Dean Martin

June 7th marks the birthday of one of America's most popular entertainers, singer, actor, and comedian Dean Martin. He was born Dino Crocetti in 1917 into an Italian family who'd settled in Steubenville, Ohio, and didn't speak English until he was five years old. His formative years were tough ones. Dropping out of high school, he drifted into a series of edgy jobs: liquor bootlegger, croupier at an illegal casino, and boxing prize fighter. Then he started singing with local bands, crooning in the style of his heroes, the Mills Brothers and Perry Como. 

Just after the war, he met Jerry Lewis at a club where they were both performing, and a firm friendship and a music comedy double act quickly developed. This was a huge success, and lucrative nightclub engagements, an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, a radio series, and a film contract soon followed. But Martin, in particular, felt pigeonholed as an act providing comic relief to more serious work, and they split up acrimoniously ten years to the day they first teamed up. His ensuing solo career fulfilled his desire to become a more serious actor, and in all, he made eighty-five films and TV productions. As a singer, he had hits with songs such as "That's Amore," "Sway," "Volare," "Return to Me," "The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane," "Everybody Loves Somebody," "Memories Are Made of This," and "Gentle on My Mind." 

On American television, The Dean Martin Show ran for nine years, and he was a tuxedo-clad regular on the Las Vegas Strip as a member of the famous Rat Pack alongside Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. 

A lifelong heavy smoker, he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1993. Rejecting surgery, he died on Christmas Day 1995 at the age of seventy-eight.

Here's a video from his long running US TV show.