Singer Frank Sinatra and comedian Joey Bishop are famous for being friends as part of the Rat Pack.
But when Sinatra asked Bishop for a simple favor, it led to a lifelong feud that was never resolved.
Why? Well, to understand that,
you first have to understand how they became friends in the first place.
Born Joseph Gottlieb, Joey Bishop had started his career as part of a singing comedic trio called
the Bishop Brothers, even though the members weren't named Bishop and they weren't related.
After serving as a medic during World War II, he launched his own comedy act as a solo standup.
In 1952, Bishop met Sinatra, and the famous crooner soon brought Bishop along as his opening
act for several performances at a New York City nightclub. Sinatra appreciated Bishop's comedic
talents –- his low-key, deadpan style and his quick-witted comebacks. Bishop became known
as "Sinatra's comic" since he often warmed up the crowds at Sinatra's performances.
Sinatra even brought Bishop into his troupe of entertainer friends,
most commonly known as the Rat Pack. According to the book "Deconstructing the Rat Pack: Joey,
the Mob, and the Summit," Sinatra reportedly hated the Rat Pack nickname, and tried to get
the press to use "The Summit" instead, but it didn't really catch on. Nevertheless, the Rat
Pack became famous for their carousing, with the comparatively low-key Bishop doing much of the
writing for the group, creating the wisecracks and shtick with which they were identified.
All was good between Sinatra and Bishop for years,
as Bishop was one of the few people who could poke fun at Sinatra without getting on his bad side.
"What I was going to say would have gotten a bigger
chuckle than that! Boy, if you've got something funny to say, Frank, sing it."
They worked together both on live shows and the 1960 film "Ocean's 11," which also starred the
rest of the Rat Pack: Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, and Sammy Davis Jr. The movie was
set in Las Vegas, and during filming Sinatra and his Rat Pack cohorts also played gigs at night.
But it may have been during these crazy Vegas days that some discontent began to
fester between Sinatra and Bishop. According to The New York Times,
Bishop sometimes felt more like a sidekick than a full member of the Rat Pack.
Author Richard Lertzman told Deadline that things turned sour between Bishop and Sinatra in 1964.
Sinatra had just been through a difficult personal ordeal, as his son Frank Sinatra
Jr. had been kidnapped in late 1963. So Sinatra asked Bishop to take over some of his dates at
the Cal-Neva Lodge during that summer, which was owned in part by Sinatra and Martin, as a favor.
Bishop initially agreed. But he had been having some success with
his own TV show at the time, and he began making demands,
reportedly asking for $50,000 and a private plane to shuttle him to the show and back.
Sinatra was reportedly angered by the demands, feeling that he had helped
elevate Bishop's career. Apparently believing that Bishop was ungrateful,
Sinatra reportedly cut Bishop out of the Rat Pack and out of his life. The 1964 musical
comedy "Robin and the 7 Hoods," for instance, starred Rat Pack members Sinatra, Martin,
and Davis Jr., but Bishop's role was cut from the film.
It's unclear whether Bishop ever really understood what led to the end of his
friendship with Sinatra. Once wronged, Sinatra apparently wasn't the type to forgive and forget.
But Sinatra wasn't the only person Bishop rubbed the wrong way. As Lertzman explained to Deadline,
"Bishop alienated co-stars, writers, directors, and producers."
Bishop's bad temper, his big ego, and his habit of blaming others for problems contributed
to his professional downfall. After the cancellation of "The Joey Bishop Show" in 1965,
Bishop's career declined sharply, and by the end of the decade it was effectively over. It seems
that fewer people were willing to work with Bishop when he wasn't connected to Sinatra.
Frank Sinatra died in 1998 at the age of 82. Joey Bishop was 89 when
he died in 2007. The two famous friends reportedly never made up.
"Try to remember this. It’s important. We never
did anything to be heard. We did it to be overheard."