Dean Paul Martin
Dean Paul Martin (
November 17 1951 â€"
March 21 1987) was an
American singer and
actor.
The son of the performer
Dean Martin, he was "Dino" in the pop group
Dino, Desi, & Billy. He was thirteen when he,
Desi Arnaz Jr., and
William "Billy" Hinsche formed the trio. Oriented toward teenage girls, the group had a few minor hits between 1965 and 1968. Martin later began to go by his given name Dean Paul instead of the nickname "Dino". He became a successful tennis player and actor.
Martin met an untimely death in 1987 when his
National Guard F-4 Phantom fighter jet crashed in a mountainous area of California, killing him and his RIO (Radar Intercept Officer), Ramon Ortiz. Shortly before his death, Dean Paul Martin had starred in the TV series
Misfits of Science. The singer Dean Martin never recovered from the loss of his son, and he retired from show business that same year.
Dean Paul Martin was the former husband of both actress
Olivia Hussey and Olympic skating gold medalist
Dorothy Hamill. Martin's twelve-year-old son,
Alex Hussey, had watched his father take off on the ill-fated flight.
He is buried in the
Los Angeles National Cemetery, a former
U.S. Veterans Administration cemetery in
Los Angeles, California.