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| Dean Martin |
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| Forecourt Ceremony held on Saturday, March 21, 1964 |
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Born: Dino Paul Crocetti, June 7, 1917, in Steubenville, Ohio
Age at the time of the ceremony: 46
Died: December 25, 1995, in Beverly Hills, California, age 78
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Dean Martin was one of the most popular performers in the post World War II era. Originally pairing up with comic Jerry Lewis as his singing straight man, the duo made a string of successful pix for Paramount. When the act broke up, Martin continued with both singing and movies, eventually becoming a sort of standard for men everywhere to shoot for.
Born to an Italian immigrant father and Italian-American mother, young Dino spoke Italian until he entered school at the age of five. Bullied on account of his poor English, Dino took up the drums, but also worked as a bootlegger, a croupier and blackjack dealer in a speakeasy, in a steel mill, and as a boxer, billing himself as "Kid Crochet."
Sharing an apartment in New York City with future Jimmy Durante sidekick Sonny King, the two would fight each other, charging people to watch. Dino eventually began singing with nightclub bands, getting a break to sing with Ernie McKay. By the early 1940s, he was with Sammy Watkins, who suggested the name of Dean Martin.
Married now with children, Martin met Frank Sinatra in 1943, so they go back a ways. Martin was drafted into the Army in 1944, but was classified 4-F and discharged. Always the crooner, Martin was having difficulty standing out in a crowded field.
Performing at the Glass Hat in New York one night, he met comic Jerry Lewis, with whom they would develop an act with Dean singing, with Jerry playing all manner of characters who would interrupt him. They made their debut in Atlantic City in 1946. Their act was a hit, landing the duo on the very first television episode of The Ed Sullivan Show aired over CBS in June 1948. Hiring writer Norman Lear took their act to greater levels, with a radio program appearing in 1949.
Producer Hal B. Wallis hired Martin and Lewis as comedy relief for My Friend Irma (released in October 1949), and their film career took off. Martin and Lewis' chief films are: Jumping Jacks (released in June 1952), Scared Stiff (released in April 1953), The Caddy (released in August 1953), Living It Up (released in July 1954), and Artists and Models (released in November 1955).
Martin eventuallky tired of working with Wallis and Lewis; he was looking for more variety in their material. Increasingly, Martin and Lewis came to resent each other, often fighting, so they broke up the act in 1956.
Martin's first solo film was Ten Thousand Bedrooms (released in April 1957), which flopped. Martin took a pay cut to undertake a dramatic role in The Young Lions (released in April 1958), and scored well in the film. He then co-starred as a big Southern gambler with Frank Sinatra in Some Came Running (released in December 1958).
During his solo career, Martin recorded extensively, appeared on nearly every television show airing at the time, and co-starred with John Wayne in Rio Bravo (released in April 1959), co-starred with Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh in Who Was That Lady? (which played the Chinese in March 1960), and co-starred with Judy Holliday in the musical Bells Are Ringing (released in June 1960).
By now, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra had formed their "Rat Pack" performing in Las Vegas regularly. When not onstage, they filmed the caper movie Ocean's 11 (released in August 1960).
He played a Sounthern politician in the drama Ada (released in August 1961). He then starred with Geraldine Page in the intense drama Toys in the Attic (released in July 1963), then co-starred again with Sinatra in Robin and the 7 Hoods (released in June 1964).
Martin played "Dino" in director Billy Wilder's notorious flop, Kiss Me, Stupid (released in December 1964), then played The Duke's brother in The Sons of Katie Elder (released in June 1965). In the fall of 1965, NBC debuted The Dean Martin Show, running for 264 episodes until 1974. After that, The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast television specials would appear on the network through 1984.
Satirizing spy movies, Martin starred in three Matt Helm movies: The Silencers (released in February 1966), Murderers' Row (released in December 1966), and The Ambushers (released in December 1967). He joined the all-star cast playing an airline pilot in Airport (released in March 1970).
Martin's final starring role was in Mr. Ricco (released in February 1975). Brought onstage by Frank Sinatra, Martin and Muscular Distrophy Marathon host Jerry Lewis had a tearful reconcilliation in 1976. Contributions soared. He appeared in both The Cannonball Run (released in June 1981) and Cannonball Run II (released in June 1985). His final role was in the television movie Half Nelson aired over NBC in March 1985.
A heavy smoker throughout his life, Martin was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1993. Refusing surgery, he succumed to emphysema on Christmas day in 1995 at the age of 78. |
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| Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California. Dean Martin Forecourt block. Executed by John Tartaglia, Saturday, March 21, 1964. 40 x 41 inches. |
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| Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California. Dean Martin Forecourt ceremony, Saturday, March 21, 1964. Matin's daughter Deana, and wife Jeanne Biegger help the big fellah into the cement. |
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