Last Rat Packer Joey Bishop Dies

Comic and actor was the last living member of Sinatra's group
By Zach Samalin,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 18, 2007 5:27 PM CDT

A comedian, actor, talk show host, and last living member of the Rat Pack, Joey Bishop died last night of multiple causes at age 89, CNN reports. Though many critics minimized Bishop's role, Sinatra termed him "the Hub of the Big Wheel." Bishop hosted Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show," acted in Pack originals Ocean's Eleven and Sargeants 3, and even emceed John F. Kennedy's presidential inauguration. 

Bishop had developed his droll style in nightclubs across the country when Sinatra saw him in 1945 at New York's Latin Quarter and signed him, and he became one of the Pack. Of the group's boozing, womanizing rep, Bishop responded in a 1998 interview: "That was only a gag. And do you believe these guys had to chase broads?" (More Rat Pack stories.)

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