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Dean Martin
Friday
January 18, 2002
Dean Martin was the king of cool. He was the suave straight man to comedy icon Jerry Lewis and the velvet-voiced crooner who ruled Vegas in the 60's as a member of the Rat Pack.
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Everybody remembers Dean's devil-may-care attitude, and "tipsy" stage presence, delivering his wicked one-liners with that famous drink in hand. His son Ricci says, “The truth is that was apple juice.”
That truth, and others including Dean's version of his bitter breakup with Lewis, are exposed in "That's Amore," the new book by Dean's son Ricci Martin. Along with many rare family photos, the 48-year-old writer reveals his legendary dad drank, but never took the stage drunk. Ricci says, “In the old days he used to do Vegas two shows a night, seven nights a week, for seven weeks. You can’t do that.”
In fact, Ricci writes the private man was very different from his public persona as a hard partying, womanizing, hipster. Ricci says, “He was anything but that, interestingly enough.”
Dean was a family man who actually hated parties and preferred to spend time at home with his seven kids. It was an extraordinary Beverly Hills home, where the kids would often find Hollywood’s most famous faces lounging in the living room.
After the Rat Pack retired in the late sixties, Dean turned to TV. But in 1987, Dean's fairy tale family life was shattered with the death of Ricci's older brother, Dean Paul. Ricci says, “It took a lot out of him as it did everybody.”
Dean Paul, an air force national guardsman, died when his jet slammed into a mountain. It was a tragedy Martin never recovered from. Ricci says, “The thrill was gone at that point after his death.”
But his son's death helped Dean put an end to his 40-year feud with his long estranged partner. Ricci says his dad forgave Lewis after learning Lewis had quietly attended Dean Paul's funeral. They would publicly reunite, in a memorable moment on Jerry Lewis’ telethon. Ricci says, “I think it was a very important thing to have happened to dad before he passed away.”
Dean died in 1995 at age 78 and even today's Hollywood heavyweights who pay tribute to the Rat Pack with their remake of “Ocean’s Eleven” say Dean will always be the king of cool.
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