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Dante DiPaolo was born on February 18, 1926. "His family came from Consano, a tiny town in the Abruzzi region of central Italy in the Apennines. His father had emigrated to Colorado, where he worked in a coal mine for six dollars a day, living with his wife and children and assorted family members in a little house in the mining camp. There were so many in their little house, Dante shared a bed with four of his uncles. Like Rosemary, Dante was especially fond of his grandmother. She hung her wash outside, even in the snow and she baked bread in the brick oven outside. Dante said, "When I die, if I see a line of clean washing blowing on a clothesline in the snow and smell bread baking, I`ll know I`m in the right place."

Dante began tap dancing as a toddler. His mother found a dance class in a town twelve miles away and "sewed him a pair of black velvet bell-bottoms with white pearl buttons, because she thought that was the way dancers had to dress, even for practice. His white satin blouse had puffed sleeves, so when he did the buck and wing, he seemed to be very high-flying." By the age of nine he`d won so many amateur contests that his mother took him to Hollywood on a Greyhound bus. They stayed with a friend who was a typesetter for the Los Angeles Times. The friend "introduced them to his circle, including a man who took Dante to strip joints downtown; with his sailor suit on, Dante would dance and use his hat to pick up the money people tossed." He met Bing Crosby when he was thirteen and had a dancing part in Crosby`s film The Starmaker. "By that time, he already had a scrapbook of clippings." They called him "The Whirlwind of Colorado."

Dante`s father eventually quit the coal mines and joined his family in California. He worked at Warner`s and then at Paramount where he became the foreman for the set-moving department. Dante was always very close with his parents, and is still very devoted to his mother.

Dante was first noticed by Rosemary Clooney when they were playing on opposite teams in a Paramount softball game. He was an outfielder, she was captain of her team. He was dark-haired, long-legged and the dancer who was assigned to give her lessons on her next picture Here Come the Girls. In his role as teacher to Rosemary, Dante found a straw hat and a blazer, and they began practice sessions in a rehearsal studio. Their rehearsal pianist was Ian Bernard. The three of them, along with Bea Allen would go out together. Sometimes they`d go to Lucy`s across the street from the Paramount lot. It was a restaurant that had curtained booths where, gradually Dante and Rosemary fell in love. It was during this time that Dante decided to call Rosemary "Rosella," and she called him her "Whirlwind." Their relationship was very lighthearted and fun.

While Rosemary was set to work on her next picture Red Garters, Dante was on location in Sun Valley, Idaho, shoting Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, where he played Matt, the leader of the town boys. While Dante was on location, Rosemary`s relationship with Jose Ferrer grew. Though she loved both Dante and Jose, for reasons best explained in Rosemary`s autobiography Girl Singer, she married Jose. When Dante learned that Rosemary had married Jose, he was shattered.

Dante spent a number of years dancing as part of various shows at the big hotels on the Vegas Strip. He married a Tropicana showgirl and they moved to Europe. While living in Rome, he landed a part in a