The American singer and actor has been one of the main entertainers in show business since the 1950s. Raised in Ohio as the son of Italian immigrants, he broke through in 1940’s Atlantic City in the “Club 500” alongside longtime stage partner Jerry Lewis. As a result, he rose to become a Hollywood star and playboy, who had his greatest successes in Las Vegas in the 1960s as a member of the so-called “Rat Pack”. In this formation, like his partners Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Shirley MacLaine and others, he reflected the American zeitgeist of the stage. His soft and melodic voice brought him world hits like “Everybody Loves Somebody”, “Send Me the Pillow” or “Little Old Wine Drinker Me”…
Dean Martin, real name Dino Crocetti, was born on June 17, 1917 in Steubenville, Ohio, to an Italian immigrant family.
Dean Martin grew up in modest working class conditions. He dropped out of high school before graduation and tried a variety of jobs. He also became a prizefighter under the name “Kid Crochet” before earning a living as an alcohol smuggler during the Prohibition period from 1920 to 1933. In the early 1940’s he found his interest in the stage. He got his first jobs as a singer in various nightclubs. Dean Martin quickly made a career there, and from 1946 he celebrated his first major successes in the Atlantic City “Club 500” in a duet with Jerry Lewis. They were discovered together for the film and stood in front of a cinema camera for the first time in 1950 for the film “Krach mit der Kompanie”. The duet proved to be a box-office hit and so, after numerous other appearances, a total of 16 cinema productions were made up until the early 1950s, in which they became the most successful comedy duo of all time. After this work, the duo finally parted.
However, his recordings were just as successful as his films. In 1948 he had already received his first recording contract with “Capitol Records”. He celebrated great international success with hits such as “Memories Are Made of This” (1955) and “Everybody Loves Somebody” from 1964. His versions of Italian ballads such as “Volare” and “That’s Amore” were also popular. In 1958 Frank Sinatra and Dean Marin recorded the joint album “Sleep Warm” in the Capitol, for which Sinatra himself took over the orchestral direction. At the end of January 1959, the two then appeared on stage for the first time for a joint concert engagement in Las Vegas, after they had stood together in front of the cinema camera for the first time for the film “Damn Are They All”. He first gained recognition as an actor in 1959 with “Rio Bravo” alongside John Wayne. Martin embodied a hard-drinking sheriff and also provided the successful film music. He continued to pursue more serious roles, convincingly starring alongside acting icons such as Marlon Brando, James Stewart, Burt Lancaster and Montgomery Clift.
In 1961, Dean Martin earned a living in the motion picture production “The Victorious Three” opposite Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. first appearance as a character actor. Since the beginning of the 1960s, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. formed the core of the legendary and so-called “Rat Pack”, which, over the next half decade, covered the stages of with numerous joint performances, which the artists themselves called “The Summit”. Las Vegas dominated. With the image of the nice guy and womanizer, the cigarette in one hand and the whiskey in the other hand, they became the stars of show business of their time. Parallel to the concerts, joint films such as “Ocean’s Eleven” (1960), “The Victorious Three” (1962), “Four For Texas” (1963) and “Seven Against Chicago” (1964) were made. In 1964, Dean Martin also shone in Billy Wilder’s comedy Kiss Me Dumbhead, and the following year he starred again in The Four Sons of Katie Elder with John Wayne. In 1965 NBC launched the successful “Dean Martin Show”. After 1965, the Rat Pack stopped performing regularly.
Nevertheless, Martin, Davis and Sinatra occasionally shared the concert stage in the 1970s and 1980s. After the film “Airport” from 1969, the entertainer became quieter. His private life has remained largely a secret throughout his career. He was married three times and fathered eight children. In 1980 the racing comedy “All Hell’s Going on the Highway” was created, which was followed in 1983 by the second part entitled “Highway 2 – Hell’s Going on the Highway Again”. Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Shirley MacLaine as well as Burt Reynolds and Roger Moore again played other leading roles. After albums like “Dream with Dean” (1964) or “Gentle On My Mind” (1968) he released his last studio recording “Dreams and Memories” in 1983. In March 1988 Dean Martin started together with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis jr. another joint concert tour entitled “Together Again”. However, Martin left after just one week for health reasons. In April he was back on stage at Bally’s Hotel in Las Vegas. There he gave his last concert on July 29, 1991.
Dean Martin died on December 25, 1995 in Los Angeles at the age of 78.
Discography
1955 – Memories Are Made of This
1955 – Swinging Down Yonder
1956 – Innamorata
1956 – Standing on the Corner
1957 – Pretty Baby
1957 – This is Dean Martin
1958 – Return to Me
1958 – Angel Baby
1958 – Volare
1964 – Everybody Loves Somebody
1964 – The Door Is Still Open
1964 – You”re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You
1964 – The Door Is Still Open To My Heart
1964 – Dream with Dean
1965 – Send Me the Pillow
1965 – Remember Me
1965 – Houston
1965 – I Will
1966 – Somewhere There’s a Someone
1966 – Come Running Back
1967 – In the Chapel in the Moonlight
1967 – Little Old Wine Drinker Me
1968 – Gentle On My Mind
1969 – This is my Time
1983 – Dreams and Memories
Filmography
1949 – My Friend Irma
1950 – Irma in the golden west (My Friend Irma goes West)
1951 – At War with the Army
1951 – That’s my boy
1951 – The whipping boy (The Stooge)
1952 – Sailor Beware (Sailor Beware)
1952 – Terrors of the Division (Jumping Jacks)
1953 Scared Stiff
1953 The Caddy
1954 – The Daring Jockey (Money from Home)
1954 – The sympathetic impostor (Living it up)
1954 – The Circus Clown (Three Ring Circus)
1955 – The Gangster Fright (You”re never too young)
1955 – Painters and Girls (Artists and Models)
1956 – Where Men Are Men (Pardners)
1956 – All About Anita (Hollywood or Bust)
1957 – Ten Thousand Bedrooms
1958 – The Young Lions
1958 Some Came Running
1959 – Rio Bravo
1959 – Many Are Called (Career)
1960 – Who was the lady? (Who was that Lady?)
1960 – Just call…Come in the house (Bells are ringing)
1960 – Frankie and his henchmen (Ocean”s Eleven)
1961 – All in a Night’s Work
1961 – Woman with a Past (Ada)
1962 – The Victorious Three (Sergeants 3)
1962 Who’s Got the Action?
1963 – Toys in the Attic
1963 – Who slept in my bed? (Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed?)
1963 – Four for Texas
1964 Kiss Me Stupid
1964 – Always with someone else (What a way to go!)
1964 – Seven Against Chicago (Robin and the Seven Hoods)
1965 – The Sons of Katie Elder
1965 – Marriage on the Rocks
1965 The Silencers
1966 – Two Great Guys in Texas (Texas across the River)
1966 – Murderer”s Row
1967 – When Jim Dolan Came (Rough Night in Jericho)
1967 – When killers lie in wait (The Ambushers)
1968 – Bandolero!
1968 How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life
1968 – Deadly Enemies (Five Card Stud)
1969 – Roll Commando (The Wrecking Crew)
1969 – Airport
1971 – El Capitano (Something Big)
1973 – The Vultures Are Waiting (Showdown)
1975 – Mr Ricco
1981 The Cannonball Run
1983 – All Hell Breaks Down the Highway Again (Cannonball Run II)
How did Dean Martin die?
Dean Martin, 78, whose disarmingly disheveled elegance, breezy charm and baritone ballads made him an immensely popular comic, actor and singer, died of acute respiratory failure Dec. 25 at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. He had a kidney ailment.
Dean Martin ain’t that a kick in the head?
How tall was Dean Martin?
Dean Martin height was 5ft 10 or 177.8 cm tall.
Where was Dean Martin born?
Martin was born Dino Paul Crocetti on June 7, 1917, in Steubenville, Ohio, to Italian father Gaetano Alfonso Crocetti (1894–1967) and Italian-American mother Angela Crocetti (née Barra; 1897–1966).
