Joey Bishop

Oct 25 2007 by Emma Johnson, Liverpool Daily Post

THERE was Frank and Dean, Peter and Sammy and then there was Joey, possibly the least known and definitely the last surviving of the infamous Hollywood “Rat Pack”.

Joey Bishop, who has died, aged 89, perhaps outlived them all thanks to not subscribing to the hard-drinking, hard-living and womanising they were so famed for, preferring a round of golf instead.

But that didn’t stop “Ol Blue Eyes” bringing the comic on board and making sure he had an ever- increasing role in the pack’s shows.

Born Joseph Abraham Gottlieb, to Eastern European immigrants in the Bronx, Bishop was the youngest of five. As a baby, he moved with his family to Philadelphia and began entertaining from an early age playing the banjo and tap-dancing.

He dropped out of high school in 1936 and jobbed about before forming the Bishop Brothers, a comedy and music act named after a friend who loaned them his car, with two other boys.

He was drafted for World War II and had made it to sergeant by the time he left the Army.

Returning to New York, he began working as a comic and in 1952 Sinatra caught his routine. He hired him as his opening act, and Bishop began his rat pack days.

Bishop got his television break in 1958 with the show, Keep Talking, and, by 1961, he had his own slot with The Joey Bishop Show, a sitcom in which he played a PR man who become a talk show host. The show ran for 2½ years and Bishop also became a regular stand-in for Johnny Carson on his long-running show.

Although to the public Bishop was sometimes seen as an also-ran next to the other stars, Sinatra had the utmost regard for his talent. When he was given the task of organising the celebrations for President Kennedy’s inauguration, Sinatra made Bishop master of ceremonies.

As well as his own TV shows and lucrative gigs on the nightclub circuit, Bishop also starred in a number of the Rat Pack films including Ocean’s Eleven (1960) and Sergeants 3 (1962). Other film roles came in Texas Across the River (1966), The Delta Force (1986) and Betsy’s Wedding (1990).

When, in 2002, the show based on the Rat Pack opened, Bishop said he wished it well. Bishop’s wife, Sylvia, died in 1999, and he is survived by their son, Larry.

Joey Bishop, the last Rat-packer; born February 3, 1918, died October 17, 2007