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Peter Sydney Lawford (September 7, 1923 – December 24, 1984) was a British-born Hollywood actor, member of Frank Sinatra's "Rat Pack," and brother-in-law to President John F. Kennedy, perhaps more noted in later years for his off-screen activities as a celebrity than for his acting. In his earlier professional years (late 1930s through the 1950s) he had a strong presence in popular culture and starred in a number of highly acclaimed films.
BiographyEarly lifeBorn in London, England, on September 7, 1923 the son of British World War I hero Sir Sydney Turing Lawford and the former May Somerville Bunny, he spent his early childhood in France and began acting at a young age. Lawford's mother was said to have dressed him as a girl up until age eleven. May and Sir Sydney were not married when Peter was conceived and the resulting scandal caused the couple to flee England for America. Young Peter lived all over the world with his parents. Because of his family's travels, Peter was never formally educated. His lack of education was a sore subject and it contributed to his feelings of inadequacy later on as a member of the Kennedy family, and throughout his adult life. In America, Sir Sydney and Lady Lawford were treated like royalty among the well-to-do people in their new neighborhood of Palm Beach, Florida, and were always invited to events and social occasions. As a child he severely injured his arm, in his words: "attempting to run through a glass door.". Doctors were able to save the arm, but the injury continued to bother him throughout his life, and the arm was slightly deformed. The injury was considered damaging enough to keep him from entering World War II, but this turn of fate was probably the greatest boon to his career. At that time, Hollywood was infatuated with heroic Englishmen and as war movies were being churned out by the dozens and American actors volunteered or were drafted for the war, Lawford put his talents to work "stateside". Career
Lawford's first major movie role was A Yank At Eton (1942). He played a snobbish bully opposite Mickey Rooney. The picture was a smash hit, and Lawford's performance was widely praised. He won even greater acclaim for his performance in The White Cliffs Of Dover (1944), in which he played a young soldier in World War II. MGM gave him another important role in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945). Lawford also made Son Of Lassie (1945) and won a Modern Screen Magazine readers' poll as the most popular actor in Hollywood. His fan mail jumped to thousands of letters a week. Lawford had become a major star. Lawford's busiest year as an actor was 1946, when two of his films opened within days of each other: Cluny Brown (1946) and Two Sisters From Boston (1946). With heartthrobs like Clark Gable and stalwarts like Jimmy Stewart off to war, Lawford was recognized as the romantic lead on the MGM lot. He appeared with Frank Sinatra for the first time in the musical It Happened in Brooklyn (1947). Lawford received rave reviews for his work in the film while Sinatra's were lukewarm. Lawford later admitted that the most terrifying experience of his career was the first musical number he performed (the Jitterbug). He also made his first comedy that same year: My Brother Talks To Horses (1947). It was in the musical Good News (1947) that he won his greatest acclaim as a performer, holding his own against other cast members with far more training in song and dance. Lawford was given other important roles in MGM films over the next few years, such as On An Island With You (1948), Easter Parade (1948) and Little Women (1949). In the late 1950s he co-starred with Phyllis Kirk in a short-lived television series based on the Thin Man films of the 1930s. His first marriage was to Patricia Kennedy Lawford, sister of future President John F. Kennedy, in 1954. They had four children; actor Christopher, Sidney, Victoria, and Robin. Lawford became an American citizen in 1960, in time to vote for his brother-in-law in the presidential elections. Lawford, along with other members of the "Rat Pack," helped campaign for Kennedy and the Democratic Party. Sinatra famously dubbed him "Brother-in-Lawford" at this time. Personal life
Lawford was very close to Frank Sinatra for a number of years, appearing in several Rat Pack movies and stage acts. Sinatra, however, threatened him with bodily harm when he learned that Lawford had lunch with Ava Gardner, Sinatra's primary love interest at the time. Lawford's friends managed to convince Sinatra that nothing was going on between Gardner and Lawford, but Sinatra refused to speak with Lawford for a number of years. The two were later reconciled, but Sinatra ultimately broke off the friendship after Lawford refused to act as a go-between for Sinatra and President Kennedy after their association had become controversial (Sinatra's alleged mob ties, even if based more on rumor than fact, made White House image guardians unhappy). The end of the Lawford-Sinatra relationship came when the President made plans to stay at crooner Bing Crosby's house instead of Sinatra's during a visit to Los Angeles. Sinatra was especially incensed because Crosby was a Republican. Sinatra's feelings were such that once, when he learned Lawford was in the audience he was about to perform for, he refused to come out until Lawford and his wife were removed from the premises. Lawford and Sinatra never spoke again, though Lawford maintained a good friendship with Rat-Pack-pal Sammy Davis, Jr.. The two starred together in the 1968 film "Salt and Pepper." Later in life, Lawford fell into drug and alcohol abuse. Such abuse, plus strained relationships and financial difficulties caused a great deal of stress on his increasingly fragile health. Lawford was reduced to doing television guest shots on such shows as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Profiles in Courage (tv series), The Wild Wild West, I Spy, The Name Of The Game, The Virginian, Bewitched, The Patty Duke Show, The Doris Day Show, Hawaii Five-O, The Jeffersons, Fantasy Island and The Love Boat. Besides sitcoms, he also guest-starred on variety shows such as The Judy Garland Show and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, and game shows What's My Line?, Password, and Pyramid. Lawford married his second wife, Mary Rowan, daughter of comedian Dan Rowan, in 1971 when she was in her twenties. They divorced in 1975. He was married to his third wife, Deborah Gould, from 1976 to 1977; and finally married his fourth wife and widow, Patricia Seaton, in 1984. Lawford died alone in a hospital in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve 1984 of liver and kidney disease culminating in cardiac arrest at the age of 61. His body was cremated and the ashes were "inurned" at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery. His original inurnment location was near that of Marilyn Monroe. According to his son, the actor Christopher Lawford, talking on Larry King's CNN talk-show on September 27, 2005, none of the Rat Pack members attended the funeral, though a number of the Lawford/Kennedy cousins came. Due to a dispute between his widow and the cemetery, his remains were removed and then scattered in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California by his widow, Patricia Seaton Lawford, who invited the "National Enquirer" tabloid along to photograph the event. Westwood Village Memorial Park still has, as of 2006, a plaque bearing Lawford's name. It is not known if any ashes remain at the site. Filmography
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