-producer. Helms, who is about to be executed in Matt Helm's third film "The Ambushers (1967), Helm, who is not killed, smokes the company, "I'll remember you from the great beyond." Helm continues sotto voce "somewhere around Steubenville, I hope."

Martin imitated Harry Mills (of the Mills Brothers), Bing Crosby, and Perry Como before he created his own and was able to hold his own in duets with Sinatra and Crosby. He could not read music like Sinatra, but he did have more than 100 albums and 600 songs. In 1964, his hit song, "Everybody Loves Somebody," knocked "A Hard Day's Night" off the top of the United States. "The Door is Always Open to My Heart" was the first entry on the site this year, gaining number six. Elvis Presley was reported to have been a fan of Martin and patterned his appearance on Martin's "Love Me Tender" after Martin's style. Martin, like Elvis, was heavily influenced by country music. Some of Martin's albums, such as Dean "Tex" Martin Rides Again, Houston, Welcome to My World, and Gentle on My Mind, were composed of country and western songs by musicians such as Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and Buck Owens by 1965. Martin appeared on television shows and was voted "Man of the Year" by the Country Music Association in 1966. The Nashville Sessions, 1983, his last album of his recording career, was his last album.

Martin's image as a Vegas entertainer in a tuxedo has endured.

"Ain't That a Kick in the Head?

Martin's rendition of "Japan's" in Ocean's 11, did not become a hit at the time, but it has seen a revival in pop culture and pop culture, and it has been his most popular song in television for two decades. Martin was one of Las Vegas's most well-known performers for three decades. Martin was one of the best comedians in the industry, profiting from Lewis' decade of comedy. Gail Martin's daughter, who appeared on several TV shows including his co-hosting his summer replacement series on NBC, appeared in Vegas and on many TV shows, including his, co-hosting his summer replacement series on NBC. Daughter Deana Martin continues to perform, as did youngest son Ricci Martin before his death in August 2016. Craig was a producer on Martin's television show, and Claudia, an actress in films such as "For Those Who Think Young," and "Serena." Martin spent a lot of time with his family, even though he was commonly thought of as a ladies' man, as second wife Jeanne put it, "He was home every night for dinner."

As Martin's solo career developed, he and Frank Sinatra became best friends. Martin and Sinatra, as well as colleagues Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, and Sammy Davis Jr., established the Rat Pack in the late 1950s and early 1960s, which never saw Sinatra as "The Summit" or "The Clan" or "The Clan" or "The Rat Pack," although Sinatra's identity has remained unchanged). The men produced films together, became part of Hollywood's social scene, and were politically influential (through Lawford's union with Patricia Kennedy, the sister of President John F. Kennedy).

The Rat Pack was known for its Las Vegas Strip appearances. For example, the Sands Hotel's marquee might read "DEAN MARTIN—MAYBE FRANK—MAYBE SAMMY." Their appearances were highly coveted because the city would be flooded with wealthy gamblers. Each performing individual numbers, duets, and trios appeared in tuxedo, as well as some improvised slapstick and chatter. Their satisfaction with adult subjects, such as Sinatra's womanizing and Martin's partying, as well as Davis' race and religion, was among the socially charged 1960s. Sinatra and Martin embraced the civil rights campaign, but they refused to perform in clubs that did not allow African-American or Jewish performers. The Rat Pack has undergone a revival, inspired by George Clooney/Brad Pitt Ocean's Trilogy.

Martin debuted The Dean Martin Show, a weekly NBC comedy-variety program that aired for 264 episodes from 1965 to 1974. In 1966, he was nominated for Best Actor - Television Series Musical or Comedy, and he was nominated again the following three years. The show exploited his celebrity as a carefree boozer. Martin capitalized on his laid-back persona of the half-drunk crooner, yelling women with remarks that would make no one else blush, and making snappy if slurred remarks about fellow inmates during his roasts. During an interview on the British television documentary Wine, Women, and Song, which aired in 1983, he revealed, perhaps tongue-in-cheek, that he had them on cassette tape so he could listen to them. His television show was a huge hit. Martin and his weekly guests were a quick-witted improvization of the show's loosening structure. This resulted in a war between Martin and NBC censors, who insisted on tighter control of the material. He had trouble with NBC later this year for his off-the-cuff use of obscene Italian words, which resulted in complaints from viewers who spoke the language. The show was often in the Top Tensions. Martin, a fan of the show's creator, Greg Garrison, made a handshake agreement with Garrison, a pioneer television producer in the 1950s, who explains half of the program. However, NBCUniversal has filed a lawsuit claiming that the legitimacy of the transaction.

Despite Martin's celebrity as a drinker—as represented by his vanity license plate "DRUNKY"—his alcohol use was very restricted. He was often the first to call it a night, and if not on tour or on a film set, he loved going home to see his wife and children. He borrowed Joe E. Lewis' lovable-drunk shtick, but his convincing portrayals of heavy boozers in Those Came Running and Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo sparked unsubstantiated accusations of alcoholism. During this period, Martin appeared in and co-produced four Matt Helm superspy comedy films, as well as a number of Westerns. The Dean Martin Show was still getting good ratings by the early 1970s, and even though he wasn't a Top 40 hitmaker, his compilation albums continued to be successful. He found a way to make his golf hobby more enjoyable by releasing a signature line of golf balls, and the Dean Martin Tucson Open was a tournament on golf's PGA Tour from 1972 to 1975. Martin was said to be the single largest minority shareholder of RCA stock at his death.

Martin, who is now financially secure, began to reduce his hours. The last season of his variety show (1973–1974) was reimagined into one of celebrity roasts, requiring less participation. Martin and his company ridiculed a variety of popular entertainment, athletic, and political figures in the roasts. Following the show's cancellation, NBC continued to air The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast as a series of television specials through 1984.

Martin had been recording as many as four albums a year for Reprise Records for nearly a decade. In 1974, Martin released his last Reprise album, Once in a While, which wasn't released until 1978. Warner Bros. Records made his last recordings. The Nashville Sessions were released in 1983, from which he had a hit with "I Think That I Just Wrote) My First Country Song," which was released with Conway Twitty and made a respectable showing on the country charts. In 1985, "L.A. Is My Home"/"Drinking Champagne" was a sequel. Mr. Ricco, a 1974 film drama, was Martin's last film role in which he played a criminal defense prosecutor. Burt Reynolds appeared in The Cannonball Run and its sequel in 1981, where he appeared as a lead.

He filed for divorce from Jeanne, his second wife, in 1972. His business relationship with the Riviera hotel in Las Vegas dissolved a week later, amid rumors of the casino's refusal to accommodate Martin's request to only perform once a night. He performed on the hotel's opening night of December 23, 1973, and his deal required him to appear in a film (Mr. Ricco) for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios. Martin, 55, married Catherine Hawn on April 25, 1973, less than a month after his second marriage ended, and was on the verge of separating. Hawn had been the receptionist at Beverly Hills' chic Gene Shacove hair salon. They divorced on November 10, 1976. He was also linked to Gail Renshaw, Miss World–U.S. 1969. Martin eventually reconciled with Jeanne, but they never remarried.

In September 1976, Martin paid a public apology to Lewis on his partner's Labor Day telethon, benefiting the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Sinatra shocked Lewis by bringing Martin out on stage, and the audience applauded and the phones lit up, resulting in one of the most profitable years in the telethon's history up to that time. Lewis later said that the event was one of the three most memorable of his life.

Lewis quipped, "So, you working?"

Martin, who was inebriated, replied that he was "at the 'Meggum'" (that is, the MGM Grand Hotel). This, as well as Martin's son Dean Martin's death more than a decade ago, brought the two guys together. They maintained a quiet friendship, but they only appeared twice on Martin's 72nd birthday in 1989.

Martin returned to films for a short time, but it was still profitable The Cannonball Run and its sequel Cannonball Run II. He had a minor hit single with "Since I Met You Baby" and made his first music video, which was released on MTV and was conceived by Martin's youngest son, Ricci. Martin's uncle, actor Dean Paul Martin (formerly Dino of the 1960s "teen-bopper" rock band Dino, Desi & Billy, died while flying with the California Air National Guard on March 21, 1987. Martin's bouts of his son's death left him depressed and disillusioned. Lewis revealed in a live interview in 2005 that Martin became a resolute alcoholic following his son's death. Later, a tour with Davis and Sinatra in 1988 was part of Martin's recovery, but it wasn't complete.

Martin, who performed best in a club, felt lost in the vast stadiums they were performing in at Sinatra's request, and he wasn't involved in drinking until dawn. His last Vegas shows were at Bally's Hotel in 1991. On his 72nd birthday, he attended Bally's for his final reunion with Lewis. Martin's last two television appearances were devoted to his former Rat Pack members. He appeared in Sammy Davis Jr.'s 60th anniversary celebration, which aired only a few weeks before Davis died of throat cancer. Martin congratulated Sinatra on his 75th birthday in December 1990. Martin finally quit smoking and appeared at his 77th birthday party in June 1994, but more importantly, not so much.

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