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Not everything about “King of Cool” Dean Martin was what it seemed. The dashing playboy and heartthrob was actually a devoted family man to eight children. The legendary drinker — who always had a tumbler in hand —secretly filled his glass with apple cider. And that gleaming grin masked pain. A new documentary explores the complexities of the beloved crooner, comedian and founding member of the Rat Pack. “Dean Martin: King of Cool,” which premieres Friday on TCM, features never-before-seen archival footage and delves into Martin’s strained relationship with Jerry Lewis, his bromance with Frank Sinatra and the personal tragedy...

They were the toast of Hollywood, the ultimate kings of cool: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop. The group of actors, singers and entertainers known as 'the Rat Pack' became synonymous with Hollywood glamour, late night jam sessions at the fabled Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, and the heady golden days of Camelot.

The Kennedy family is mourning the loss of Christopher Lawford. Lawford's rep confirmed the sad news of his death to ET on Wednesday. Aside from being known for his famous family -- Lawford was the son of the late John F. Kennedy's sister, Patricia Kennedy, and actor Peter Lawford -- Lawford had acting roles on multiple hit TV shows including Frasier, General Hospital and All My Children. His movie roles included Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Thirteen Days, which interestingly enough, featured his famous uncles, John and Robert Kennedy, as characters. Lawford was 63 years old. According to...

Rickles died Thursday morning at his home in Los Angeles from kidney failure, his longtime publicist Paul Shefrin confirmed.

Cancel any upcoming flights to the moon, because living in Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack home is a great reason to stay on Earth. Named "Villa Maggio," Sinatra's hideaway from Hollywood is on the market for $3.9 million. The Palm Desert, California home was a spot where Sinatra and fellow Rat Pack members Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop would hang out and get some R&R from their fans in a private location.

My introduction to Frank Sinatra came by way of “New York, New York” (1979) and “My Way” (1969). Needless to say, I was not a fan. Even as a pre-teen, the over-produced bombast came across as someone, dare I say an old man, trying too hard. Besides, I was born in 1966 and came of age in the early 80s. By law, I was required to worship Springsteen, Seger, Zeppelin, Petty, Van Halen, Def Leppard, and AC/DC, not some crooner belting out anthems about how it’s up to you my way. With a memory as bad as mine, I don’t have...

Why it qualifies: -- Because it is two members of the Rat Pack, both radiating awesomeness, looking like they might have headed to the golf course straight from another all-nighter on the Vegas Strip. -- Because both men look unfazed that they may be in violation of the 14-club limit (Really, who's going to tell the Chairman of the Board he needs to take out that extra wedge?). -- Because one of the woods in the background might not be a wood at all, but an Al Czervik-style beer tap. -- Because other than maybe Tony Gwynn, no one else...

Winner of Hoboken's annual Sinatra Idol contest learned to speak again after accident by singing crooner's songsIn his third appearance in Hoboken's annual Sinatra Idol Contest last night, James Anthony, of Bristow, Va., was named the winner from among 15 contestants. Anthony received a perfect score, 25, for "Blues in the Night," which earned him the crown of best Sinatra-style singer. A Las Vegas native, Anthony worked in his teens as an usher at several Sinatra concerts at Caesar's Palace, but he never made the connection with Sinatra until a near-death experience seven years ago. Anthony said he started listening...

Sammy Davis, Jr., as a child, tap danced outside Charlie’s Sandwich Shoppe at night for dimes. Local lore says he lived nearby on Columbus Avenue, but could there be anyone more nomadic than Davis? "We rarely remained in one place more than a week," Sammy Davis, Jr. told a biographer, referring to his childhood as a dancer in the Will Mastin Trio and hard times during the Depression. Another reported that by the time he was 15, Davis had crossed the country twenty-three times. Born in Harlem in 1925, Davis was out on the road with his father and Will...

It's no secret famed Rat Packer Dean Martin is still about as cool as it gets, so it only makes sense he would choose a vehicle as cool and unique as a 1962 Ghia L6.4 as a mode of transportation. After getting his hands on the car, Martin decided his Ghia—one of 26 L6.4s built—still needed a little bit more unique personality and enlisted famed custom car builder George Barris to add a few subtle touches. Whether you love the styling of the Ghia or hate it, it's impossible to dispute it's one of a kind nature. Under the hood...

Previously secret FBI records released today reveal that Sen. Edward Kennedy may have participated in steamy sex parties with his two brothers, Marilyn Monroe and "Rat Pack" crooners Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. A racy memo from 1965 notes that a New York woman reportedly had "considerable information about sex parties" involving the Kennedy brothers John and Robert, Monroe, Sinatra and Davis. While the source of the information is not described fully in the documents, "it was reported" that Jacqueline Hammond, the wealthy ex-wife of a former US ambassador to Spain, knew about the raunchy parties at the upscale...

The world's greatest entertainer died -- 19 years ago. His name is Sammy Davis Jr. At Michael Jackson's memorial, Motown founder Berry Gordy called the late, incredibly talented Jackson "the greatest entertainer that ever lived." Someone once said that Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire's famous dance partner, did everything he did -- except backward and wearing high heels. Well, Sammy Davis Jr. did everything Michael Jackson did -- and more, much more -- except during Jim Crow and with one eye. Davis sang. He danced. He acted. He played piano, drums and trumpet. He did impressions of the popular celebrities of...

Stone-faced comedian was last surviving member of the Rat Pack. LOS ANGELES - Joey Bishop, the stone-faced comedian who found success in nightclubs, television and movies but became most famous as a member of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack, has died at 89. He was the group’s last surviving member. Peter Lawford died in 1984, Sammy Davis Jr. in 1990, Dean Martin in 1995, and Sinatra in 1998. Bishop died Wednesday night of multiple causes at his home in Newport Beach, publicist and longtime friend Warren Cowan said Thursday. The Rat Pack became a show business sensation in the early 1960s,...

LOS ANGELES — Joey Bishop, the stone-faced comedian who found success in night clubs, television and movies but became most famous as a member of Frank Sinatra's boisterous Rat Pack, has died at his home, his publicist said Thursday.

Many argue that communism will never be possible because of "human nature". The essence of this false argument is the belief that a communist society would consist of an all-powerful central government that would tell everybody what to do--and would therefore undermine the creative initiative of individuals and the search for happiness. • This argument is based on two false assumptions: (1) It assumes that a communist society will look like the former Soviet Union, or the current China, North Korea, etc (ie: corrupt police states with a feudal-style ruling class) (2) It assumes that people will only work in...

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cmp/20050715/tc_cmp/165702500 UN Panel: No Single Nation Should Control Internet Addresses Aoife White Thu Jul 14, 9:38 PM ET BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP)--A U.N. panel created to recommend how the Internet should be run in the future has failed to reach consensus but did agree that no single country should dominate. The United States stated two weeks ago that it intended to maintain control over the computers that serve as the Internet's principal traffic cops. In a report released Thursday, the U.N. panel outlined four possible options for the future of Internet governance for world leaders to consider at a November "Information...

Here is the list so far for sponcers to this hate America fest: ANSWER Code Pink UFPJ NION Al Awda World Workers Party Ruckas Revolutionary Communist party Moveon.org ACORN Campus Antiwar Network International Socialist Org Greens Party Muslim Student Association CPUSA

It took me a long, long time to learn what I now know, and I don’t want that to die with me.” —Frank Sinatra Pundits often speculate why the Rat Pack remains so deeply embedded in popular culture.Some reckon it was because the heart of the Pack, the holy trinity of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr., were peaking in their respective careers precisely when they forged their fateful union. Others claim their rise hinged upon the testosterone-fueled reaction of the fading Macho American Male against the encroaching, decidedly un-macho hippie revolution. Yet others believe it was the...

  Copyright © 2003 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com Frank Rich: The right rides the Rat Pack revival Frank Rich NYT Saturday, October 18, 2003   NEW YORK Rush Limbaugh trades cigar boxes stuffed with cash for his fixes of "baby blues" in Palm Beach. Bill Bennett bets everything but the milk money on the slots in sex-drenched Vegas. A Kennedy-by-marriage movie-star-turned-governor freely admits to a "rowdy" past of soundstage gropings in Hollywood. Ring-a-ding-ding! The Rat Pack is back! This is good news for the right, if not necessarily the United States. Pop culture has long been a...

<p>Joseph C. Wilson IV, the man accusing the White House of a vendetta against him and his wife, is an ex-diplomat turned Democratic partisan.</p> <p>President Bush, he wrote in an article in the far-left Nation magazine that was published before the Iraq war began, is not interested in democracy in the Middle East but "this new American imperialism."</p>