Life with the Rat Pack: Rare photos of Frank, Dean and Sammy

Life.com  — 

Frank Sinatra and his kindred crew of high-living, hard-drinking buddies in the Rat Pack – Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., especially — were, in real life, not unlike their characters from the classic movie, “Ocean’s 11”: they loved a good caper. From the late Fifties until they began to splinter apart in the mid-Sixties, they were showbiz’s unrivaled kings of swing.

LIFE magazine’s photographers, meanwhile, trailed the Pack through those smoky, magical years, coming away with priceless material. Here, in celebration of sharkskin suits, smoke-filled rooms and fedoras tilted just so, we offer a series of rare photos of Frank, Dean and Sammy, together and apart, in their heyday.

See the entire gallery and read the full story on Life.com.