Dean Martin, Kate Jackson, Cheryl Ladd, Jaclyn Smith Charlie ' S Angels Photograph
Item History & Price
ITEM: This is a vintage and original publicity photograph of actor and crooner Dean Martin posed with actresses Kate Jackson, Cheryl Ladd, and Jaclyn Smith in promotion of Martin's appearance on an episode of Charlie's Angels. Martin portrays a Las Vegas hotel owner who hires the Angels after the murder of a showgirl. The episode was titled, "Angels in Vegas" and aired on 13 September 1978.
Photograph measures 9" x 7" on a glossy, single weight paper stock.
Guaranteed to be 100% ...vintage and original from Grapefruit Moon Gallery.
More about Dean Martin:
As the epitome of laid-back cool, the handsome, mellow-voiced crooner Dean Martin successfully redefined his image throughout his career without ever straying too far from his established persona as a quick-witted, booze-loving regular guy. Martin emerged from the shadow of playing straight man to his early comedy partner Jerry Lewis, to become a respected film actor in such films as "Some Came Running" (1958), as well as a top-selling solo recording artist. His profile rose even further as the apparent second-in-command to his close friend Frank Sinatra in the Rat Pack, both in films and on records and the stages of Las Vegas nightclubs. By the 1960s Martin was one of the most popular and highest paid performers in history, with a hit single that bounced the Beatles off the charts, films like the Matt Helm series topping the box office, and his long-running comedy-variety series, "The Dean Martin Show" (NBC, 1965-1974), sitting atop the ratings each week. Martin's output decreased somewhat in the 1970s and 1980s, but his appearances in films like "Airport" (1970) and "The Cannonball Run" (1981) continued to endear him to a broad audience. However, by the time of Martin's death in 1995, a resurgence of appreciation for Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and their contemporaries – fueled perhaps most prominently by Jon Favreau's über-cool film "Swingers" (1996) – elevated the entertainer to full-fledged icon status. Though his former partner Jerry Lewis would later call him "the most underrated performer in the history of our business, " Martin was enthusiastically embraced by the audiences of his time, and rediscovered by subsequent generations of fans who had yet to be born during his heyday.
Born on June 7, 1917, Dino Paul Crocetti was the son of Italian immigrant farmers in Steubenville, OH. He spoke only Italian throughout his early years and dropped out of high school in the 10th grade – perhaps one of many reasons Martin would develop an almost impenetrable wall around himself, letting few in throughout his life. The future performer toiled in a variety of odd jobs around this time, including stints as a shoe-shine boy, store clerk, steel mill worker, and for a period, welterweight prizefighter. He also helped run bootleg liquor for certain shady establishments, later becoming an accomplished croupier at some of the local speakeasies. After being coaxed on stage one night by friends, Martin realized his suave good looks and smooth baritone might allow him to escape a life of manual labor and set out to become a crooner in the mold of Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo. An early break came when he performed with the Ernie McKay Orchestra, which led to higher profile gigs, and by the mid-1940s, a spot opening for a young Frank Sinatra in New York City. After a brief stint in the Army, Martin teamed with a teenage comedian named Jerry Lewis, launching them both into the celebrity stratosphere. Though Martin seemingly played the straight man to the manic, off-the-wall Lewis – the "organ grinder" to Lewis’ "monkey" as many termed it – his deft comic timing was a critical, if not always appreciated, part of what was then America's most successful comedy duo of the late 1940s and 1950s. Indeed, the fan hysteria that accompanied Martin & Lewis' public appearances at the time was akin to the manias that surrounded Sinatra and Elvis Presley at the heights of their popularity.
In addition to sold out live performances, Martin & Lewis began appearing on various television programs, and even landed their own half-hour radio spot, "The Martin and Lewis Show" on NBC. Placed under contract with producer Hal Wallis at Paramount Pictures, the comedy duo appeared together in 16 films, beginning with "My Friend Irma" (1949), through "Sailor Beware" (1952) and "Artists and Models" (1955), ending with "Hollywood or Bust" (1956). When the team's 10-year partnership ended – due, most speculated, to Lewis' ever-increasing ego, combined with Martin’s mounting dissatisfaction with being the "second banana" – many in Hollywood predicted dire straights for Martin's future career after the duo’s acrimonious split. Martin, however, saw things differently, releasing a string of hit recordings – which would ultimately include classics like "That’s Amore" (1953), "Memories Are Made of This" (1955), "Mambo Italiano" (1955) and "Ain’t That a Kick in the Head" (1960) – and jumping into a solo film career with the box office bomb "Ten Thousand Bedrooms" (1956). Undeterred, he took a supporting role in director Edward Dmytryk’s war drama "The Young Lions" (1958), delivering a respectable performance, followed by another well-regarded turn as an incorrigible gambler in the Vincente Minnelli melodrama "Some Came Running" (1958), co-starring Frank Sinatra and Shirley MacLaine. Martin paired with John Wayne for the first time in the classic Howard Hawks western "Rio Bravo" (1959), then reconnected with Sinatra for "Ocean’s Eleven" (1960). The caper comedy, featuring mutual pals Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford, officially kicked off the Rat Pack era, to which Martin and the boys would be linked forever after.
Martin and director Minnelli joined forces once again with an adaptation of the Judy Holliday musical "Bells Are Ringing" (1960). During the early 1960s, he performed regularly with the Rat Pack live on the Las Vegas strip, and in other lightweight film romps such as "Sergeants 3" (1962) and "Robin and the Seven Hoods" (1964). Billy Wilder’s sex comedy "Kiss Me Stupid" (1964) featured Martin in a role tailor-made for him – that of a hard-drinking, womanizing lounge singer – however, audiences were far from receptive to the film’s cavalier attitude toward promiscuity and adultery, dooming its theatrical release. Although musical tastes in America were changing – it was at the height of the Beatles’ American invasion, after all – Martin proved he still had something to offer when his hit single "Everybody Loves Somebody" knocked the Fab Four off the U.S. charts in 1964. Never one to take himself or his public image too seriously, Martin cashed in on the James Bond craze of the mid-60s with the spy spoof "The Silencers" (1966), as sexy super agent Matt Helm. Based on the popular series of pulp novels, it generated several sequels, all starring Martin, and later helped inspire the Mike Myers romp "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" (1997). Other efforts included his own long-running TV variety program, "The Dean Martin Show" (NBC, 1965-74) – later followed by NBC’s periodic "Dean Martin’s Celebrity Roast" spin-off specials, which attracted some of the biggest names in show business for some of the funniest off-the-cuff revelry ever aired on the small screen.
Over the course of the 1970s, Martin began to scale back his work. His last successful starring role in a major motion picture was as the pilot of a doomed airliner in the all-star disaster melodrama "Airport" (1970). His final starring role was in the little-seen crime drama "Mr. Ricco" (1975), followed by sporadic appearances on television shows like "Charlie’s Angels (ABC, 1976-1981) and "Vega$" (ABC, 1978-1981). Perhaps his most significant television appearance of the era was in 1976, when Sinatra brought Martin out as a surprise guest on Jerry Lewis' annual Muscular Dystrophy Telethon, marking the first time the former friends had spoken in two decades. The reunion touched Lewis, who had never stopped missing nor idolizing his former partner. Martin was called out of semi-retirement by 1970s movie megastar Burt Reynolds for the campy car race comedy "The Cannonball Run" (1981), along with fellow Rat Packer Sammy Davis, Jr. Cast as a pair of contenders disguised as priests, the pair good-naturedly goofed their way through the silliness, reprising their roles in the 1984 sequel. Tragically, Martin's son, actor-singer Dean Paul Martin, was killed in a plane crash in 1987, and many of the performer's intimates later suggested that the loss was such a devastating blow to the already emotionally reserved Martin, causing him to further retreat into solitude throughout his later years. One bright spot came when Lewis made a low-key appearance at Dean Paul's funeral, prompting Martin to at last rekindle the friendship with his former partner for the remainder of his life. A life-long smoker, Martin succumbed to emphysema at his Los Angeles home in 1995 at the age of 78, leading old friends like Sinatra, MacLaine and Lewis to memorialize him as an underrated comedy genius and premier recording artist who was always the most charming man in the room.
In the years following his passing, Martin’s musical contributions gained new recognition, due in large part to his hits being featured on the soundtracks of such films as "Goodfellas" (1990), "A Bronx Tale" (1993), and the L.A. hipster comedy "Swingers" (1996). On the small screen, aspects of his relationships with former friends and partners were covered in a pair of telepics – "The Rat Pack" (HBO, 1998), with Joe Mantegna as Martin and Ray Liotta as Sinatra, in addition to "Martin and Lewis" (CBS, 2002), with Jeremy Northam as the laid-back crooner and Sean Hayes as his nutty partner.
Biography From: TCM | Turner Classic Movies
More about Kate Jackson:
"Once upon a time, there were three little girls who went to the police academy " And so began the iconic intro to a show that made overnight stars of two of "Charlie's Angels" - Farrah Fawcett-Majors and Jaclyn Smith - and further solidified the fame of Kate Jackson, who had already made a name for herself on the classic cop show "The Rookies." After leaving the Angels in 1979, Jackson would go on to further success as the star of her TV show "Scarecrow and Mrs. King."
Catherine Elise "Kate" Jackson was born on Oct. 29, 1948 in Birmingham, AL, the daughter of Hogan and Ruth Jackson and sister of Jenny Jackson. Her father was a wholesaler of building material and her mother a housewife. Ever since she was a little girl, Kate Jackson wanted to be an actress - going so far as to practice signing autographs to her friends on the playground. Every chance she got, she appeared in school productions and put on skits with her sister at the Brookhill School for Girls. While attending the University of Mississippi, Jackson left halfway through her sophomore year, to enroll at Southern College where she took her first theatre class. After a summer apprenticeship at the Stowe Playhouse in Stowe, VT, she moved to New York in 1968 and enrolled in the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She worked hard, appearing in such productions as "Night Must Fall, " "Royal Gambit, " "The Constant Wife" and "Little Moon of Alban."
After graduating from the Academy, Jackson auditioned for the wildly popular daytime horror soap "Dark Shadows" (ABC, 1966-1971) and landed a role with little trouble. "Dark Shadows" creator Dan Curtis was so impressed with Jackson, he chose her to star in the feature film "Night of Dark Shadows" (1971). After that brief bit of good fortune, Jackson decided to make the leap to Hollywood. Within months of arriving, she was recurring on "The Jimmy Stewart Show" (NBC, 1971-72); made a series of guest appearances on such shows as "Bonanza" (NBC, 1959-73); appeared in TV movies like "Movin' On" (1972) with David Soul (pre-"Starsky & Hutch" fame), and starred in Mark Robson's feature film "Limbo" (1972). Gaining as much experience as possible, Jackson also became a TV "scream queen" of sorts, paying her dues in such horror flicks as "Satan's School for Girls" (1973), "Killer Bees" (1974), "Death Cruise" (1974) and "Death at Love House" (1976).
Liking her classic, dark beauty, producers Aaron Spelling - who had a famous eye for stars-in-the-making - and Leonard Goldberg hired Jackson for their new police drama series "The Rookies" (ABC, 1972-76). As Nurse Jill Danko, she starred in the show for four years, and during that time, was bombarded with more fan mail than the rest of the cast. When the show was cancelled, Spelling would not soon forget the girl with "stardust in her eyes."
In 1976, the big bang occurred when Spelling cast Jackson as Sabrina "Bri" Duncan in his new all-female detective show, "Charlie's Angels" (ABC, 1976-1981). Industry heads and critics scoffed at the very idea of beautiful women running around, strapped with guns, solving crimes - all under the watchful eye of an unseen, but always heard, male benefactor. No matter. The night the show premiered to stratospheric ratings that bicentennial year, three stars were instantly born, with Jackson and her co-Angels, Farrah Fawcett-Majors and Jaclyn Smith, huddling close so as to weather the hysteria, which culminated with the Angels gracing the cover ofTime magazine.
Fawcett-Majors - easily the most popular and profiled of the three Angels that first year - was the first to exit stage right. Farrah-mania was so intense, what with the feathered bangs and nippled poster, that the actress and her actor husband, Lee ("Bionic Man") Majors, felt she would do better on her own. After only one season and at the peak of her fame, she unwisely left the show. Thankfully, "starmaker" Spelling still had an eye for talent, hiring another blonde beauty, Cheryl Ladd, to fill the void left by Fawcett-Majors. The show continued on, even gaining in the ratings with the new line-up. During Jackson's first year as Sabrina, she received the first of two Emmy nominations for Best Actress in a Dramatic Series and was also nominated as Best Supporting Actress for the NBC series pilot "James at 15" (1977).
For three years she was Charlie's smartest Angel, but she began to feel the constriction of her one-note character. To Jackson's credit, she refused to prance around in bikinis and further solidify the show as "jiggle TV." Sabrina Duncan was most often the first to solve the crime and to do it wearing a nice polyester pantsuit, while Ladd's Kris Munr and Smith's Kelly Garrett donned the skimpy clothing and usually ended up the damsels-in-distress by episode's end.
After Meryl Streep took the lead role in the landmark film "Kramer vs. Kramer, " - netting her an Oscar for Best Actress along the way - a disappointed Jackson, who had had dibs on the role initially, vowed never to lose an important role because of her light-weight TV commitment. She had also just married actor Andrew Stevens and had grown tired of the constant interest in her off-screen romantic life. After the finale of season three in the spring of 1979, Jackson took off her halo permanently - leaving "Charlie's Angels" with no apparent leader. The break-up was quite acrimonious amongst the powers-that-be and the cast, but Jackson was determined to get out from under the weight of being one of "Charlie's Angels." Perfume model Shelley Hack, who had little-to-no acting experience, stepped in as a brainy replacement for Bri - but Jackson was a hard component to replace. The show teetered on for another two seasons, before being cancelled in 1981.
After leaving the show, Jackson concentrated on a quiet family life and creating a production company with her husband. They produced and starred in the TV remake of the classic Cary Grant film "Topper" (1979). There was a pilot for another series, but it never came to be. Sadly, Jackson's plans came too late to save her marriage. After the couple divorced in 1980, she focused on her acting career again, starring in various TV films - "Thin Ice" (1981) and "Listen To Your Heart" (1983) - as well as two big screen films, the poorly reviewed "Dirty Tricks" (1981) and the controversial but ahead-of-its-time "Making Love" (1982) co-starring Harry Hamlin and Michael Ontkean, a film that received excellent reviews, but was a hard sell with its homosexual content.
In 1983, she returned to TV with the CBS spy-comedy series "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" (1983-1987), with her new production company, Shoot The Moon (with new husband David Greenwald), producing the show. She divorced Greenwald in 1984, and then in 1987, beautiful as ever, she had her incredible legs insured for $8 million. Unfortunately, that same year she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and again in 1989 - news that brought TV's original Angels, Smith and Fawcett, back together again in support of their sick friend. After a partial mastectomy and radiation, Jackson won her fight with the deadly disease and shared her experience with the public in order to highlight the importance of yearly mammograms. She even appeared on the cover of People magazine to detail her struggle. Inside, she recounted the life-changing experience: "I had to decide whether I wanted to live or to die. Once you choose life, as I did, it's never the same."
After that scare, Jackson reprised Diane Keaton's role in the NBC show "Baby Boom" (1988), based upon the hit feature film, but the show lasted only a few months. Jackson's impressive assertiveness landed her a role in the big screen comedy "Loverboy" (1989), playing Patrick Dempsey's mother. In 1994, after a few more TV films, she had open-heart surgery after she discovered she was born with an ASD - Atrial Spetal Defect or a "hole in her heart." She made a complete recovery, but was inspired to inform women of the stunning statistics - that one out of every two women die of heart disease.
In 1995, with the help of friend Rosie O'Donnell, she adopted a son, Charles Taylor - just two hours after his birth. She continued her prolific acting career as well as her philanthropic work as well. In 1999, the Israel Cancer Research Fund's annual "Women of Action" luncheon honored Jackson for her work on behalf of preventing breast cancer and was recognized with the research fund's Humanitarian Award. She also received recognition on behalf of her work with children and animals. In recent years, she became the spokesperson for the American Heart Association's Power of Love fundraising campaign.
Back on both screens, She made guest appearances on "Ally McBeal" (Fox, 1997-2002); starred in the remake of "Satan's School for Girls" (2000), a film she had originally starred in; gave a powerful performance in the independent film "A Mother's Testimony" (2001); did a guest voice in the animated show "The Family Guy" (Comedy Central, 1999- ); and was offered a cameo role in the film version of "Charlie's Angels" (2000). However, regarding the latter, negotiations fell through after she insisted on playing the villainous role that eventually went to the younger Kelly Lynch.
For a woman never comfortable in a miniskirt or low-cut blouse, Jackson ranked at a surprisingly high #18 on FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women of All Time" list. A further surprise, considering her long-standing disdain for the show that made her a pop cultural icon, Jackson reunited on stage with her fellow "Angels, " Fawcett and Smith, in tribute to Aaron Spelling, the man who made them all stars, during the 2006 Emmy Awards telecast. The potentially jaded crowd were wildly enthusiastic to see the original "Charlie's Angels" together, with Jackson, true to form, declaring to cheers, "We're taking the brand back!" - a not-so-subtle slam on the later film versions, starring Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu.
Biography From: TCM | Turner Classic Movies
More about Cheryl Ladd:
Cheryl Ladd was an American film and TV actress who was best known for her role as the crime-fighting private investigator Kris Munro on "Charlie's Angels" (ABC, 1976-1981). Born and raised in Huron, South Dakota, Ladd had a normal childhood: she was a standout cheerleader in high school, and also worked as a waitress at the local diner. Ladd's striking beauty, however, was already evident by the time she entered her teens. So rather than stay in her small hometown, she packed her bags and moved to Hollywood to pursue a career in music. Ladd quickly landed a role as the voice of Melody Valentine on the musical animated series "Josie and the Pussycats" (CBS, 1970-71). Despite the show only lasting a season, Ladd quickly found herself landing more TV guest spots on popular shows like "The Partridge Family" (ABC, 1970-74) and "Happy Days" (ABC, 1974-1984). With her acting career taking off, Ladd promptly put her music aspirations on hold. Her big break came in 1977 when she was cast as Kris Munro in the popular action series "Charlie's Angels." Ladd joined the show in the second season, right after Farrah Fawcett left to purse a film career, and stayed in the cast for the remaining four years. Although her acting career never quite equaled the success of time spent on "Charlie's Angels, " Ladd continued acting nabbing parts in both movies and TV shows well into the 2010s. In 2016 she returned to TV with a recurring part on the popular Ryan Murphy drama "American Crime Story" (FX, 2016- ). Ladd played defense attorney Robert Shapiro's wife, Linell, on the series, which chronicled the 1995 O.J. Simpson murder trial.
Biography From: TCM | Turner Classic Movies
More about Jaclyn Smith:
Proving that nothing was as sexy as a beautiful female crime fighter, kicking butt with gun in hand, Jaclyn Smith found her life changed virtually overnight, following the premiere episode of producer Aaron Spelling's TV monster - the show that typified the 70s' phrase, "jiggle TV" - "Charlie's Angels" (ABC, 1976-1981). As the pretty, feminine brunette of the bunch - which included Farrah Fawcett-Majors and Kate Jackson - Smith as private detective Kelly Garrett was the only original Angel to stay with the show through its entire five year run. A smart cookie, Smith parlayed her "Angels" fame into a highly lucrative business relationship with the department store chain, K-Mart, as well as becoming known for one brief time in the early to mid 1980s, as "queen of the miniseries."
Smith was born Jacquelyn Ellen Smith on Oct. 26, 1947 in Houston, TX to Jack Smith and Margaret Ellen Hartsfield. She graduated from high school in 1964, originally aspiring to be a famous ballerina like so many other young girls. After high school, she studied drama at Trinity College before moving to New York City to try her hand at modeling and acting. She worked in regional theatre and performed in such plays as "West Side Story" and "Bye, Bye Birdie, " but her first taste of commercials success came in 1973, where she became the quintessential "Breck Girl" in numerous print and TV campaigns for Breck hair care products. In the mid '70s, Smith moved to Hollywood and received her first film break with a small role in "The Adventurers" (1970) and "The Bootleggers" (1974). From those films, she segued into guest appearances on various TV series, including "McCloud" (NBC, 1970-77) , "Get Christie Love" (ABC, 1974-75) and "Switch, " (CBS, 1975-78), the latter of which starred Robert Wagner.
The veteran actor was so impressed, he recommended the budding actress for a role in a new all-female detective series, "The Alley Cats, " being executive-produced by Aaron Spelling. That series was later renamed "Charlie's Angels, " debuting in 1976 to unimaginable success. Although the media and fans predominately latched on to the token blonde with the million dollar smile, Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Smith's character - the brainy, leggy Kelly Garrett - was a close second. Playing Garrett week to week provided a level of fame most actors only dream of, as well as financial security, with Smith earning $40, 000 a week.
While her career was riding high, her personal life was occasionally choppy - much to the delight of tabloids of the time who relished every Angel marriage gone awry. She married four times - to actors Roger Davis (1972-75) and Dennis Cole (1978-1981), to filmmaker Tony Richmond (1981 - 1989), with whom she had two kids, and to surgeon Brad Allen (since 1997). Through all the very public tumult, Smith managed to successfully balance family and work, acting in numerous post-"Angels" television projects, including Sidney Sheldon's "Rage of Angels" (NBC, 1983); the highly rated TV biopic, "Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy" (ABC, 1981) - for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination - "Florence Nightingale" (NBC, 1985), and in the Robert Ludlum suspense thriller mini-series "The Bourne Identity" (ABC, 1988) (the first incarnation of the now-popular feature trilogy starring Matt Damon). In 1990, People magazine named Smith as one the "50 Most Beautiful People in The World."
When her third marriage collapsed after eight years, Smith decided to take a break from acting and dedicate herself to her children. Eventually she became restless, and of all things, decided in 1985 to launch her own low-priced clothing line at Kmart. From a business perspective, the creation of the Jaclyn Smith Collection was a savvy move on the actress' part. She became the first celebrity to launch a popular fashion collection which, to this day, generates $300 million a year in sales. Smith balanced her new fashion empire by returning to her first love, acting, starring in as the title character in the short lived series, "Christine Cromwell" (1989-90). Although the series did not last, Smith continued to land roles in TV movies, such as "In the Arms of a Killer" (NBC, 1992), "Married to a Stranger" (Family Channel, 1997) and "Three Secrets" (CBS, 1999), as well as guest spots in various TV series.
In August of 2002, she underwent a lumpectomy and radiation treatment for breast cancer after a lump was detected during a routine check-up. Ironically, for a show renowned for its ample (for the time) display of "T & A, " Smith was the second Angel to go public with her breast cancer scare - the first being Kate Jackson. Fortunately, the two actresses, who had remained good friends throughout the decades, both successfully won their battle against the disease. She fully recovered and joined the cast of CBS' "The District" (2002-04) as Craig T. Nelson's love interest, Vanessa Cavanaugh.
The 50-something actress was introduced to a younger generation when the Drew Barrymore/Cameron Diaz feature flick, "Charlie's Angels" paid homage to its earlier TV angels, scoring big at the box office. At that time, a flurry of tributes were paid to the groundbreaking series, with Smith and her fellow Angels only too eager to revisit the vehicle that made them stars, interviewing for various TV Land and VH1-style documentaries on the show. Smith was asked by Barrymore (who produced both films) to make an appearance in the sequel "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" (2003). Smith gladly accepted, appearing in her cameo as Kelly Garrett, offering advice to the latest generation of Angels.
Biography From: TCM | Turner Classic Movies
Photograph measures 9" x 7" on a glossy, single weight paper stock.
Guaranteed to be 100% ...vintage and original from Grapefruit Moon Gallery.
More about Dean Martin:
As the epitome of laid-back cool, the handsome, mellow-voiced crooner Dean Martin successfully redefined his image throughout his career without ever straying too far from his established persona as a quick-witted, booze-loving regular guy. Martin emerged from the shadow of playing straight man to his early comedy partner Jerry Lewis, to become a respected film actor in such films as "Some Came Running" (1958), as well as a top-selling solo recording artist. His profile rose even further as the apparent second-in-command to his close friend Frank Sinatra in the Rat Pack, both in films and on records and the stages of Las Vegas nightclubs. By the 1960s Martin was one of the most popular and highest paid performers in history, with a hit single that bounced the Beatles off the charts, films like the Matt Helm series topping the box office, and his long-running comedy-variety series, "The Dean Martin Show" (NBC, 1965-1974), sitting atop the ratings each week. Martin's output decreased somewhat in the 1970s and 1980s, but his appearances in films like "Airport" (1970) and "The Cannonball Run" (1981) continued to endear him to a broad audience. However, by the time of Martin's death in 1995, a resurgence of appreciation for Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and their contemporaries – fueled perhaps most prominently by Jon Favreau's über-cool film "Swingers" (1996) – elevated the entertainer to full-fledged icon status. Though his former partner Jerry Lewis would later call him "the most underrated performer in the history of our business, " Martin was enthusiastically embraced by the audiences of his time, and rediscovered by subsequent generations of fans who had yet to be born during his heyday.
Born on June 7, 1917, Dino Paul Crocetti was the son of Italian immigrant farmers in Steubenville, OH. He spoke only Italian throughout his early years and dropped out of high school in the 10th grade – perhaps one of many reasons Martin would develop an almost impenetrable wall around himself, letting few in throughout his life. The future performer toiled in a variety of odd jobs around this time, including stints as a shoe-shine boy, store clerk, steel mill worker, and for a period, welterweight prizefighter. He also helped run bootleg liquor for certain shady establishments, later becoming an accomplished croupier at some of the local speakeasies. After being coaxed on stage one night by friends, Martin realized his suave good looks and smooth baritone might allow him to escape a life of manual labor and set out to become a crooner in the mold of Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo. An early break came when he performed with the Ernie McKay Orchestra, which led to higher profile gigs, and by the mid-1940s, a spot opening for a young Frank Sinatra in New York City. After a brief stint in the Army, Martin teamed with a teenage comedian named Jerry Lewis, launching them both into the celebrity stratosphere. Though Martin seemingly played the straight man to the manic, off-the-wall Lewis – the "organ grinder" to Lewis’ "monkey" as many termed it – his deft comic timing was a critical, if not always appreciated, part of what was then America's most successful comedy duo of the late 1940s and 1950s. Indeed, the fan hysteria that accompanied Martin & Lewis' public appearances at the time was akin to the manias that surrounded Sinatra and Elvis Presley at the heights of their popularity.
In addition to sold out live performances, Martin & Lewis began appearing on various television programs, and even landed their own half-hour radio spot, "The Martin and Lewis Show" on NBC. Placed under contract with producer Hal Wallis at Paramount Pictures, the comedy duo appeared together in 16 films, beginning with "My Friend Irma" (1949), through "Sailor Beware" (1952) and "Artists and Models" (1955), ending with "Hollywood or Bust" (1956). When the team's 10-year partnership ended – due, most speculated, to Lewis' ever-increasing ego, combined with Martin’s mounting dissatisfaction with being the "second banana" – many in Hollywood predicted dire straights for Martin's future career after the duo’s acrimonious split. Martin, however, saw things differently, releasing a string of hit recordings – which would ultimately include classics like "That’s Amore" (1953), "Memories Are Made of This" (1955), "Mambo Italiano" (1955) and "Ain’t That a Kick in the Head" (1960) – and jumping into a solo film career with the box office bomb "Ten Thousand Bedrooms" (1956). Undeterred, he took a supporting role in director Edward Dmytryk’s war drama "The Young Lions" (1958), delivering a respectable performance, followed by another well-regarded turn as an incorrigible gambler in the Vincente Minnelli melodrama "Some Came Running" (1958), co-starring Frank Sinatra and Shirley MacLaine. Martin paired with John Wayne for the first time in the classic Howard Hawks western "Rio Bravo" (1959), then reconnected with Sinatra for "Ocean’s Eleven" (1960). The caper comedy, featuring mutual pals Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford, officially kicked off the Rat Pack era, to which Martin and the boys would be linked forever after.
Martin and director Minnelli joined forces once again with an adaptation of the Judy Holliday musical "Bells Are Ringing" (1960). During the early 1960s, he performed regularly with the Rat Pack live on the Las Vegas strip, and in other lightweight film romps such as "Sergeants 3" (1962) and "Robin and the Seven Hoods" (1964). Billy Wilder’s sex comedy "Kiss Me Stupid" (1964) featured Martin in a role tailor-made for him – that of a hard-drinking, womanizing lounge singer – however, audiences were far from receptive to the film’s cavalier attitude toward promiscuity and adultery, dooming its theatrical release. Although musical tastes in America were changing – it was at the height of the Beatles’ American invasion, after all – Martin proved he still had something to offer when his hit single "Everybody Loves Somebody" knocked the Fab Four off the U.S. charts in 1964. Never one to take himself or his public image too seriously, Martin cashed in on the James Bond craze of the mid-60s with the spy spoof "The Silencers" (1966), as sexy super agent Matt Helm. Based on the popular series of pulp novels, it generated several sequels, all starring Martin, and later helped inspire the Mike Myers romp "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" (1997). Other efforts included his own long-running TV variety program, "The Dean Martin Show" (NBC, 1965-74) – later followed by NBC’s periodic "Dean Martin’s Celebrity Roast" spin-off specials, which attracted some of the biggest names in show business for some of the funniest off-the-cuff revelry ever aired on the small screen.
Over the course of the 1970s, Martin began to scale back his work. His last successful starring role in a major motion picture was as the pilot of a doomed airliner in the all-star disaster melodrama "Airport" (1970). His final starring role was in the little-seen crime drama "Mr. Ricco" (1975), followed by sporadic appearances on television shows like "Charlie’s Angels (ABC, 1976-1981) and "Vega$" (ABC, 1978-1981). Perhaps his most significant television appearance of the era was in 1976, when Sinatra brought Martin out as a surprise guest on Jerry Lewis' annual Muscular Dystrophy Telethon, marking the first time the former friends had spoken in two decades. The reunion touched Lewis, who had never stopped missing nor idolizing his former partner. Martin was called out of semi-retirement by 1970s movie megastar Burt Reynolds for the campy car race comedy "The Cannonball Run" (1981), along with fellow Rat Packer Sammy Davis, Jr. Cast as a pair of contenders disguised as priests, the pair good-naturedly goofed their way through the silliness, reprising their roles in the 1984 sequel. Tragically, Martin's son, actor-singer Dean Paul Martin, was killed in a plane crash in 1987, and many of the performer's intimates later suggested that the loss was such a devastating blow to the already emotionally reserved Martin, causing him to further retreat into solitude throughout his later years. One bright spot came when Lewis made a low-key appearance at Dean Paul's funeral, prompting Martin to at last rekindle the friendship with his former partner for the remainder of his life. A life-long smoker, Martin succumbed to emphysema at his Los Angeles home in 1995 at the age of 78, leading old friends like Sinatra, MacLaine and Lewis to memorialize him as an underrated comedy genius and premier recording artist who was always the most charming man in the room.
In the years following his passing, Martin’s musical contributions gained new recognition, due in large part to his hits being featured on the soundtracks of such films as "Goodfellas" (1990), "A Bronx Tale" (1993), and the L.A. hipster comedy "Swingers" (1996). On the small screen, aspects of his relationships with former friends and partners were covered in a pair of telepics – "The Rat Pack" (HBO, 1998), with Joe Mantegna as Martin and Ray Liotta as Sinatra, in addition to "Martin and Lewis" (CBS, 2002), with Jeremy Northam as the laid-back crooner and Sean Hayes as his nutty partner.
Biography From: TCM | Turner Classic Movies
More about Kate Jackson:
"Once upon a time, there were three little girls who went to the police academy " And so began the iconic intro to a show that made overnight stars of two of "Charlie's Angels" - Farrah Fawcett-Majors and Jaclyn Smith - and further solidified the fame of Kate Jackson, who had already made a name for herself on the classic cop show "The Rookies." After leaving the Angels in 1979, Jackson would go on to further success as the star of her TV show "Scarecrow and Mrs. King."
Catherine Elise "Kate" Jackson was born on Oct. 29, 1948 in Birmingham, AL, the daughter of Hogan and Ruth Jackson and sister of Jenny Jackson. Her father was a wholesaler of building material and her mother a housewife. Ever since she was a little girl, Kate Jackson wanted to be an actress - going so far as to practice signing autographs to her friends on the playground. Every chance she got, she appeared in school productions and put on skits with her sister at the Brookhill School for Girls. While attending the University of Mississippi, Jackson left halfway through her sophomore year, to enroll at Southern College where she took her first theatre class. After a summer apprenticeship at the Stowe Playhouse in Stowe, VT, she moved to New York in 1968 and enrolled in the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She worked hard, appearing in such productions as "Night Must Fall, " "Royal Gambit, " "The Constant Wife" and "Little Moon of Alban."
After graduating from the Academy, Jackson auditioned for the wildly popular daytime horror soap "Dark Shadows" (ABC, 1966-1971) and landed a role with little trouble. "Dark Shadows" creator Dan Curtis was so impressed with Jackson, he chose her to star in the feature film "Night of Dark Shadows" (1971). After that brief bit of good fortune, Jackson decided to make the leap to Hollywood. Within months of arriving, she was recurring on "The Jimmy Stewart Show" (NBC, 1971-72); made a series of guest appearances on such shows as "Bonanza" (NBC, 1959-73); appeared in TV movies like "Movin' On" (1972) with David Soul (pre-"Starsky & Hutch" fame), and starred in Mark Robson's feature film "Limbo" (1972). Gaining as much experience as possible, Jackson also became a TV "scream queen" of sorts, paying her dues in such horror flicks as "Satan's School for Girls" (1973), "Killer Bees" (1974), "Death Cruise" (1974) and "Death at Love House" (1976).
Liking her classic, dark beauty, producers Aaron Spelling - who had a famous eye for stars-in-the-making - and Leonard Goldberg hired Jackson for their new police drama series "The Rookies" (ABC, 1972-76). As Nurse Jill Danko, she starred in the show for four years, and during that time, was bombarded with more fan mail than the rest of the cast. When the show was cancelled, Spelling would not soon forget the girl with "stardust in her eyes."
In 1976, the big bang occurred when Spelling cast Jackson as Sabrina "Bri" Duncan in his new all-female detective show, "Charlie's Angels" (ABC, 1976-1981). Industry heads and critics scoffed at the very idea of beautiful women running around, strapped with guns, solving crimes - all under the watchful eye of an unseen, but always heard, male benefactor. No matter. The night the show premiered to stratospheric ratings that bicentennial year, three stars were instantly born, with Jackson and her co-Angels, Farrah Fawcett-Majors and Jaclyn Smith, huddling close so as to weather the hysteria, which culminated with the Angels gracing the cover ofTime magazine.
Fawcett-Majors - easily the most popular and profiled of the three Angels that first year - was the first to exit stage right. Farrah-mania was so intense, what with the feathered bangs and nippled poster, that the actress and her actor husband, Lee ("Bionic Man") Majors, felt she would do better on her own. After only one season and at the peak of her fame, she unwisely left the show. Thankfully, "starmaker" Spelling still had an eye for talent, hiring another blonde beauty, Cheryl Ladd, to fill the void left by Fawcett-Majors. The show continued on, even gaining in the ratings with the new line-up. During Jackson's first year as Sabrina, she received the first of two Emmy nominations for Best Actress in a Dramatic Series and was also nominated as Best Supporting Actress for the NBC series pilot "James at 15" (1977).
For three years she was Charlie's smartest Angel, but she began to feel the constriction of her one-note character. To Jackson's credit, she refused to prance around in bikinis and further solidify the show as "jiggle TV." Sabrina Duncan was most often the first to solve the crime and to do it wearing a nice polyester pantsuit, while Ladd's Kris Munr and Smith's Kelly Garrett donned the skimpy clothing and usually ended up the damsels-in-distress by episode's end.
After Meryl Streep took the lead role in the landmark film "Kramer vs. Kramer, " - netting her an Oscar for Best Actress along the way - a disappointed Jackson, who had had dibs on the role initially, vowed never to lose an important role because of her light-weight TV commitment. She had also just married actor Andrew Stevens and had grown tired of the constant interest in her off-screen romantic life. After the finale of season three in the spring of 1979, Jackson took off her halo permanently - leaving "Charlie's Angels" with no apparent leader. The break-up was quite acrimonious amongst the powers-that-be and the cast, but Jackson was determined to get out from under the weight of being one of "Charlie's Angels." Perfume model Shelley Hack, who had little-to-no acting experience, stepped in as a brainy replacement for Bri - but Jackson was a hard component to replace. The show teetered on for another two seasons, before being cancelled in 1981.
After leaving the show, Jackson concentrated on a quiet family life and creating a production company with her husband. They produced and starred in the TV remake of the classic Cary Grant film "Topper" (1979). There was a pilot for another series, but it never came to be. Sadly, Jackson's plans came too late to save her marriage. After the couple divorced in 1980, she focused on her acting career again, starring in various TV films - "Thin Ice" (1981) and "Listen To Your Heart" (1983) - as well as two big screen films, the poorly reviewed "Dirty Tricks" (1981) and the controversial but ahead-of-its-time "Making Love" (1982) co-starring Harry Hamlin and Michael Ontkean, a film that received excellent reviews, but was a hard sell with its homosexual content.
In 1983, she returned to TV with the CBS spy-comedy series "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" (1983-1987), with her new production company, Shoot The Moon (with new husband David Greenwald), producing the show. She divorced Greenwald in 1984, and then in 1987, beautiful as ever, she had her incredible legs insured for $8 million. Unfortunately, that same year she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and again in 1989 - news that brought TV's original Angels, Smith and Fawcett, back together again in support of their sick friend. After a partial mastectomy and radiation, Jackson won her fight with the deadly disease and shared her experience with the public in order to highlight the importance of yearly mammograms. She even appeared on the cover of People magazine to detail her struggle. Inside, she recounted the life-changing experience: "I had to decide whether I wanted to live or to die. Once you choose life, as I did, it's never the same."
After that scare, Jackson reprised Diane Keaton's role in the NBC show "Baby Boom" (1988), based upon the hit feature film, but the show lasted only a few months. Jackson's impressive assertiveness landed her a role in the big screen comedy "Loverboy" (1989), playing Patrick Dempsey's mother. In 1994, after a few more TV films, she had open-heart surgery after she discovered she was born with an ASD - Atrial Spetal Defect or a "hole in her heart." She made a complete recovery, but was inspired to inform women of the stunning statistics - that one out of every two women die of heart disease.
In 1995, with the help of friend Rosie O'Donnell, she adopted a son, Charles Taylor - just two hours after his birth. She continued her prolific acting career as well as her philanthropic work as well. In 1999, the Israel Cancer Research Fund's annual "Women of Action" luncheon honored Jackson for her work on behalf of preventing breast cancer and was recognized with the research fund's Humanitarian Award. She also received recognition on behalf of her work with children and animals. In recent years, she became the spokesperson for the American Heart Association's Power of Love fundraising campaign.
Back on both screens, She made guest appearances on "Ally McBeal" (Fox, 1997-2002); starred in the remake of "Satan's School for Girls" (2000), a film she had originally starred in; gave a powerful performance in the independent film "A Mother's Testimony" (2001); did a guest voice in the animated show "The Family Guy" (Comedy Central, 1999- ); and was offered a cameo role in the film version of "Charlie's Angels" (2000). However, regarding the latter, negotiations fell through after she insisted on playing the villainous role that eventually went to the younger Kelly Lynch.
For a woman never comfortable in a miniskirt or low-cut blouse, Jackson ranked at a surprisingly high #18 on FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women of All Time" list. A further surprise, considering her long-standing disdain for the show that made her a pop cultural icon, Jackson reunited on stage with her fellow "Angels, " Fawcett and Smith, in tribute to Aaron Spelling, the man who made them all stars, during the 2006 Emmy Awards telecast. The potentially jaded crowd were wildly enthusiastic to see the original "Charlie's Angels" together, with Jackson, true to form, declaring to cheers, "We're taking the brand back!" - a not-so-subtle slam on the later film versions, starring Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu.
Biography From: TCM | Turner Classic Movies
More about Cheryl Ladd:
Cheryl Ladd was an American film and TV actress who was best known for her role as the crime-fighting private investigator Kris Munro on "Charlie's Angels" (ABC, 1976-1981). Born and raised in Huron, South Dakota, Ladd had a normal childhood: she was a standout cheerleader in high school, and also worked as a waitress at the local diner. Ladd's striking beauty, however, was already evident by the time she entered her teens. So rather than stay in her small hometown, she packed her bags and moved to Hollywood to pursue a career in music. Ladd quickly landed a role as the voice of Melody Valentine on the musical animated series "Josie and the Pussycats" (CBS, 1970-71). Despite the show only lasting a season, Ladd quickly found herself landing more TV guest spots on popular shows like "The Partridge Family" (ABC, 1970-74) and "Happy Days" (ABC, 1974-1984). With her acting career taking off, Ladd promptly put her music aspirations on hold. Her big break came in 1977 when she was cast as Kris Munro in the popular action series "Charlie's Angels." Ladd joined the show in the second season, right after Farrah Fawcett left to purse a film career, and stayed in the cast for the remaining four years. Although her acting career never quite equaled the success of time spent on "Charlie's Angels, " Ladd continued acting nabbing parts in both movies and TV shows well into the 2010s. In 2016 she returned to TV with a recurring part on the popular Ryan Murphy drama "American Crime Story" (FX, 2016- ). Ladd played defense attorney Robert Shapiro's wife, Linell, on the series, which chronicled the 1995 O.J. Simpson murder trial.
Biography From: TCM | Turner Classic Movies
More about Jaclyn Smith:
Proving that nothing was as sexy as a beautiful female crime fighter, kicking butt with gun in hand, Jaclyn Smith found her life changed virtually overnight, following the premiere episode of producer Aaron Spelling's TV monster - the show that typified the 70s' phrase, "jiggle TV" - "Charlie's Angels" (ABC, 1976-1981). As the pretty, feminine brunette of the bunch - which included Farrah Fawcett-Majors and Kate Jackson - Smith as private detective Kelly Garrett was the only original Angel to stay with the show through its entire five year run. A smart cookie, Smith parlayed her "Angels" fame into a highly lucrative business relationship with the department store chain, K-Mart, as well as becoming known for one brief time in the early to mid 1980s, as "queen of the miniseries."
Smith was born Jacquelyn Ellen Smith on Oct. 26, 1947 in Houston, TX to Jack Smith and Margaret Ellen Hartsfield. She graduated from high school in 1964, originally aspiring to be a famous ballerina like so many other young girls. After high school, she studied drama at Trinity College before moving to New York City to try her hand at modeling and acting. She worked in regional theatre and performed in such plays as "West Side Story" and "Bye, Bye Birdie, " but her first taste of commercials success came in 1973, where she became the quintessential "Breck Girl" in numerous print and TV campaigns for Breck hair care products. In the mid '70s, Smith moved to Hollywood and received her first film break with a small role in "The Adventurers" (1970) and "The Bootleggers" (1974). From those films, she segued into guest appearances on various TV series, including "McCloud" (NBC, 1970-77) , "Get Christie Love" (ABC, 1974-75) and "Switch, " (CBS, 1975-78), the latter of which starred Robert Wagner.
The veteran actor was so impressed, he recommended the budding actress for a role in a new all-female detective series, "The Alley Cats, " being executive-produced by Aaron Spelling. That series was later renamed "Charlie's Angels, " debuting in 1976 to unimaginable success. Although the media and fans predominately latched on to the token blonde with the million dollar smile, Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Smith's character - the brainy, leggy Kelly Garrett - was a close second. Playing Garrett week to week provided a level of fame most actors only dream of, as well as financial security, with Smith earning $40, 000 a week.
While her career was riding high, her personal life was occasionally choppy - much to the delight of tabloids of the time who relished every Angel marriage gone awry. She married four times - to actors Roger Davis (1972-75) and Dennis Cole (1978-1981), to filmmaker Tony Richmond (1981 - 1989), with whom she had two kids, and to surgeon Brad Allen (since 1997). Through all the very public tumult, Smith managed to successfully balance family and work, acting in numerous post-"Angels" television projects, including Sidney Sheldon's "Rage of Angels" (NBC, 1983); the highly rated TV biopic, "Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy" (ABC, 1981) - for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination - "Florence Nightingale" (NBC, 1985), and in the Robert Ludlum suspense thriller mini-series "The Bourne Identity" (ABC, 1988) (the first incarnation of the now-popular feature trilogy starring Matt Damon). In 1990, People magazine named Smith as one the "50 Most Beautiful People in The World."
When her third marriage collapsed after eight years, Smith decided to take a break from acting and dedicate herself to her children. Eventually she became restless, and of all things, decided in 1985 to launch her own low-priced clothing line at Kmart. From a business perspective, the creation of the Jaclyn Smith Collection was a savvy move on the actress' part. She became the first celebrity to launch a popular fashion collection which, to this day, generates $300 million a year in sales. Smith balanced her new fashion empire by returning to her first love, acting, starring in as the title character in the short lived series, "Christine Cromwell" (1989-90). Although the series did not last, Smith continued to land roles in TV movies, such as "In the Arms of a Killer" (NBC, 1992), "Married to a Stranger" (Family Channel, 1997) and "Three Secrets" (CBS, 1999), as well as guest spots in various TV series.
In August of 2002, she underwent a lumpectomy and radiation treatment for breast cancer after a lump was detected during a routine check-up. Ironically, for a show renowned for its ample (for the time) display of "T & A, " Smith was the second Angel to go public with her breast cancer scare - the first being Kate Jackson. Fortunately, the two actresses, who had remained good friends throughout the decades, both successfully won their battle against the disease. She fully recovered and joined the cast of CBS' "The District" (2002-04) as Craig T. Nelson's love interest, Vanessa Cavanaugh.
The 50-something actress was introduced to a younger generation when the Drew Barrymore/Cameron Diaz feature flick, "Charlie's Angels" paid homage to its earlier TV angels, scoring big at the box office. At that time, a flurry of tributes were paid to the groundbreaking series, with Smith and her fellow Angels only too eager to revisit the vehicle that made them stars, interviewing for various TV Land and VH1-style documentaries on the show. Smith was asked by Barrymore (who produced both films) to make an appearance in the sequel "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" (2003). Smith gladly accepted, appearing in her cameo as Kelly Garrett, offering advice to the latest generation of Angels.
Biography From: TCM | Turner Classic Movies
