Peter Lawford

Actor

Name at birth: Peter Sydney Ernest Aylen

A suave British actor, Peter Lawford hit his peak in the early 1960s as a member of Frank Sinatra's cool-guy "Rat Pack," and as the husband of Patricia Kennedy, the sister of John and Robert Kennedy. Briefly a child actor in England, Lawford came to the United States just prior to World War II to be a movie star (a childhood arm injury kept him out of military service). An MGM studio contract guaranteed him several roles throughout the 1940s and '50s, but his real fame came as a result of his 1954 marriage to Kennedy and his friendship with Sinatra. Lawford's fall from stardom is equally famous: after appearances in Rat Pack movies like Ocean's 11 (1960) and Sergeants 3 (1962), Sinatra snubbed him, JFK was killed, Lawford's friend Marilyn Monroe died (Lawford was reportedly the last person who spoke to her) and his career went south. By the end of his life he was broke, divorced three times and had destroyed his health with drugs and alcohol.

Lawford joins theologian John Wycliffe and outlaw Jesse James in our loop Exhumation Celebration. He also co-stars with Joey Bishop in our loop on The Rat Pack and joins Arnold Schwarzenegger as an in-law in our loop on Clan Kennedy.

Blog posts mentioning Peter Lawford:
The Last of the Rat Pack Patricia Kennedy Lawford, 1924-2006