Frank Sinatra & Dean Martin Got into a Fight That Almost Turned Deadly
Author Scott Huver is trying to work out the details of a fight iconic crooners Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin were involved in that almost turned deadly in his new book Beverly Hills Noir: Crime, Sin, & Scandal in 90210. The book looks into some of the craziest fights that happened in Beverly Hills over the years. The fight in question happened on June 8, 1966, during a night that was supposed to be a celebration of Martin’s 49th birthday.
“These two guys were at the very top of the entertainment food chain,” Huver explains. “They couldn’t have been more popular; they couldn’t have been more well paid and more iconic in 1966 when the incident happened. For something like this to throw a monkey wrench into their lives… something as simple as a couple of cross words and racial epithets thrown around in a bar [led] to fisticuffs that ultimately threatened their careers should things take a really dark turn.”
Everett Collection
Reportedly, Sinatra, Martin and some of their friends were hanging out at the Polo Lounge. Art collector and former president of Hunt’s Food, Frederick Rand Weisman was sitting near them and reportedly started getting angry about how loud they were being. Sinatra and Weisman got into it and exchanged foul language with each other. Soon, they were involved in a fistfight.
Huver added that Martin reportedly tried to pull Sinatra away. “What we don’t know exactly is who swung first, who did what to whom in what order,” Huver said. “But it ended up with somebody clobbering … Frederick Weisman over the head with one of the famous pink telephones that sat booth side on all the banquettes in the Polo Lounge. He ended up unconscious on the floor.”
Everett Collection
“Now, he [was] revived, but within the day, he was comatose again,” he continued. “He was in the hospital and then underwent surgery. And it could have been particularly bad. He might’ve died. That’s when Frank and Dean … separately left Los Angeles to … wait out the news while the police investigated. That’s where we get all of these conflicting stories where nobody exactly saw what happened.” Ultimately, Weisman recovered and never remembered exactly what happened that night.
Get the book on Amazon to read more about this story and other bizarre tales.
Crime Shows part One
January 2021
TV crime shows have topped the ratings for years. This issue covers all your favorites!
Buy This Issue