If there was a Rat Pack sex symbol, it would have to be Marilyn Monroe, who was closely associated with the group. She was present for Las Vegas Rat Pack shows, and had a close friendship with Frank Sinatra, which some people will say was actually much more than a friendship. At one point, Frank gave Marilyn a small white Poodle to replace the dog she lost in her divorce from Arthur Miller. For laughs, Marilyn named the dog Maf, which was short for Mafia. There probably weren't a lot of people who were close enough to Frank to pull that off.
It was Rat Pack member Peter Lawford who asked Marilyn to sing Happy Birthday to President John F. Kennedy, which became one of the most memorable moments of Marilyn's life and her place in history.
And the Rat Pack's Dean Martin was signed to co-star with Marilyn in a film called Something's Got To Give. But when Marilyn was dismissed from the project, Dean refused to go forward with it with a new co-star (actress Lee Remick), and he withdrew from the production. The film was later completed as Move Over Darling, starring James Garner and Doris Day.
Toward her untimely end, Marilyn's relationship with Frank had become strong, around the time she was filming The Misfits. In fact, the cast of the film was invited by Frank to see him perform at the Cal-Neva Lodge in Lake Tahoe, in which he had invested. And it's there, that Marilyn was said to spend one of the last weekends of her life, a life that ended at the tender age of 36.
Today, a tribute to Marilyn is often featured in Rat Pack tributes and Rat Pack impersonator shows, including a Rat Pack related show featuring Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe impersonators.
