Rat pack biography part 5

They were the coolest of all cool. Handsome, savvy, brutally funny, chain-smoking, martini-fueled, gangster-friendly, middle-aged icons who mesmerized the entertainment world in the 1950s and ’60s.

While they were known by many monikers — the Clan, the Summit, the Rat Pack — Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop were Hollywood’s most unpredictable stars who dominated stage, film, late-night TV and the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

 

1Behind Their Name

In January 1960, they changed Las Vegas forever when they were headliners at the Sands Hotel and Casino.

While they occasionally referred to themselves as the Clan, it’s rumored that Lauren Bacall once said the group looked “like a goddamn rat pack,” and the media grabbed on to it and christened them as that forever. Collectively they were actors, singers, comedians, talk show hosts and, for the British Lawfo