8. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis
What made the act known as Martin and Lewis one of the most successful in entertainment history, was Jerry Lewis’s shenanigans which distracted the audience from Dean Martin’s straight-man attempts to sing. Martin was handsome, debonair, and a singer almost without peer; Lewis was a bumbling clown, with a voice calculated to start cats’ howling in protest. As an act they were huge (one of their comedy writers was a very young Norman Lear). They appeared onstage and in films as the ultimate odd couple, and audiences loved them. Martin and Lewis became, besides highly successful entertainers, very close friends.
It was not to last. Martin began to tire of the odd couple routine, especially as their films focused more on Lewis and his various shenanigans. Their final film together was appropriately named Hollywood or Bust. Martin went on to a film and recording career of his own, as well as becoming the host of several successful television programs, never again performing with his old partner. Lewis launched a solo career as a comedic actor and performer, though he eventually performed in dramatic roles as well. Their odd couple routine became the highest-paid act in America during the 1950s; after they split in 1956 the two did not speak to each other for over two decades.
