Peter Lawford

Hollywood and the Kennedys

Peter Sydney Ernest Lawford was born on September 7, 1923, in London, the only child of a British Army general. Raised largely in France and educated by tutors, he arrived in Hollywood as a teenager and became an MGM contract player, appearing in Son of Lassie, Easter Parade with Fred Astaire and Judy Garland, and Royal Wedding. His suave English manner made him a reliable romantic lead through the 1940s and 1950s.

On April 24, 1954, he married Patricia Kennedy at St. Thomas More Church in Manhattan, over the initial objections of her father, who was wary of both actors and Englishmen. The couple had four children: Christopher (1955–2018), Sydney (born 1956), Victoria (1958) and Robin (1961).

The Rat Pack Years and Decline

As a member of Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack, Lawford starred in the original Ocean's 11 (1960) and served as the link between his brother-in-law's presidential campaign and Hollywood, organizing the 1961 inaugural gala and the 1962 Madison Square Garden birthday celebration at which Marilyn Monroe sang to the President. The Sinatra friendship collapsed in 1962 when the President, on Robert Kennedy's advice, declined to stay at Sinatra's home.

The Lawfords divorced in February 1966. His career faded through the 1970s as alcohol and drug dependence took hold, and he died of cardiac arrest complicated by kidney and liver failure on December 24, 1984, in Los Angeles, at 61.

How was Peter Lawford related to JFK?

Peter Lawford was John F. Kennedy's brother-in-law. He married the President's sister Patricia Kennedy in 1954; they divorced in 1966. Their four children include actor and author Christopher Kennedy Lawford.

How did Peter Lawford die?

Peter Lawford died on December 24, 1984, in Los Angeles at the age of 61, of cardiac arrest following kidney and liver failure after years of alcohol and drug abuse.