# Last surviving Rat Packer Joey Bishop dead.at 89 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 18, 2007, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-surviving-rat-packer-joey-bishop-dead-at-89/423207 "2007-10-18T18:48:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-surviving-rat-packer-joey-bishop-dead-at-89/423207/1 "2007-10-18T18:48:44Z")
[Cite](http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/10/18/obit.bishop/index.html) Three in one day (Deborah Kerr, Teresa Brewer & now Joey Bishop). I feel like the Angel of Death. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-surviving-rat-packer-joey-bishop-dead-at-89/423207/2 "2007-10-18T19:04:01Z")
Wasn’t Shirley MacLaine considered part of the Rat Pack? ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-surviving-rat-packer-joey-bishop-dead-at-89/423207/3 "2007-10-18T19:07:46Z")
[QUOTE=Biffy the Elephant Shrew] Wasn’t Shirley MacLaine considered part of the Rat Pack? [/QUOTE] Just what I was going to say. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-surviving-rat-packer-joey-bishop-dead-at-89/423207/4 "2007-10-18T19:21:11Z")
And Angie Dickinson. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-surviving-rat-packer-joey-bishop-dead-at-89/423207/5 "2007-10-18T19:52:38Z")
[Alternate thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=440711) Joey Bishop trivia: he was the first to go head-to-head in an attempt to take some of Johnny Carson’s late-night TV market. His version of Ed McMahon was a young-ish Regis Philbin. The show flopped, but Regis went on to become the greatest human being of all times. ---
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-surviving-rat-packer-joey-bishop-dead-at-89/423207/6 "2007-10-18T20:06:51Z")
The broads were hangers-on, nuttin’ more. It was the fellas who were the real Rat Pack. Two singers, a song-and-dance man, a comedian and a really bad actor. What I admired most about those guys was the fact that Sinatra and Martin wanted to make a movie together in Vegas, so they had somebody write “Ocean’s Eleven” so they could film during the day, and then perform and party at night in the casinos. I mean, talk about writing your own ticket – these guys scripted their lives! I was a teen-ager then – I wanted to be them! ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-surviving-rat-packer-joey-bishop-dead-at-89/423207/7 "2007-10-18T20:22:10Z")
Technically, Lauren Bacall would be a member of the [Rat Pack](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Pack) since her husband was the original founder (though Frank [who Bacall trashed in her autobiography for his behavior during a brief fling they had when both single in the 60s] was always a member). > [@](#): > > Wiki: > > The name “Rat Pack” was first used to refer to a group of friends in Hollywood first informally organized around Humphrey Bogart, a group that included the young Frank Sinatra. The term “Rat Pack” was supposedly assigned to the original Bogart group by “Den Mother” Lauren Bacall, after seeing them return from a night in Las Vegas, she being the youngest of them all and seeing them to be tired and worn out said words to the effect of “You look like a goddamn rat pack”, referring to the tired and haggard appearance of the other members of the group. The page also gives an alternate version of the name’s origin, but that Bacall was “Den Mother” remains consistent.