Friends Mourn Death Of `Dino'

LOS ANGELES - Dean Martin - "Dino" to his show-biz cronies and generations of fans - was at his Beverly Hills home when he died of acute respiratory failure yesterday, according to his publicist. The veteran performer, who had some 50 films, countless nightclub acts, hit records and a long-running TV variety series to his credit, was 78.

Mr. Martin's longtime friend Frank Sinatra said in a statement: "Dean was my brother - not through blood, but through choice. Our friendship has traveled down many roads over the years and there will always be a special place in my heart and soul for Dean.

"He has been like the air I breathe - always there, always close by," the statement said.

Jerry Lewis, Mr. Martin's comedy partner for the early years of his career, was "completely shattered and grief-stricken" at news of Mr. Martin's death, said Lewis' manager.

The multi-faceted Mr. Martin, whose rugged Italian good looks and melodic baritone voice charmed women but also appealed to men, perfected an on-camera and on-stage image of the laid-back alcoholic.

More than one guest on his phenomenally popular television variety show, which regularly attracted 40 million viewers from 1965 to 1974, went to Mr. Martin's dressing room after the show expecting to find a drunk only to be offered coffee and cake. The glass Mr. Martin carried on-stage usually contained nothing stronger than apple juice.

Mr. Martin was known as chief deputy to the chairman of the board in Sinatra's Rat Pack, which included Sammy Davis Jr. (who died in 1990), Peter Lawford (who died in 1984), Joey Bishop and Shirley MacLaine.

Charles Champlin recalls in The Los Angeles Times, "It's getting harder to remember when Las Vegas was an intimate town with lights, not a megalopolis with swollen hotels and family attractions. In those days, the hottest hotel in town was the Sands, because it was where Frank and Dean and Sammy sang individually and as the Rat Pack, augmented by Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford.

"The act was a kind of organized shambles, a occasionally self-indulgent boys' night out with just enough performing to let you know they could do it if they wanted to. And it was the toughest reservation in town because it was as unpredictable as live television used to be. No telling what Dean would say, or Frank. Lawford was the straight man for all of them."

As a singer, Mr. Martin followed in the tradition of Sinatra, Perry Como and other Italian singers, frequently commenting that they all copied the style of veteran crooner Bing Crosby. Among Mr. Martin's outstanding gold records were "That's Amore" in 1953, "Return to Me" and "Volare" in 1958, and what became his theme song, "Everybody Loves Somebody" in 1964.

Despite those successes, he once told Variety: "I'm no singer. I can carry a tune and I have an easy style. But we crooners get by because we're fairly painless."

Although he was best known for comedy, Mr. Martin's films include a handful of critically acclaimed serious acting roles, as in "The Young Lions" with Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift in 1958, "Some Came Running" with his Sinatra and MacLaine in 1959, and Howard Hawks' "Rio Bravo" with John Wayne also in '59.

Mr. Martin also was popular for his take-offs on the James Bond genre, playing Matt Helm in the mid-1960s films "The Silencers," "Murderer's Row" and "The Ambushers."

"I call it a wonderful job, working in pictures," Mr. Martin once told The Los Angeles Times. "And if any actor tells you it's tough, tell 'em they're full of beans. . . . To become half a success in what you do you have to enjoy it or else you become a griper. The good Lord gave me a talent and I'll use it until I run dry."

Dino Paul Crocetti was born in Steubenbille, Ohio, the son of an Italian immigrant barber. Bored with high school, he dropped out in 10th grade, only to spend his adult life embarrassed by his poor English grammar and lack of education.

(He later said of his fame, "Back in Ohio, they're doubting this, I swear. They're betting six to five that I still get the chair.")

He boxed in the welterweight class as Kid Crocetti, permanently scarring his hands. He also stole hubcaps, bootlegged booze, and worked as a gas jockey, a soda jerk and a steel mill laborer.

Then he got into gambling in the Ohio "Little Chicago" area where he grew up, working as a stick man on roulette and a croupier on blackjack. He hummed as he worked, to patrons' delight, and sang after hours with a band at Walker's Cafe.

He first sang professionally in Columbus, Ohio, as Dino Martini, a name picked because of its similarity to a popular opera star. He got $50 a week - an amount he said he could steal each week in the gaming rooms. Then he got a contract to sing in Cleveland, and the name was shortened permanently to Dean Martin.

Married with a growing family, Mr. Martin was drafted in World War II but mustered out after 14 months because of a hernia.

In 1946, Mr. Martin met Jerry Lewis when both were appearing at the Glass Hat in New York. Soon after they were put on the same bill at the 500 Club in Atlantic City.

Making up their own material, Mr. Martin attempted to sing while Lewis interrupted as a bumbling bus boy. A legendary team was born. They moved on to New York's Copacabana, television's "Ed Sullivan Show" and in 1948 to Hollywood.

Mr. Martin and Lewis made 16 movies from "My Friend Irma" in 1949 to "Hollywood or Bust" in 1956. In 1952, the duo moved into first place in the annual Motion Picture Herald list of top 10 movie stars.

But the magic partnership broke up in 1956 when Mr. Martin refused Lewis' directive that he play a lowly policeman in "The Delicate Delinquent," which Lewis wrote. Mr. Martin claimed he could no longer deal with Lewis' egocentric demands.

"Two of the greatest turnin' points in my career were, first, meetin' Jerry Lewis, second, leavin' Jerry Lewis," Mr. Martin said in 1967. "I became a real actor because of these two things."

After foundering for a couple of years, Mr. Martin rebounded, recording "Volare," which sold 3 million records in 1958.

About that time, he got a bid to join Brando and Clift in "The Young Lions," at a miserly salary of $20,000, considerably less than he was used to earning for a film. He leaped at the chance, however, saying he would have done it for nothing to work with the acclaimed dramatic stars.

Mr. Martin was married and divorced three times - to Elizabeth McDonald from 1940 to 1949, with whom he had four children, Craig, Claudia, Gail and Deana; to Jeanne Reigger from 1950 to 1973, with whom he had three children, Dean Jr. known as Dino, Ricci and Gina, and to beauty parlor receptionist Cathy Hawn from 1973 to 1976.

Dino, an actor and member of the short-lived '60s teen pop group Dino, Desi and Billy, served as a captain in the Air Force National Guard. He was killed in 1987 when his Phantom jet fighter crashed into a California mountain during a snowstorm. Friends say they felt Mr. Martin never quite recovered from the death of his son and he quit working a few years later.

Despite repeated bouts with ulcers, which belied his relaxed style, Mr. Martin kept himself in relatively good physical condition with daily golf, although his health had deteriorated in the past few years.

"With all the children and grandchildren, I'm old," he joked in 1984 when he was 67. "But I don't feel old. . . . Death don't come to me. I'm not going."

Information from Associated Press is included in this report.