Dean Martin was born in Steubenville, Ohio in 1917 to Italian immigrants, Gaetano Alfanso Crocetti (father) and Angela Crocetti (mother.) His birth name was Dino Paul Crocetti. Dean Martin was an actor, comedian, and singer throughout his lifetime.
In 1934, when Martin was seventeen, he began his career in show business. He would sing in nightclubs around his hometown until he was noticed. In 1940, he changed his name to Dean Martin, after a few years of touring as a featured vocalist with Sammy Watkins. Soon after, on his journey through the nightclub circuit, Dean met Jerry Lewis. Together they made sixteen films between 1949 and 1956. Eventually, after ten years together, they split up as a team because their careers were going in different directions.
Martin continued his singing career, recording some of his greatest hits, “That’s Amore” and more. He also continued acting in films. During this time, he was asked to join “the Rat Pack,” which included Hollywood actors, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford. They started out performing as a group in Vegas, but eventually starred in multiple movies together, including Oceans Eleven.
Throughout Dean Martin’s life, he was a part of 51 movies, and was mostly recognized for his comedy acts with Jerry Lewis and his participation in “the Rat Pack.” In 1995 on Christmas morning, he passed of respiratory failure. He was and still is recognized for his wonderful screen and stage performance.
Frank Sinatra was born an only child to Sicilian immigrant parents, Anthony Martin Sinatra and Natalie Della Garaventa in 1915 in Hoboken, New Jersey. Sinatra was inspired to start singing after watching Bing Crosby in the 1930’s. With the help of radio, nightclubs, and bandleaders, Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra started to become well known. He started his solo singing career in 1943, which is the same year that he started acting in movies.
After winning an Academy Award for a movie that he was in , his popularity starting slipping, which led to a loss in his recording and film contracts in the early 1950’s. However, he made a comeback with his role as an Italian-American soldier in the film From Here to Eternity. He won an Oscar for the non-singing role. Eventually, he got back into singing, this time with more of a jazz voice. In this time, Sinatra was a part of “the Rat Pack,” the same group that Dean Martin was a part of. He got picked up by the record company, Capitol Records in 1953, but dropped them by the end of the 1950’s to start his own record label, Reprise. He also started his own independent film production company, that he called Artanis.
Sinatra continued with music and film until his last concert in 1995. His career in show business lasted over fifty years. At the age of 82, in 1998, Frank Sinatra died of a heart attack. His legacy still continues through his songs and films.
TIMELINE OF FILMS THAT DEAN MARTIN & FRANK SINATRA STARRED IN TOGETHER:
Anything Goes: 1954
Something Came Running: 1958
Ocean’s 11: 1960
Sergeants 3: 1962
Come Blow Your Horn: 1963
4 for Texas: 1963
Robin and the 7 Hoods: 1964
Marriage on the Rocks: 1965
Cannonball Run II: 1984