Dean Martin

When 20th Century-Fox fired Marilyn Monroe as his co-star in Something's Got to Give (1962) and then attempted to replace her with Lee Remick, he reminded the studio that he had contractual approval of his co-star, and refused to continue the project without Monroe. His act of loyalty eventually got Marilyn rehired, but she died of a drug overdose before shooting on this never-finished film could resume. Nine hours of largely unseen footage from the film remained in the vaults at 20th Century Fox until 1999. The film was then edited to include some of the unseen footage, wherever feasible and digitally restored, as a 37-minute film. After 39 years, it finally premiered on Cable TV's "American Movie Classics", on June 1, 2001. It is available on DVD.

Following his diagnosis of lung cancer at Cedars Sinai Medical Center on 9/16/93, he finally quit smoking and even managed to perform briefly, and rather jauntily, at his 77th birthday celebration on 6/7/94. The following year, after the cancer had spread, he declined to have major surgery on his liver and kidneys, which doctors told him was necessary to prolong his life, and succumbed to respiratory failure on Christmas Day 1995.

His son, Dean Paul Martin (Dino), was killed in a plane crash on March 21,1987.

He also played a phony priest in The Cannonball Run (1981).

After the 1980s, Martin took it easy--that is, until his son, Dean Paul Martin died in a plane crash in March 1987. Devastated by the loss, from which he never recovered, he walked out on a reunion tour with Sinatra and Davis. Martin spent his final years in solitude and out of the public light.

In 1973, he renamed it "The Dean Martin Comedy Hour", and from 1974 to 1984 it was renamed again, this time "The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts". It became one of the most successful TV series in history, skewering such greats as Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, James Stewart, George Burns, Milton Berle, Don Rickles, Phyllis Diller and Joe Namath. His last public role was a return to the stage, for a cross-country concert tour with Davis and Sinatra. He spoke affectionately of his fellow Rat Packers. "The satisfaction that I get out of working with these two bums is that we have more laughs than the audience has", Martin said.

Airport (1970) followed, featuring Martin as a pilot.

Was so distraught over the murder of his The Wrecking Crew (1968) co-star Sharon Tate in August 1969 that he abandoned the next already-announced "Matt Helm" motion picture series installment (to be titled "The Ravagers"), and never played the character again.

In 1965, Martin explored a new method for entertaining his fans: Television.

That year he hosted one of the most successful TV series in history: The Dean Martin Show (1965), which lasted until 1973.

In 1965, it won a Golden Globe Award.

In a telegram sent to his friend Elvis Presley he wrote, "Dear Elvis, if you can't handle The Beatles, I'll do it for us. June 1964".

He declined to participate in the March on Washington in August 1963.

In 1962 he left Capitol Records and signed with Reprise, the label started and owned by Frank Sinatra. In 1964 he recorded his blockbuster hit, "Everybody Loves Somebody", which beat The Beatles to become the #1 hit in the US for one week. It became the theme song for his television variety series, The Dean Martin Show (1965), which ran on NBC for eight years. Martin followed this with The Dean Martin Comedy World (1974), which ran from 1973 to 1974. An indelible part of Martin's television shtick was his comedic portrayal of life as a lush, which many viewers never realized was just an act.

One of his best remembered films is in Ocean's 11 (1960), in which he played Sam Harmon alongside the other members of the legendary Rat Pack: Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. , Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford.

Martin proved potent at the box office through the 1960s, with films such as Bells Are Ringing (1960) and Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964), again with Rat Pack pals Sammy Davis Jr. and Sinatra.

During much of the 1960s and 1970s, Martin's movie persona of a boozing playboy prompted a series of films as secret agent Matt Helm and his own television variety show.

Movies such as Rio Bravo (1959) brought him international fame.

Few thought that Martin would go on to achieve solo success, but he did, winning critical acclaim for his role in The Young Lions (1958) with Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift, and Some Came Running (1958), with Shirley MacLaine and Frank Sinatra.

Despite the legend that he and comedy partner Jerry Lewis always despised each other, the two were actually quite close friends and the tension between the two began in 1956, when "outside people" (as Lewis called them to Peter Bogdanovich) began to "poison" Martin against Lewis. Frank Sinatra eventually staged a public reunion over 20 years later, during a 1976 MDA telethon that Jerry was hosting. However, they did reunite twice, briefly, during that 20-year hiatus. In 1958 they appeared together as surprise guests on "The Joey Bishop Show" and in 1960 they appeared together on stage at The Sands Hotel in Las Vegas where they did a duet of "Come Back to Me". Over the next ten years, following their 1970s reunion, they became close again.

In 1954 he and Jerry Lewis recorded a radio spot promoting "Tuck Tape", then a competing brand of "Scotch Tape" and noticing the recording tape for the commercial was still rolling, decided to improvise additional radio spots, with Jerry and Dean slipping profanities into his dialog. The unedited master recording was surreptitiously taken from the studio and made into a "bootleg" record that sold briskly among collectors.

Although he had almost 40 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 charts between 1951-68, only three went to #1: "That's Amore" (Capitol: 1953), "Memories Are Made of This" (Capitol: 1956), and his theme song, "Everybody Loves Somebody" (Reprise: 1964).

Films such as At War with the Army (1950) sent the team toward super-stardom. The duo were to become one of Hollywood's truly great teams. They lasted 11 years together, and starred in 16 movies. They were unstoppable, but personality conflicts broke up the team. Even without Lewis, Martin was a true superstar.

If there had to be an image for cool, the man to fit it would be Dean Martin. Martin was born Dino Paul Crocetti in Steubenville, Ohio, to Angela (Barra) and Gaetano Alfonso Crocetti, a barber. His father was an Italian immigrant, and his mother was of Italian descent. He spoke only Italian until age five. Martin came up the hard way, with such jobs as a boxer (named Kid Crochet), a steel mill worker, a gas station worker and a casino croupier and dealer. In 1946, he got his first ticket to stardom, as he teamed up with another hard worker who was also trying to succeed in Hollywood: Jerry Lewis.

After being drafted into the army and serving a stateside year (1944-45) in Akron, OH, during World War II, he was classified 4-F and was discharged.

Had eight children: Stephen Craig Martin (b. June 29, 1942), Claudia Martin (b. March 16, 1944 - died 2001 (breast cancer)), Barbara Martin (b. April 11, 1945) and Deana Martin (b. August 19, 1948) with first wife Elizabeth McDonald. Dean Paul Martin (b. November 17, 1951 - died March 21, 1987 (plane crash)), Ricci Martin (b. September 20, 1953) and Gina Martin (Gina Caroline Martin) (b. December 20, 1956) with second wife Jeanne Martin and adopted daughter Sasha Martin with third wife Catherine Hawn.