History Music / DeanMartin

The team broke up because Martin felt he was being upstaged by Lewis[[note]]Lewis would feign stomach pains to get attention and rewrite scripts so that his solo routines (that he would try and play for pathos) would get more screen time than Martin's musical numbers[[/note]] and because he wanted to do some serious acting. No one thought much of his chances, but he quickly knocked out three impressive performances: ''Film/TheYoungLions'' (1957), ''Film/SomeCameRunning'' (1958), and ''Film/RioBravo'' (1959). He then followed those up with the memorable ''Film/{{Oceans 11}}'' in 1960.

Most tropers of a certain age know him as the host of ''The Dean Martin Show'' (Creator/{{NBC}}, 1965–74) and ''The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast'' (also NBC, 1975–84). He didn't want to do the former show at first, and presented NBC with a ridiculous list of demands (including a huge salary and a clause that prohibited retakes) in the hopes that it would scuttle the deal. But when NBC agreed to every single demand, he felt he had no choice but to do it.

He is the subject of one of the greatest of showbiz biographies, ''Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams'' (1992) by Nick Tosches.

* TheAlcoholic: Subverted. Dean's whole schtick during the latter half of his career was that of an amiable drunk who missed cues, mispronounced words, and hit on the nearest woman, but while he enjoyed a drink, it was an act. For the most part, that glass that was always close to hand contained apple juice.
* BigBrotherInstinct: Martin was rather protective of Lewis during their years as a team, and specially in their early years when Lewis was barely out of his teens ''and'' had a rather troubled past. On one occasion, sitting at a bar, he threw an anti-Semitic mobster's mook across it and into the shelf of glasses behind: the mook had demanded to know of Martin what he was doing teaming up with a Jew.

Most tropers of a certain age know him as the host of the ''The Dean Martin Show'' (Creator/{{NBC}}, 1965–74) and ''The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast'' (also NBC, 1975–84). He didn't want to do the former show at first, and presented NBC with a ridiculous list of demands (including a huge salary and a clause that prohibited retakes) in the hopes that it would scuttle the deal. But when NBC agreed to every single demand, he felt he had no choice but to do it.

* CoolOldGuy: His coolness only increased with age.

* BadassBaritone: In ''Ocean's Eleven'', ''Robin and the Seven Hoods'' and many more.

Born in Ohio to Italian-American parents [[note]] while his father had been born in Italy, his mother was the American-born daughter of Italian immigrants [[/note]], Dino was a non-descript singer with a pretty good East Coast reputation until 1946, when he met and teamed up with Creator/JerryLewis. They would become the [[Creator/MartinAndLewis hottest comedy team in America]] over the next ten years[[note]]How hot? Fans were so eager to meet them that it was impossible to clear out clubs and theaters after performances. In order to get the audiences to leave, Martin and Lewis would go to an upstairs window and toss out autographed cards to the screaming crowd and would occasionally perform impromptu skits to fans' delight[[/note]] and first achieved movie success with supporting roles on ''Radio/MyFriendIrma'' (1949) and its sequel ''My Friend Irma Goes West'' (1950). Popular belief was that Lewis was the better talent and that he carried Martin, but Lewis consistently praised Martin's work and said the team was "50-50".

He even headlined his own series of spy films based on the Matt Helm novels by Douglas Hamilton. Although the books were very hard-edged thrillers, the films took a considerably lighter tone by being one of the earliest spoofs of Franchise/JamesBond films. Although these films aren't very well-known today, they served as inspirations for Film/AustinPowers. The last of them, ''Film/TheWreckingCrew'', was notable for being Creator/SharonTate's last film and was later referenced in ''Film/OnceUponATimeInHollywood''.

All the while he was acting, he was also recording. Once he settled on his trademark "crooning" style, he became one of the most beloved singers in America. "Ain't That a Kick in the Head", which Dino first performed in the original ''Ocean's 11'', is today ''the'' emblematic song of the Rat Pack period. (Want proof? It was used in a Budweiser UsefulNotes/SuperBowl [[SuperBowlSpecial commercial]].) He's also well known for "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", ''Memories Are Made of This", and "Volare (Nel blu di pinto di blu)".

During the Rat Pack years and subsequently, Dino was rarely seen without a lowball glass (his VanityLicensePlate read "DRUNKY"). Most – but not all – of the time, though, he was drinking apple juice. Likewise, while his best friend, Music/FrankSinatra, caroused and tomcatted, Dino went home every night to his wife, Jeanne. When they divorced in 1973, she said simply, "He was home every night."

* TheAlcoholic: Subverted. Dean's whole schtick during the latter half of his career was that of an amiable drunk who missed cues, mispronounced words, and hit on the nearest woman, but while he enjoyed a drink, it was an act.

* {{Improv}}: An essential part of his nightclub act with Lewis.

* TheRoast: "The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts"

* StageNames: First "Dino Martini," then, at his bandleader's suggestion, Dean Martin.

* TakeThat: To Dino, his 1964 single "Everybody Loves Somebody" was this to British Invasion groups who dominated the US charts at the time. He particularly disliked Music/TheBeatles and resented the fact that many young Americans, including his son, practically hero-worshipped them. Even though he'd not had a top 40 hit for six years, Dino promised the boy that his latest single would "knock your pallies off the charts" ... and it did, replacing "A Hard Day's Night" at the #1 spot on the Billboard chart.