
Often, when one of the members was scheduled to give a performance, the rest of the Pack would show up for an impromptu show, causing much excitement among audiences, resulting in return visits. "The Rat Pack" was a term used by journalists and outsiders, although it remains the lasting name for the group.

The post-Bogart version of the group (Bogart died in 1957) was reportedly never called that name by any of its members - they called it the Summit or the Clan. Marilyn Monroe, Angie Dickinson, Juliet Prowse, and Shirley MacLaine were often referred to as the "Rat Pack Mascots". The 1960s version of the group included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, and for a brief stint, Norman Fell. In his autobiography The Moon's a Balloon, David Niven confirms that the Rat Pack originally included him but not Sammy Davis, Jr. According to Stephen Bogart, the original members of the Holmby Hills Rat Pack were Sinatra (pack master), Judy Garland (first vice-president), Bacall (den mother), Sid Luft (cage master), Bogart (rat in charge of public relations), Swifty Lazar (recording secretary and treasurer), Nathaniel Benchley (historian), David Niven, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, George Cukor, Cary Grant, Rex Harrison, and Jimmy Van Heusen. Visiting members included Errol Flynn, Nat King Cole, Mickey Rooney and Cesar Romero. According to one version, the group's original "Den Mother," Lauren Bacall, after seeing her husband (Bogart) and his friends return from a night in Las Vegas, said words to the effect of "You look like a goddamn rat pack." "Rat Pack" may also be a shortened version of "Holmby Hills Rat Pack," a reference to the home of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall which served as a regular hangout. Several explanations have been offered for the famous name over the years. The name "Rat Pack" was first used to refer to a group of friends in New York.


Sinatra, Martin and Davis were regarded as the group's lead members.
Who were the original members of the rat pack movie#
In the mid-1960s it was the name used by the press and the general public to refer to a later variation of the group, after Bogart's death, that called itself "the summit" or "the clan," featuring Joey Bishop, who appeared together on stage and in films in the early-1960s, including the movie Ocean's 11. The Rat Pack was a group of actors originally centered on Humphrey Bogart.
