Dean Martin was born Dino Paul Crocetti on June 7, 1917, in Steubenville, Ohio, a steel town on the Ohio River. His parents were Italian immigrants. He spoke only Italian until he started school at age five, and classmates bullied him for his accent. He dropped out of Steubenville High School in tenth grade and worked in a steel mill, dealt cards at a speakeasy, and boxed under the name Kid Crochet before deciding he could make more money singing.
He started performing in local clubs and changed his name to Dean Martin. By the early 1940s he was singing in nightclubs in Cleveland and New York. In 1946, he teamed up with comedian Jerry Lewis. Martin and Lewis became the most popular comedy act in the country. Their live shows, films, and television appearances drew enormous audiences for a decade. They made sixteen films together before splitting acrimoniously in 1956.
Martin reinvented himself as a solo act. He recorded hit singles including That’s Amore, Memories Are Made of This, and Everybody Loves Somebody, the last of which knocked the Beatles off the top of the Billboard charts in 1964. He starred in serious film roles, including The Young Lions (1958) with Marlon Brando and Rio Bravo (1959) with John Wayne. As a member of the Rat Pack alongside Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr., he appeared in Ocean’s 11 (1960) and several other films.
The Dean Martin Show ran on NBC from 1965 to 1974 and was one of the top-rated variety programs on television. Martin cultivated an image of effortless cool, drink in hand, seemingly half-interested, though colleagues said the persona masked a private, disciplined performer.
He died on Christmas Day 1995 in Beverly Hills at age 78. In 1997, Ohio Route 7 through Steubenville was renamed Dean Martin Boulevard. The city holds an annual Dean Martin Festival each June.