“They may call me the king of rock ‘n’ roll, but your dad is the king of cool.”
- Elvis Presley to Dean Martin’s daughter, Deana
He never seemed to break a sweat. Dean Martin appeared in 57 movies, starred in hundreds of TV episodes and recorded 36 albums that produced eight top ten hits. And he did most of it in a seeming alcoholic haze. He was the most relaxed of the legendary Rat Pack, with whom he made a series of movies that often felt like boozy improvisations. Yet the real man, as revealed in this 2021 documentary, was much more staid than his image. He was a dedicated performer and a family man who preferred quiet evenings at home and going to bed early so he could get in a few rounds of golf before going to work.
Documentarian Tom Donahue — who made the award-wining Casting By (2012), Thank You for Your Service (2015) and This Changes Everything (2018) — set out to understand both the man behind the image and Martin’s lasting cultural impact in this documentary, produced by his company CreativeChaos vmg. To do that he interviews Martin’s daughter, Deana Martin, along with such co-workers as Angie Dickinson, Bob Newhart, Henry Silva, producer George Schlatter and Norman Lear, who wrote jokes for Martin and Jerry Lewis in the late 1940s. In a particular coup, he got Lewis to talk about their relationship, a ten-year comedy partnership that made them stars but ended in acrimony. Donahue also features some of Martin’s many admirers who can speak of his influence, including Mad Men star Jon Hamm and rapper RZA.
Dean Martin was born Dino Paul Crocetti to Italian immigrants in Steubenville, Ohio, in 1917. He dropped out of high school to work, eventually building a reputation as a singer. That led to his meeting with young comic Jerry Lewis when they both worked at New York’s Glass Hat Club. They started appearing in each other’s acts, which led to their debut as a comedy team in 1946. By 1949, they had signed a contract with Paramount Pictures, where they made 16 films together, starting with My Friend Irma (1949). In 1951, they were the screen’s top box-office stars, with two films listed among the year’s top-20 box-office features in 1951, 1952 and 1953.
By 1954, people started noticing a strain in their relationship. The team formally split after making Hollywood or Bust (1956) and one final nightclub appearance. On his own, Martin established his credentials as a dramatic actor with two 1958 films, The Young Lions, co-starring Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift, and Some Came Running, his first picture with Frank Sinatra. By that time, he and Sinatra were considered part of the Rat Pack, a group of entertainers — including Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop — who co-starred in such films as Ocean’s 11 (1960) and Sergeants 3 (1962) and performed together in nightclubs, particularly in Las Vegas.
Over time, the image of the well-meaning, sometimes lecherous drunk he cultivated through his appearances with the Rat Pack, the four Matt Helm secret agent films and his TV series, The Dean Martin Show (1965-74) and Dean Martin’s Celebrity Roast (1974-84) came to dominate the public’s perception of him. In truth, he was a dedicated musician and actor. Co-workers were amazed to find he was always on the set on time and ready to work. On his films, he usually had the entire script memorized by the first day of shooting.
Since Martin’s death from respiratory failure and emphysema on Christmas Day 1995, music critics have reappraised his vocal recordings, praising his phrasing, connection to the lyrics and relaxed style. His daughter Deana’s 2005 memoir, Memories are Made of This: Dean Martin Through His Daughter’s Eyes, revealed the devoted family man beneath his swinging image. His music continues to be used in films and TV shows like Moonstruck (1987), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995) and The Sopranos. His 1959 recording of “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” has hit Billboard’s Top 40 for the past three years during the holiday season.
