Biography of Joey Bishop of the Rat Pack

14 May 2009

Joey Bishop's life can quite possibly read as a “how-to” manual when dealing with fame. Even though he was one of the least noted members of the famous Rat Pack, Bishop outlived the other members (Sinatra, Martin, Lawford, Davis, Jr,) by years.

The other men had been worn down by years of hard partying; Bishop made it to 89 years of age. Bishop was an accomplished comedian in his heyday. He also starred on the silver screen in some of Hollywood's earliest knee-slapping classics.

Joseph Abraham Gottlieb was born February 3, 1918 in the Bronx, New York. His family would then move to South Philadelphia a few years later. Bishop, the son of Jewish parents, found humor in his family's behavior compared to some other families in the neighborhood.

He developed a sense of humor a very young age, and was always performing. By the time Joey entered high school, he already knew comedy was the career for him. After graduating, he went on to experience minor success on the stand-up circuit; but like thousands of young Americans during the time, he enlisted in the Army during World War II.

After coming back from the war, Bishop married Sylvia Ruzga in 1941. Unlike everyone Bishop associated himself with during his career, his marriage was - at least to outside eyes - steady as a rock. They two were still wed until Sylvia's death in 1999. They had one son.

Bishop's comedy career started to gain him some slight recognition around the mid 1940s. In 1948, Bishop made his television debut and was a frequent guest on the more popular game shows and talk shows of the era. Long before Johnny Carson, Jack Paar hosted the Tonight Show, and Biship was a regular guest. And once Johnny took over, Bishop was the guest-host of the show more than anyone else. His fame had started to take off in the ‘50s, and he formed a friendship with Frank Sinatra.

This friendship led Bishop to be included in the Rat Pack alongside Sinatra, Lawford, Davis, and Martin. Even though Bishop was a relatively unknown outside of the comedy scene, he was still referred to as “the hub of the big wheel” by group leader, Frank Sinatra.

Bishop wrote most of the group's comedic material; anything the Pack was famous for, Bishop was the architect. In 1961, working off of the Rat Pack fame and the subsequent smash hit Ocean's Eleven, Joey Bishop was given his own TV show: The Joey Bishop Show. The show ran for two years and introduced America to Regis Philbin for the first time. Regis was Joey's co-host.

Bishop starred in other movies over the years, such as The Naked and the Dead, The Valley of the Dolls, Mad Dog Time, and Pepe, among others. Although he's not considered to be a trendsetting comedian, Bishop is still widely respected for his complete body of work. As Sinatra admitted himself, the explosion of the Rat Pack wouldn't have been possible without Bishop's influence.

Tags: frank sinatra, joey bishop, the rat pack, joseph abraham gottlieb, sylvia ruzga, jack paar, regis philbin,
Posted In: Biographies, Entertainment History,

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