Dean Martin Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995), was an Italian-American singer, actor, comedian, and producer. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool" for his seemingly effortless charisma and self-assurance. He and Jerry Lewis formed the immensely popular comedy duo Martin and Lewis, with Martin serving as the straight man to Lewis' slapstick hijinks. A member of the "Rat Pack", Martin went on to become a star of concert stages, nightclubs, audio recordings, motion pictures, and television. Martin was the
Jerry Lewis American popular culture." Widely acknowledged as a comic genius, Lewis influenced successive generations of comedians, comedy writers, performers and filmmakers. As Lewis was often referenced as the bridge from Vaudeville to modern comedy, Carl Reiner wrote after Lewis' death, "All comedians watch other comedians, and every generation of comedians going back to those who watched Jerry on the "Colgate Comedy Hour" were influenced by Jerry. They say that mankind goes back to the first guy ... which everyone tries to copy. In comedy that guy was Jerry Lewis." Lewis "single-handedly created a style of humor that was half anarchy, half