speaking on Frank Sinatra during an interview with WCVB-TV in Boston in 1987. Sinatra and Davis’ bond was cemented when Sinatra used his clout as a popular white artist to insist on the inclusion of black Davis as part of his routine act in live performances in New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, action which is credited in leading to the integration of hotels and entertainment venues where they performed together through the 1950s and early 1960s.Īudio excerpt of Sammy Davis Jr. In the years after World War II in the late 1940s, the two became friends of mutual affection while both were performing in theaters and nightclubs in Manhattan. Both men hailed from the New York City area on either side of the Hudson, Sinatra from Hoboken in New Jersey, and Davis from Harlem. The strongest friendship among the five men was forged between Davis and Sinatra. The guys performing at the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in 1960. He appeared on both television and film mainly in guest appearances through his 1996 retirement. The stalwart was Joey Bishop, who was the longest lived member of the group and the least married with a 58-year union that ended in his widowhood in 1999. Peter Lawford was the aristocrat of the group, who came to be known more as brother in law to President John Kennedy than for his film and television career. The jokester was Dean Martin, popularly known first for his role as one half of the comedic duo Martin and Lewis with Jerry Lewis, and later as television host of an eponymous variety program and the “roastmaster.” The star was blue-eyed crooner Frank Sinatra, whose debonair style and unconventional persona made him equal parts swinging heartthrob and vilified rebel. production “Rufus Jones for President,” where he played the title role. The veteran of the Rat Pack was Sammy Davis Jr., whose first film role was at age seven opposite Ethel Waters in the 1933 Warner Bros. These five men and their influential friends were Hollywood revolutionaries, whose scandalous cavorting, steely characters, and collective ambition led the cause for progressive change in the entertainment industry during the second half of the 20th century.
Left to right: Sinatra, Martin, Davis, Lawford, and Bishop in 1960.
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