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Sometimes I think Dino had the better voice but Sinatra worked at it. Very professional, had the best writers, arrangers and bands.

Dino had pretty crappy material. I think Dean was marginally a better actor. I was not impressed with Sinatra in the Manchurian Canididate.

I am learning from this book on Sinatra's recordings that he had much to do with those arrangements, from choosing the arranger to approving what they'd done, or even tweaking them (at least from Capitol onward). He did not have that authority @ Columbia, which is why he butted heads with Mitch Miller.

I think Dean was a good singer, but he has an overly lazy and laid back sound, and does not really engage himself with the songs very much. Sinatra was a little distanced from his material as a young singer, but later became much more involved. I think both were good actors, but again, I think Dean was sort of lazy and did not apply himself. Dean was great in Rio Bravo, but he seldom took on challenging work as Sinatra did (Man With the Golden Arm, Manchurian Candidate, From Here to Eternity, et al).

I don't have a problem with Sinatra in The Manchurian Candidate. I think he's good in it; but he is overshadowed by Lansbury and Harvey, which is as it should be. Sinatra actually was responsible for The Manchurian Candidate being filmed, again showing his involvement in all his work.

I suppose it could be argued that Dean was born with more talent. But I think he was laid back and did not apply himself as much as he could have. He still managed to have a remarkably successful career while running on auto pilot.

I think things came easy for Dean. Frankie was a shorter guy and nothing special to look at. Dean was tall, look good in suits, had a charm and came off as a nice guy. I think Dean opportunities came Dean’s way after he and Jerry Lewis were so big. Sinatra had to work harder and he was pretty intelligent.

I think Sinatra liked all the glitz and attention while Dean was more of a loner.