Dean Martin

Stardust – TCM’s Star of the Month

By Ed Garea 

“If people want to think I get drunk and stay out all night, let 'em. That's how I got here, you know.”

He’s one of America’s best remembered entertainers, his low-key song stylings gaining more popularity with each passing generation. His seemingly effortless charisma and self-assurance earned him the nickname of “the King of Cool.” In the world of entertainment Martin had few equals: he was the star of concert stages, nightclubs, audio recordings, motion pictures, and television.

And yet, when he and partner Jerry Lewis split in 1956, the general consensus was that Lewis would go on to superstardom while Martin would be lucky to headline at the Dew Drop Inn in Dover, N.J.

It was a natural mistake to make, based on the trajectory of their films, but the critics made one key mistake. They underestimated Dean Martin. However, in their defense, it was a mistake many had made throughout his life.

He was born Dino Paul Crocetti in Steubenville, Ohio, on June 7, 1917, the second son to Gaetano Alfonso and Angela Crocetti. His father, a barber, hailed from Montesilvano, in Abruzzo, Italy, and until he started school at the age of five, young Dino’s first language was Italian. Because of his lack of English skills he was bullied in elementary school. Martin later dropped out of Steubenville High School in the 10th grade, going to work bootlegging whiskey, serving as a speakeasy croupier, and working in a steel mill.

He also took up boxing. A welterweight, he fought under the name “Kid Crochet” (although no records of fights have been found under that name), suffering a broken nose (later straightened), a scarred lip, a few broken knuckles (from not being able to afford tape to wrap his hands), and a bruised body. He had 12 bouts in all, and in later interviews he said, “I won all but 11.” In reality, he fought 36 bouts and won 25 of them under the name Dino Crocetti.

Martin gave up boxing to sing with local bands, calling himself “Dino Martini,” after Metropolitan Opera tenor Nino Martini. His first big break came with the Ernie McKay Orchestra, singing in a crooning style copied from that of Harry Mills (of the Mills Brothers). In the early 1940s, he started singing for bandleader Sammy Watkins, who suggested a name change to Dean Martin. Drafted into the Army in 1944 he served a year in Akron, Ohio, before being reclassified to 4-F and discharges, possibly because of a double hernia. By 1946, Martin was doing well, but he was mainly known as an East Coast nightclub singer whose style was similar to Bing Crosby.

His fortunes changed when he met a young comic named Jerry Lewis They formed a fast friendship and their participation in each other's acts and the formation of a music-comedy team. The team debuted at the 500 Club in Atlantic City on July 24, 1946, but were so poorly received that the club’s owner told them that if they did not come up with a better act for their second show that night, they would be fired. Conferring in the alley behind the club, they decided to "go for broke.” Martin sang while Lewis, dressed as a busboy, dropped plates and made a shambles of Martin's performance and the club's decorum until Martin chased him from the room, pelting Lewis with breadrolls.     

Their routine consisted of slapstick, augmented by old vaudeville jokes and whatever else popped into their heads. Audiences ate it up, which led to a series of well-paying engagements on the Eastern seaboard, culminating in a run at New York’s Copacabana. The act consisted mainly of Lewis interrupting and heckling Martin while he was trying to sing, with the two ultimately chasing each other around the stage. In interviews both maintained the secret to their success was that they ignored the audience and played to each other. 

They made their TV debut on the first broadcast of CBS-TV network’s The Toast of the Town (later The Ed Sullivan Show), on June 20, 1948, and landed a radio series in 1949, where they were heard by Paramount producer Hal Wallis who signed them as the comedy relief for the movie My Friend Irma. Abby Greshler, their agent, negotiated a sweetheart deal. Though receiving only $75,000 between them for their films with Wallis, the duo was free to do one outside film a year, which they would co-produce through their own York Productions.

By controlling their club, record, radio, and television appearances they earned millions of dollars. Though they were friends as well (with Lewis acting as best man when Martin remarried in 1949), the seeds of their dissolution were sown early, as their highly diverse personalities drove them apart. Their biggest difference was one of lifestyle: Dean was a bon vivant, appearing to many to be man without ambition, while Jerry was intense, with enough ambition for 50 men. In the beginning Dean set up their gigs because they worked in mob-owned joints and Dean knew these guys from youth while Jerry was initially unaware of the mob connection.

However, once their movie and television career took off, Jerry gained the upper hand and called the shots on their business dealings. A major source of dissatisfaction was their movies, which frustrated Martin due to their reliance on the same old formula. Overridden by both Wallis and his partner, Dean put less and less effort into the work, which led to escalating arguments with Lewis. By the last year of their partnership, Jerry was treating Dean like a hired hand and Martin’s response was that Jerry was “nothing to me but a dollar sign.” They split in 1956, 10 years to the day from the first teaming. Dean summed up their relationship in a later interview: “At one point he said to himself, ‘I’m extraordinary. Like Charles Chaplin.’ From then on nobody could tell him anything. He knew it all.”

Now a solo act, Martin quickly secured a stand-up/singing act at the Sands in Las Vegas. For the next 30 years he performed two six-week stints in Las Vegas for $300,000 a year. He also signed with talent conglomerate MCA. His first solo film, Ten Thousand Bedrooms, was a box-office flop. Martin shrugged it off; he wanted to be a dramatic actor, not just a comic. To that end he took much less than his usual asking price to co-star in the war drama The Young Lions. His co-stars were Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift. In his next movie, Some Came Running, he worked with Frank Sinatra, kicking off a relationship that shortly later led to the formation of the Rat Pack.

One movie role Martin especially coveted was that of Dude, the alcoholic deputy in Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo. He all but steals the film with what was probably his best performance. Other movie highlights include a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in Who Was That Lady?, co-starring Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh; The Sons of Katie Elder (Paramount, 1965), as John Wayne’s brother; and the big box-office smash, Airport (Universal, 1970), for which he received $7,000,000.

The two movie series Martin was especially known for were his successful collaborations with the Rat Pack (Ocean’s 11, Sergeants 3, 4 For Texas, Robin and the 7 Hoods) and his Matt Helm films (The Silencers, Murderer’s Row, The Ambushers, The Wrecking Crew). His last film was Cannonball Run II, with Burt Reynolds (and Frank Sinatra in his last film) in 1984.

Martin’s career was also given a big boost when he joined up with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford. The group was known as the “Rat Pack” by the public, though they themselves never referred to themselves as such, preferring to be known as “The Summit” or “The Clan.”

In 1965 NBC offered him his own television variety show. At $40,000 a week who was he to say no? Besides, he only had to work one day, which left plenty of time for his other passion: golf. It was an instant hit and was so big in the ratings that by 1967 Dean was getting somewhere around $275,000 per episode. The show exploited his image as a carefree boozer. Martin capitalized on his laid-back persona of the half-drunk crooner, hitting on women with remarks that would get anyone else slapped, and making snappy if slurred remarks about fellow celebrities during his roasts. In reality, the “booze” in Dean’s glass was apple juice, a secret let out by son Dean Paul Martin, who wondered how anyone thought his father could continue to work drinking so much liquor.

Though the show never faltered in the ratings, in 1974 Dean tired of it and switched the format to a weekly series of celebrity roasts. After the show's cancellation in 1974, NBC continued to air The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast as a series of TV specials through 1984.

His recording career, though not as big as his other projects, continued along at a steady pace. He first recorded for Capitol, then switched to Sinatra’s label, Reprise, in 1962, recording as many as four albums year for the company until November 1974. His last recordings were for Warner Brothers Records. Martin, like Elvis, was influenced by country music, and his albums often featured country tunes. In 1983, his album The Nashville Sessions, generated a hit with “(I Think That I Just Wrote) My First Country Song,” recorded with Conway Twitty.

Dean’s love of life took a mortal blow when son Dean Paul Martin was killed when his F-4 Phantom II jet fighter crashed while flying with the California Air National Guard. Martin's grief over his son's death left him depressed and demoralized.

A heavy smoker, Martin was diagnosed with lung cancer September 1993. He also suffered from emphysema for the last 20 years of his life. Martin finally quit smoking and even managed to perform at his 77th birthday celebration in June 1994. 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. The lights of the Las Vegas Strip were dimmed in his honor. 

Trivia: 

• Martin was married three times. His first wife was Elizabeth Anne "Betty" McDonald. They married in 1941 and divorced in 1949. The marriage produced four children: Craig Martin (born 1942), Claudia Martin (1944-2001), Gail Martin (born 1945); and Deana Martin (born 1948). 

• Dean's second wife was Dorothy Jean "Jeanne" Biegger, a former Orange Bowl queen from Coral Gables, Florida. Their marriage lasted 24 years (1949-1973) and produced three children: Dean Paul Martin (1951-1987), Ricci Martin (1953-2016) and Gina Martin (born 1956).

• His third marriage, to Catherine Hawn, a receptionist, lasted three years before Martin initiated divorce proceedings. They had no biological children of their own though Martin adopted Hawn's daughter, Sasha.

• Elvis Presley was said to have been influenced by Martin, and patterned “Love Me Tender” after his style.

• Ohio Route 7 through Steubenville was rededicated as Dean Martin Boulevard, with road signs bearing an Al Hirschfeld caricature of Martin's likeness designating the stretch. There is also a historical marker bearing a small picture and brief biography in the Gazebo Park at Route 7 and North Fourth Street. An annual Dean Martin Festival celebration is held in Steubenville. Impersonators, friends and family, and entertainers, many of Italian ancestry, appear.

• Comic Leonard Barr, who appeared in several of Dean’s shows, was Martin’s uncle.

• Martin's son-in-law was the Beach Boys’ Carl Wilson, who married Martin's daughter Gina. 

Son Dean Paul Martin had a rock career with his group Dino, Desi (Arnaz. Jr.) & Billy (Hinsche). He was also married to figure skater Dorothy Hamill and later actress Olivia Hussey.

The Films (Recommended films in blue)

SEPTEMBER 5

8:00 pm – LIVING IT UP (Paramount, 1954): Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis & Janet Leigh. A newspaperwoman turns a man who thinks he's dying into a national hero. A remake of Nothing Sacred (1937).

9:45 pm – HOLLYWOOD OR BUST (Paramount, 1956): Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis & Pat Crowley. Two half-wits drive cross country to Hollywood in their search for stardom. Their last film together.

11:30 pm – AT WAR WITH THE ARMY (Paramount, 1950): Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis. Alvin Corwin (Lewis) and Vic Puccinelli (Martin) used to be good buddies but after joining the army Vic becomes a bossy sergeant. Average.

1:15 am – TEN THOUSAND BEDROOMS (MGM, 1956): Dean Martin, Anna Maria Alberghetti. A playboy finds love while managing a posh hotel in Rome. Dean’s first solo effort.

3:30 am –  WHO WAS THAT LADY? (Columbia, 1960): Tony Curtis, Dean Martin & Janet Leigh. In order to get back into the good graces with his wife (Leigh) with whom he has had a misunderstanding, young chemistry professor Curtis tries to convince her that he is an undercover FBI agent. Martin is a TV writer who helps him concoct the scheme. Screenplay by Norman Krasna from his play. Funny at times, but too many dead spots.

5:30 am – BELLS ARE RINGING (MGM, 1960): Judy Holliday, Dean Martin. A Brooklyn answering service operator Holliday gets a little too involved in the lives of her clients, including struggling playwright Martin with whom she begins to fall in love.

SEPTEMBER 12

8:00 pm – THE YOUNG LIONS (Fox, 1958): Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, & Dean Martin. A Jewish soldier faces anti-Semitism after he enlists to fight in World War II. Martin’s first dramatic role.

11:00 pm – SOME CAME RUNNING (MGM, 1959): Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin & Shirley MacLaine. A veteran returns home to deal with family secrets and small-town scandals. notable for the chemistry between Sinatra and Martin.

1:30 am – RIO BRAVO (WB, 1959): John Wayne, Dean Martin, & Angie Dickinson. A great film from Howard Hawks with Sheriff Wayne enlisting a drunk (Martin), a gunslinging kid (Ricky Nelson) and an old man (Walter Brennan) to help him fight off a ruthless cattle baron. Martin was a big fan of Westerns and he saw the role as tailor-made for him. However, according to Hawks biographer Todd McCarthy, the director made a list of 19 possible actors to play the role, none of which was named Dean Martin. Martin told his agent he wanted the role and his agent met with Hawks. Knowing of Martin’s reputation, Hawks agreed to meet, but only if Martin would meet him in his office early the next morning. Martin turned up looking bedraggled. He explained to Hawks that he was working in Vegas and had to charter a plane early that morning to fly down for the meeting. Hawks hired him on the spot: “I knew if he did all that, he’d work hard and I knew that if he’d work hard we’d have no trouble because he’s such a personality.” The director sent his new hire to wardrobe, which outfitted him like a musical comedy cowboy. Hawks told Martin to go back and choose an outfit that would reflect how he saw the character; something that made him look like a real drunk. When Martin came back this time, Hawks enthusiastically approved the change.

4:00 am – TOYS IN THE ATTIC (UA, 1963): Dean Martin, Yvette Mimieux & Geraldine Page. Dean runs into trouble aplenty when he brings child-bride Mimieux back to New Orleans. The title is an euphemism along the lines of “bats in the belfry.” Good Souther Gothic rumblings from Lillian Hellman, expertly directed by George Roy Hill, and featuring excellent performances from Page, Martin, Mimieux, Wendy Hiller and Gene Tierney.

SEPTEMBER 13

6:00 am – ADA (MGM, 1961): Susan Hayward, Dean Martin. Folksy politician Martin marries ex-hooker Hayward, gets elected governor, and with the help of his wife, cleans up corruption in the state. 

SEPTEMBER 19

8:00 pm –  OCEAN’S 11 (WB, 1960): Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin & Sammy Davis, Jr. Sinatra and a group of old army buddies rob five Las Vegas casinos in one night. The film, a remake of sorts of Jean-Pierre Melville’s Bob the Gambler (see our review here), was itself remade by George Clooney & Co. in  trilogy of films.

10:15 pm – ROBIN AND THE 7 HOODS (WB, 1964):  Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr. The Rat Pack meets Robin Hood during Prohibition comedy with the boys as Chicago hoods to help the daughter of a murdered gangland boss   get vengeance. Robbo (Sinatra) has Will (Davis Jr.) donate the money for the hit on rival gang boss Guy Gisbourne (Peter Falk) to Allen A. Dale’s (Bing Crosby) orphanage.

12:30 am – 4 FOR TEXAS  (WB, 1963): Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin & Anita Ekberg. Double-crossing outlaws go straight and become rival saloon owners. About what you would expect.

2:45 am – MARRIAGE ON THE ROCKS (WB, 1965): Frank Sinatra, Deborah Kerr, & Dean Martin. A couple accidentally divorces during a wild Mexican vacation. This plot has been done to death and only an extraordinary effort could save it. That effort is not forthcoming here.

4:45 am – KISS ME, STUPID (Lopert, 1964): Dean Martin, Kim Novak.From director Billy Wilder comes this comic tale of two aspiring songwriters (Ray Walston & Cliff Osmond) disable Las Vegas crooner Dino’s (Martin) car in a scheme to have Dino sing one of their songs on an upcoming TV special. Novak is Polly, the village tart, who they get to keep Dino occupied while they carry out the scheme.

SEPTEMBER 26

A night of Matt Helm. Based on the novels of Donald Hamilton, Martin is super spy Matt Helm, who goes up against assorted super-villains in each movie. The films, co-produced by Martin, are spoofs of not only the James Bond films, but of Martin’s image. For instance, in The Ambushers, Helm, about to be executed, receives a last cigarette, telling the provider, “I'll remember you from the great beyond,” continuing sotto voce, “somewhere around Steubenville, I hope.” During the fourth film, The Wrecking Crew, Martin struck up a friendship with Sharon Tate, and when she was brutality murdered by the Manson gang, Martin lost his verve for making the series and quit.

8:00 pm – THE SILENCERS (Columbia, 1966): Dean Martin, Victor Buono. Matt Helm is up against Tung-tze, a super villain out to sabotage American atomic missiles.

10:00 pm – MURDERER’S ROW (MGM, 1956): Dean Martin, Karl Malden. Matt Helm is out to stop hammy villain Malden from destroying Washington D.C. with a helio beam.

12:00 am – THE AMBUSHERS (Columbia, 1967): Dean Martin, Senta Berger. When an experimental flying saucer crashes, secret agent Matt Helm has to bring back the secret weapons hidden on board. 

2:00 am – THE WRECKING CREW (Columbia, 1968): Dean Martin, Elke Sommer. Agent Matt Helm must stop a super-villain from stealing a billion-dollar gold shipment.

4:00 am – HOW TO SAVE A MARRIAGE AND RUIN YOUR LIFE (Columbia, 1968): Dean Martin, Stella Stevens. A womanizer sets out to end a friend's extramarital affair but romances the wrong woman. Par for the course.