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The Rat Pack is the epitome of Mad Men-style old-school cool. As Colin Bertram of Biography tells us, the legendary group of entertainers were originally acquaintances who used to hang around at Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall's home in Los Angeles. Before their most famous line-up, they had a Who's Who list of satellite members that included David Niven, Spencer Tracy, and Robert Mitchum. They were by no means a 'men only' club, either: Early on, legendary ladies such as Ava Gardner, Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn counted themselves in the group's ranks. In fact, the Rat Pack didn't even really want to be one. They actually liked to be called 'The Summit' or 'The Clan.'

Still, regardless of their full list of members or original naming aspirations, history has come to know the group as the Rat Pack, and Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop are considered its core members. As effortlessly awesome as the group appeared to be, there was actually a lot of turmoil and sadness behind the scenes. Today, we'll take a look at the tragic history of the Rat Pack.

Peter Lawford's right hand

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If you're hard-pressed to name an iconic Peter Lawford movie, you probably won't be alone. Though his IMDb page shows that his acting career was lengthy and impressive, his entry on the Hollywood Walk of Fame website tells us that Lawford also had a couple of other things playing in his favor. The British-American actor happened to be the brother-in-law of a guy called John F. Kennedy, and in his later years he reaped fame simply from his 'off-screen activities as a celebrity.'

All of that might seem like Lawford led an absolutely charmed life, but in reality, he suffered from a nasty, debilitating injury to his right hand. The details on how he received it vary. The Walk of Fame page says the hand sustained permanent nerve damage when he fell through a glass door at the age of 14, while the book Peter Lawford Story by Patricia Lawford Stewart and Ted Schwartz tells us that Lawford's hand started to atrophy, and the doctors' treatment where his fingers were forcefully opened left the appendage comparatively normal-looking, but lacking in strength. Regardless, the ensuing injury left his hand with enough damage that he was declared unfit to serve in World War II, and he had to learn to hide it.

Sammy Davis Jr. dealt with a lot of racism

If the Rat Pack were giving out prizes for most tenacious entertainer, Sammy Davis Jr. would have been head and shoulders above the competition. As Carmel Dagan of Variety writes, the sole African-American member of the squad faced racism throughout his career, yet managed to shrug off humiliation after humiliation and build a long, enviable career as an entertainer. He wasn't even safe from racism with his fellow Rat Pack members: The group's shows in Las Vegas often involved racially-themed 'comedy,' and he was the punchline.

Some people accused Davis of being an 'Uncle Tom' (an African-American man that was perceived as being servile to white people), while others saw him as a trailblazer who helped tear down racial barriers. As for the man himself ... well, let's just say that he donated quite a lot of money to the civil rights movement over the years.

Sammy Davis Jr.'s marriage troubles

Sammy Davis Jr. may have been a star, but the era's racists (of whom there were many) made it sure that his skin tone often defined what he could and couldn't do in the eyes of the general public. Carmel Dagan of Variety reports that this was especially evident when Davis married the Swedish actress May Britt in 1960. This was a time when interracial marriages were not only ultra rare — they were outright illegal in no less than 31 states. Davis' daughter has even claimed that John F. Kennedy himself reacted to the situation by stopping Davis from performing at his inauguration.

As Lynn Yager's Vogue article on Britt tells us, the marriage was not without implications for either celebrity. Davis was harassed by Neo-Nazis and racists. The era's segregation practices meant that the couple ran into situations where they couldn't share a hotel room, or even drink from the same fountain. Oh, and Britt's own studio, 20th Century Fox, dropped her as soon as they got married.

Sammy Davis Jr. loses his eye

As Bob Cannon of Entertainment Weekly tells us, November 19, 1954 seemed like just another day in the life of Sammy Davis Jr. doing the exact kind of cool stuff you'd imagine Sammy Davis Jr. doing. He was working on a cool movie soundtrack and driving his cool Cadillac down Route 66, the coolest of all roads. Unfortunately, a decidedly uncool and downright terrifying event interrupted his day, when an elderly lady backed out of her driveway and directly into his path. Unable to avoid the crash, the 28-year-old Davis was sent face first into the steering wheel.

According to the entertainer's daughter Tracy Davis' book, Sammy Davis Jr.: A Personal History with My Father (via ABC News), the impact fractured several bones in his face. The damage to his left eye was even worse, and the now-useless organ was left 'dangling from his eye socket.' Davis had no option but to get a prosthetic eye and to learn to maneuver on the stage all over again. The incident sent him on a path of much 'soul-searching,' and affected his eventual choice to convert to Judaism.

Sammy Davis Jr. and the mob

Sammy Davis Jr. had to endure much racial abuse over the years, but as Joy Lanzerdorfer of Smithsonian Magazine tells us, Hollywood was quite fond of him ... until 1957, when he started dating Kim Novak, a major movie star and a white woman. The pair realized that their secret relationship could kill their careers, and kept things on the down low. Still, it didn't sit well with the head of Novak's studio. Unfortunately for Davis, Columbia Pictures' Harry Cohn had ties to the Mafia, and ordered a hit on the entertainer. Reportedly, gangster Mickey Cohen delivered a threat to maim and kill Davis to the singer's horrified father. The only way out: Davis would have to marry a black woman and forget all about Novak.

Davis tried to fight back by contacting his own mob connection, Sam Giancana. However, Giancana's reach couldn't protect Davis in Hollywood, and in the end, the singer ended up giving in to the threats. In early 1958, Davis married singer Loray White in a doomed marriage that wouldn't last until the end of the year. According to a friend, the entertainer was so utterly devastated on his wedding day that he got drunk, attempted to strangle his new wife, and later tried to bring a gun to his own head.

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

Frank Sinatra and draft-dodging

Frank Sinatra was the Captain America of the Rat Pack's Avengers, as well as the guy people tend to mean when they talk about how men were cooler and more stylish back in the day. As an entertainer, Ol' Blue Eyes may have radiated effortless class, but his image was tarnished by one thing that followed him throughout much of his life. According to Erin Blakemore of History, Sinatra was thought to have dodged the draft for World War II, which drew much ire and hurt his early career.

As the story went, Sinatra had paid a hefty $40,000 for a doctor to decide he was unfit for service. However, this appears to have been un

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