In 1965, Martin launched his weekly NBC comedy-variety series, The Dean Martin Show, which exploited his public image as a lazy, carefree boozer. Even though critics complained Dean was the epitome of sloth, few entertainers worked as hard to make what they were doing look so easy. The tv show was a huge hit. Dean prided himself on memorizing whole scripts -- not merely his own lines. He disliked rehearsing because he firmly believed his best performances were his first performances. the show's loose format often prompted comedic, quick-witted improvisation from Dean and the rest of the cast. On occasion, he made remarks in Italian, some of them obscenties that brought angry mail from offended, Italian-speaking viewers. This prompted a battle between Martin and NBC censors, who insisted on more scrutiny of the Show's content. As a result, the show was often in the Top Ten. Martin, deeply appreciative of the efforts of the show's producer, his friend Greg Garrison, later made a handshake deal giving Garrison, a pioneer TV producer in the 1950s, 50% ownership of the show.
Despite Martin's reputation as a heavy drinker — a reputation perpetuated via his vanity license plates reading 'DRUNKY' — he was remarkably self-disciplined. He was often the first to call it a night, and when not on tour or on a film location liked to go home, see his wife, and play with his children. It has been claimed that Martin was usually sipping apple juice (not liquor) most of the time onstage. He borrowed the lovable-drunk shtick from Joe E. Lewis, but his convincing portrayals of heavy boozers in Some Came Running and Howard Hawk's Rio Bravo led to unsubstantiated claims of alcoholism. More often than not, Martin's idea of a good time was playing golf-- not staying with rat-pack friends Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. into the wee hours of the morning.
By the early 1970s, Martin seemed to have the Midas touch. The Dean Martin Show was still earning solid ratings, and although he was no longer a Top 40 hitmaker, his record albums continued to sell well. His name on a marquee could guarantee casinos and nightclubs a standing-room-only crowd. He found a way to make his passion for golf profitable by offering his own signature line of golf balls. Shrewd investments had greatly increased Martin's personal wealth; at the time of his death, Martin was reportedly the single largest minority shareholder of RCA stock. Martin even managed to cure himself of his claustrophobia by locking himself in the elevator of a tall building and riding up and down for hours until he was no longer panic-stricken.
Despite his enormous success, Martin retreated from Show business by the early 1970s. The final (1973-74) season of his variety show would be re-tooled into one of celebrity roasts, requiring less of Martin's involvement. After the show's cancellation, NBC continued to air the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast format in a series of TV specials through 1984. For nearly a decade, Dean had recorded as many as four albums a year for Reprise records. That stopped in November of 1974, when Martin recorded his final Reprise album - "Once In A While", released in 1978. His last recording sessions were for Warner Brothers Records. An album titled "The Nashville Sessions" was released in 1983, and a follow up single "Drinking Champagne" came in 1985. The 1975 film Mr. Ricco marked Martin's final starring role, and Martin limited his live performances to Las Vegas and Atlantic City.
Martin seemed to be suffering a mid-life crisis. In 1972, he filed for divorce from his second wife, Jeannie. A week later, his business partnership with the Riviera casino was dissolved amid reports of the Casino's refusal to agree to Martin's request to perform only once a night. He was quickly snapped up by the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, and was signed to a three-picture deal with MGM Studios. Less than a month after his second marriage had been legally dissolved, Martin married 26 year-old Catherine Hawn on April 25, 1973. He divorced her November 10, 1976, claiming she was a gold-digger only interested in her husband's checkbook. He was also briefly engaged to Gail Renshaw, Miss USA 1969, and later dated an actress, Phyllis Davis.
Eventually, Martin reconciled with Jeannie, though they never remarried. He also made a public reconciliation with Jerry Lewis on Lewis' Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon in 1976. Frank Sinatra shocked Lewis and the world by bringing Martin out on stage. As Martin and Lewis hugged and smiled, the audience erupted in cheers and the phone banks lit up, resulting in one of the telethon's most profitable years. Lewis reported the event was one of the three most memorable of his life. Lewis brought down the house when he quipped, "So, you working?" This, along with the death of Martin's son a few years later, helped to bring the two men together. They maintained a quiet but deep friendship and never performed together again.
On December 1, 1983 while gambling at the Golden Nugget casino in Atlantic City, Martin and Sinatra intimidated the dealer and several employees into breaking New Jersey laws by making the dealer deal the cards by hand instead of by a shoe, as is required by law. Although Sinatra and Martin were implicated as the cause of the violation, neither were fined by the New Jersey Gaming Commission. the Golden Nugget, on the other hand, received a $25,000 fine and four employees including the dealer, a supervisor and pit boss were suspended from their jobs without pay.
Martin returned to films briefly with appearances in the two all-star Cannonball Run movies, but being a movie star no longer excited him and he found life on the set to be more tedious than ever. He also stepped back into the recording studio and scored a minor hit single with his version of "Since I Met You, Baby" and made his very first music video, which appeared on MTV.
Martin never claimed to be an intellectual and perhaps was telling the truth when he told an interviewer he had only read one book in his life. It was the children's story Black Beauty. In his 2005 book about Martin, Dean and Me: A Love story, Jerry Lewis notes that Martin was especially fond of comic books, but would always send someone else out to buy them for him.
Martin's world began to crumble on March 21, 1987, when his son Dean Paul Martin was killed when his jet fighter crashed while flying with the Air National Guard. A much-touted tour with Davis and Sinatra in 1988 sputtered, with Martin's heart just not into it. On one occasion, he infuriated Sinatra when he turned to him and muttered "Frank, what the hell are we doing up here?" Martin, who always responded best to a club audience, felt lost in the huge stadiums they were performing in (at Sinatra's insistence), and he was not the least bit interested in drinking until dawn after their performances.
In fact, Martin never completely recovered from losing his son, and as a lifelong smoker was suffering from emphysema. In September 1993, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He courageously kept his private life to himself, emerging briefly for a public celebration of his 77th birthday with friends and family.
Ultimately, it seemed that Martin had reconciled himself to reaching the end of a long career. He had been told he needed major surgery on his kidneys and liver to prolong his life, but he refused. It was widely reported, though never confirmed, that Martin had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1991.
At his side in his last years was ex-wife Jeannie (Bieggers) Martin, whom he had divorced years earlier. The pair became close again, although they resisted suggestions that they wed and seemed content to just being together.
Martin died of respiratory failure, at home with Jeannie by his side, on Christmas morning 1995. The lights of the Las Vegas Strip were dimmed in his honor. In 2005, Las Vegas renamed Industrial Road as "Dean Martin Drive".
There was talk of a film biography called "Dino", with Tom Hanks in the title role (Hanks previously portrayed the singer in an episode of Saturday Night Live) and Martin Scorsese directing. But as of 2007, the project has yet to happen.
Martin was portrayed by Joe Mantegna in an HBO movie about Sinatra and Martin titled The Rat Pack.
British actor Jeremy Northam also portrayed the late entertainer in a made-for-TV movie called Martin and Lewis, alongside Will & Grace's Sean Hayes as Jerry Lewis.
For the week ending December 23, 2006, the Dean Martin and Martina McBride duet of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" reached #7 on the R&R AC chart. It also went to #36 on the R&R Country chart.
The last time Martin had a song this high in the charts was in 1965, with the song "I Will", which reached #10 on the Pop chart.
A Budweiser commercial that premiered during Super Bowl XLI featured Martin's "Ain't it a Kick in the Head."
More than 40 years after knocking the Beatles out of the #1 spot, Martin continues to be popular with music fans. movies such as Goodfellas, casino, Swingers, Out of Sight, L.A. Confidential, A Bronx Tale and Payback, not to mention TV's "The Sopranos" and "The West Wing" as well as commercials for the 2005 Nissan Altima, Microsoft, Marriott Hotels and Heineken all feature Martin songs.
Capitol's 2004 collection "Dino: The Essential Dean Martin" features some of Martin's best recordings. Billboard's "Hotshot Debut" was the week's highest-charting new entry, and has sold more briskly than any previous Martin recording, going gold within months and to platinum status within a year. It also hit the Top 5 on apple's iTunes Music Store album chart. As Bill Zehme observed in a 2004 Playboy profile, "Dean provides smooth, winking succor to generations anew."
Dean Martin was married three times, the second the most successful, with Dean and Jeanne remaining married for 24 years (1949-1973). Dean's first wife, Betty, by all accounts tried to be a good wife and mother, but she became an alcoholic. Dean gained custody of their four children. The third marriage was short lived, just three years, and ended bitterly. Dean was the father of eight children and one step-child.
A recent biography on Martin entitled Dean Martin: King Of The Road by Michael Freedland, alleges he had links to the Mafia in his earlier career. Martin was allegedly given help with his early singing career by mob bosses who owned saloons in Chicago. In return, he performed in shows hosted by these bosses later when he was a star. These authors suggest that Martin felt little loyalty to or sympathy for the Mafia and that he only did such people small favors if it was of little inconvenience to him. Reportedly, the FBI's bugs once picked up a mafioso making plans to injure or kill Martin because of a perceived lack of gratitude. Another book, "The Animal in Hollywood" by John L Smith, depicted Dean Martin's long time friendship with Mafia mobsters Johnny Roselli and Anthony "the Animal" Fiato. Fiato did Martin many favors, such as getting back Money from two swindlers who had cheated Betty Martin, Dean's ex wife, out of thousands of dollars of her alimony money.
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