Catherine Mae Hawn was the third and final wife of Dean Martin, one of the most recognizable entertainers of 20th-century America. She married Martin in 1973 and divorced him three years later. Unlike almost everyone else connected to Martin’s inner circle, she never gave an interview, never wrote about the marriage, and has no confirmed public presence today.
That silence has created a problem: much of what circulates online about Catherine Hawn — her birth date, her hometown, her daughter’s name, her current net worth — comes from a cluster of near-identical celebrity-bio websites that cite no sources and appear to be repeating each other rather than any documented record. This article separates what is actually confirmed in reputable, contemporaneous sources from what is commonly repeated but unverified.
Who Is Catherine Hawn?
- Full name: Catherine Mae Hawn
- Known for: Third wife of Dean Martin (1973–1976)
- Age at marriage: 25, per Martin’s 1995 Washington Post obituary (some later sources say 26)
- Background: Described in contemporaneous press as a model; later celebrity-bio sites describe her as a Beverly Hills salon receptionist
- Daughter: A daughter, adopted by Dean Martin during the marriage and commonly identified in secondary sources as “Sasha”
Her exact date and place of birth are not established in any reputable, sourced record we could find. Widely repeated figures — November 30, 1947, and Steubenville, Ohio (Dean Martin’s own birthplace) — appear only on unsourced celebrity-bio and “net worth” websites that do not cite records, obituaries, or interviews. Given that these sites also disagree with primary sources on other basic facts, these details should be treated as unconfirmed rather than factual.
She is not related to actress Goldie Hawn. The shared surname has caused persistent confusion online, and some sites have also conflated her with actress Kathryn Hahn.
Before Dean Martin: What’s Actually Documented
Reliable, independent detail about Catherine Hawn’s life before she met Dean Martin is thin. The two contemporaneous characterizations that exist in the historical record disagree with each other:
- Dean Martin’s obituary in The Washington Post (December 26, 1995) identifies her as a “former model.”
- A wire-service press photograph from 1973, sold today through vintage photo archives, captions her as “Model Catherine Mae Hawn.”
- Wikipedia’s article on Dean Martin, along with the modern cluster of celebrity-bio sites, describes her instead as a receptionist at the Gene Shacove hair salon in Beverly Hills — the same Beverly Hills salon culture that inspired the 1975 film Shampoo.
It’s possible both are true at different points — modeling and salon work were not mutually exclusive for young women in early-1970s Los Angeles — but no source we found reconciles the two accounts or documents her career in detail. Treat the “salon receptionist” narrative as reported, not confirmed by a primary source, since it traces back to secondary compilations rather than a dated news account.
How Catherine Hawn Met Dean Martin
Multiple secondary sources state that Catherine and Dean were introduced through a mutual acquaintance while Martin was in the process of divorcing his second wife, Jeanne Biegger. At the time, Martin was 55, his NBC variety show was winding down (it ended in 1974), and by most accounts he was scaling back his public schedule in favor of golf and privacy.
No first-person account from Catherine Hawn about how the relationship began has ever been published. The circumstances of the courtship are known only through secondhand reporting and later retrospectives about Martin’s life, not through her own words.
The Wedding: April 25, 1973
Dean Martin and Catherine Hawn married on April 25, 1973. Multiple sources, including celebrity retrospectives published by outlets such as Closer Weekly, describe the wedding as extravagant and note that Frank Sinatra was among the guests — consistent with Sinatra and Martin’s decades-long friendship through the Rat Pack.
Specific figures that circulate about the wedding — a cost in the range of $50,000–$100,000, flowers flown in from France, and 22 cages of white doves released during the ceremony — appear only on unsourced celebrity-bio websites. We could not confirm any of these specific details in a contemporaneous news account, and they should be read as commonly repeated claims rather than established fact.
During the marriage, Dean Martin legally adopted Catherine’s daughter. Secondary sources commonly give the daughter’s name as Sasha Martin, and an actress by that name with a listed connection to the Martin family has screen credits on IMDb, but we could not independently verify biographical details about her beyond that credit.
Marriage and Divorce
The marriage lasted a little over three years. According to Wikipedia’s sourced account of Dean Martin’s life, the couple divorced on November 10, 1976, with Martin filing for divorce that year; the stated legal grounds, as with most such filings, were irreconcilable differences.
Neither Martin nor Hawn gave a public account of why the marriage ended. Commonly cited contributing factors — the roughly 30-year age gap, Martin’s enduring attachment to second wife Jeanne Biegger (with whom he remained close, though the two did not remarry), and his growing preference for a quiet home life — are reasonable inferences drawn by biographers and entertainment writers, not statements from either party. They should be read as informed speculation, not confirmed cause.
Dean Martin After the Divorce
Dean Martin never remarried after divorcing Catherine Hawn. He continued performing through the 1980s, though the death of his son, Dean Paul Martin, in a 1987 military plane crash, was widely reported to have deeply affected him and reduced his public appearances in his final years.
Martin died on December 25, 1995, at his Beverly Hills home. His death was reported by major outlets, including a same-week obituary in The Washington Post, which cited acute respiratory failure; other reporting has connected his declining health to lung cancer. He was 78. Figures for his estate at death — often cited around $30 million — come from celebrity-finance estimate sites rather than a probate record we were able to verify, and should be treated as an unconfirmed estimate.
Catherine Hawn After the Divorce
There is no verified public record of Catherine Hawn’s life after 1976. She has not published a memoir, has not participated in any Dean Martin documentary or retrospective that we could locate, and has given no on-the-record interview to any news outlet.
Claims that she attended Dean Martin’s December 1995 funeral, that she has since avoided all media contact, and that she currently holds a net worth of roughly $2 million are widely repeated across celebrity-bio websites but are not attributable to any single reputable, named source. We were unable to confirm any of them independently. They should be treated as unconfirmed claims that have propagated across low-authority sites rather than established facts.
What We Know vs. What’s Unconfirmed
| Claim | Status |
|---|---|
| Married Dean Martin on April 25, 1973 | Confirmed (multiple independent sources agree) |
| Divorced November 10, 1976 | Reported (sourced secondary account; not independently cross-checked against a court record) |
| Age at marriage (25 vs. 26) | Disputed — primary sources disagree |
| Occupation: model vs. salon receptionist | Disputed — contemporaneous press says “model”; later secondary sources say salon receptionist |
| Dean Martin adopted her daughter | Reported by multiple secondary sources |
| Daughter’s name is “Sasha” | Reported, not independently confirmed by a primary source |
| Sinatra attended the wedding | Reported by a named celebrity outlet (Closer Weekly) |
| Birth date of November 30, 1947 | Unconfirmed — appears only on unsourced bio sites |
| Birthplace of Steubenville, Ohio | Unconfirmed — appears only on unsourced bio sites |
| Wedding cost, 22 doves, flowers from France | Unconfirmed — no contemporaneous source located |
| Attended Dean Martin’s 1995 funeral | Unconfirmed — widely repeated, no named source |
| Current net worth (~$2 million) | Unconfirmed estimate, no basis disclosed by any source |
| Current whereabouts / life status | Unknown — no public record found |
Quick Facts at a Glance
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Catherine Mae Hawn |
| Known for | Third wife of Dean Martin (1973–1976) |
| Age at marriage | 25 (Washington Post obituary) or 26 (other secondary sources) |
| Occupation before marriage | Described as a model in 1973 press; described as a salon receptionist in later secondary sources |
| Married Dean Martin | April 25, 1973 |
| Dean Martin’s age at marriage | 55 |
| Divorce finalized | November 10, 1976 |
| Children | One daughter, adopted by Dean Martin; commonly named “Sasha” in secondary sources |
| Current status | Unknown; no verified public record since the 1976 divorce |
FAQs
Did Catherine Hawn have children with Dean Martin?
No. They had no biological children together. Dean Martin adopted her daughter, commonly identified in secondary sources as Sasha, during the marriage — this detail is reported but not confirmed by a primary source.
Why did Catherine Hawn and Dean Martin divorce?
The stated legal grounds were irreconcilable differences. Reasons discussed by biographers — the age gap, Martin’s lingering attachment to second wife Jeanne Biegger, and his growing preference for privacy — are informed speculation, not statements from either party.
Is Catherine Hawn related to Goldie Hawn?
No. They share a surname but no known familial connection.
Was Catherine Hawn a model or a salon receptionist?
Sources disagree. Contemporaneous 1973 press, including Dean Martin’s 1995 Washington Post obituary, describes her as a former model. Wikipedia and most modern celebrity-bio sites describe her instead as a receptionist at a Beverly Hills hair salon. No source reconciles the two accounts, so both should be treated as reported rather than definitively confirmed.
Where is Catherine Hawn now, and what is her net worth?
Unknown. There is no verified public record of her life after the 1976 divorce, including her current location, occupation, or finances. Net worth figures circulating online (commonly around $2 million) are unsourced estimates repeated across celebrity-bio websites, not documented facts.
Final Summary
What can be said with confidence about Catherine Hawn is narrow: she married Dean Martin in April 1973, the marriage lasted a little over three years, he adopted her daughter, and the divorce was finalized in November 1976 without public acrimony. Beyond that timeline, she has left essentially no public record — no interviews, no memoir, no confirmed sightings, and no verifiable account of her life before or after the marriage.
That absence of documentation is itself the most interesting fact about her, but it also means readers should be skeptical of the many “biography” articles online that present precise birth dates, hometowns, and net-worth figures for her as settled fact. Most of that specificity traces back to unsourced content rather than to any documented record.
Sources
- “Dean Martin, Crooner and Comic, Dies at 78,” The Washington Post, December 26, 1995 — obituary describing Catherine Mae Hawn as Martin’s third wife, married in 1973 at age 25, described as a former model.
- Wikipedia, “Dean Martin” — sourced overview of Martin’s marriages, including the April 25, 1973 wedding to Catherine Hawn, her described occupation as a Gene Shacove salon receptionist, and the November 10, 1976 divorce.
- Closer Weekly, “Dean Martin’s Ex-Wives: Get to Know the 3 Women the Late Crooner Married During His Life” — reporting on the wedding, Frank Sinatra’s attendance, and the adopted daughter Sasha.
- Historic Images vintage press photo archive — 1973 wire photo captioned “Actor Dean Martin & Wife Model Catherine Mae Hawn,” corroborating the “model” description.
- IMDb listing for Sasha Martin — screen-credit record referenced for the adopted daughter’s name; not independently verified beyond the credit itself.
Editorial note: A large number of celebrity-bio websites publish near-identical, unsourced articles about Catherine Hawn repeating specific claims (exact birth date, Steubenville, Ohio birthplace, wedding cost, dove count, funeral attendance, net worth). We were unable to trace any of these to a reputable original source, and they are flagged above as unconfirmed rather than presented as fact.
