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Peter Sydney Lawford (September 7, 1923 –
December 24, 1984) was a Hollywood actor and
member of Frank Sinatra's "Rat Pack," more noted
for his off-screen activities as a celebrity than
for his acting.

Born in London, the son of actor Sidney Lawford
and his (eventual) wife, Mary Aylen, née
Somerville, he spent his early childhood in
France, and began acting as a child. He was the
victim of sexual abuse several times in childhood.
Also as a child he severely injured his arm when
he put the arm through a door's glass pane.
Doctors were able to save the arm, but the injury
bothered him for many years. The arm injury kept
him from being drafted into the armed forces for
the Second World War. Prior to the war, Lawford
had a gained a contract position with the MGM
studios. Lawford's first major movie role was A
Yank At Eton (1942). He played a snobby bully
opposite Mickey Rooney. The picture was a smash
hit and Lawford's performance was widely praised.
He won even greater kudos for his performance in
The White Cliffs Of Dover (1944). He played a
young soldier in World War II. MGM gave the young
actor another important role in The Picture Of
Dorian Gray (1945). Lawford's father also had a
role in the film. 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's busiest year as an actor was in 1946
when two of his films opened within days of each
other Cluny Brown (1946) and Two Sisters From
Boston (1946). Lawford was recognized as the
romantic lead on the MGM lot. Lawford appeared
with Frank Sinatra for the first time in the
musical It Happened In Brooklyn (1947). Lawford
later admitted the most terrifying experience of
his career was the first musical number he
performed. Lawford also made his first comedy that
same year My Brother Talks To Horses (1947). It
was in Good News (musical)|Good News (1947) that
Lawford won his greatest acclaim as an actor. He
also got to dance and sing as well and held his
own against the other cast. Lawford was given
other important roles in MGM films the next few
years such as On An Island With You (1948), Easter
Parade (1948) and Little Women (1949).

Lawford became an United States|American citizen
in 1960, in time to vote for his brother-in-law
John F. Kennedy.  Lawford, along with the other
members of the Rat Pack helped to campaign for
Kennedy and the Democratic party.

He married four times. He married his first wife,
Patricia Kennedy Lawford|Patricia Kennedy, sister
to President John F. Kennedy, in 1954. They had
four children, including actor Christopher
Lawford. They divorced in 1966. He married his
second wife, Mary Rowan, daughter of Dan Rowan, in
1971. They divorced in 1975. He married his third
wife, Deborah Gould in 1976. They divorced in
1977. His fourth wife, whom he married in 1984,
was Patricia Seaton. Lawford had a reputation as a
ladies man and was reported to have had many
affairs with famous ladies of movies, song, and
politics including Ava Gardner, June Allyson, Lana
Turner, Janet Leigh, Rita Hayworth, Dorothy
Dandridge, Lucille Ball, Anne Baxter, Judy
Holliday, Gina Lollobrigida, Judy Garland, Marilyn
Monroe, Grace Kelly, Kim Novak, Jacqueline Kennedy
Onassis, Lee Remick, Nancy Reagan, and Elizabeth
Taylor just to name a few.

He and his brother-in-law Robert F. Kennedy are
reported to have visited Marilyn Monroe on the day
she died, although this is not known for sure.

After the death of John F. Kennedy, Lawford and
Patricia divorced.  Since that time, the Kennedy
family distanced itself from Lawford as his antics
proved to be an embarassment.

Lawford was close to Frank Sinatra for a number of
years.  Sinatra, however, threatened him with
bodily harm when he learned that Lawford had lunch
with Ava Gardner.  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.  Sinatra's feelings were such that
one time, when he learned that Lawford was in the
audience he was about to perform in front of, that
he refused to come out until Lawford and his wife
were removed from the audience.

Later in life, Lawford fell into drug and alcohol
abuse.  Such abuse, plus strained relationships
with others 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 Fantasy Island,
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Profiles In Courage,
The Wild Wild West, I Spy, The Name Of The Game,
The Jeffersons, The Love Boat, The Virginian,
Bewitched, The Patty Duke Show, The Doris Day
Show, and Hawaii Five-O. Besides sitcoms, he also
guest-starred on variety shows such The Judy
Garland Show and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, and
game shows such as What's My   Line?, Password,
and Pyramid. 

Lawford died in Los Angeles, California|Los
Angeles on Christmas Eve1984 of liver and kidney
disease culminating in cardiac arrest.  His body
was cremated and the ashes were inurned at
Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery. His
original burial location was near that of Marilyn
Monroe.  Because of a dispute between the family
and the cemetery, however, his cremains were
removed and then scattered in the Pacific ocean
off the coast of California.

==Filmography==

*Poor Old Bill (1930)
*A Gentleman of Paris (1931)
*Lord Jeff (1938)
*Mrs. Miniver (1942)
*Eagle Squadron (1942)
*A Yank at Eton (1942)
*Thunder Birds (1942)
*Junior Army (1942)
*Random Harvest (1942)
*Immortal Sergeant (1943)
*London Blackout Murders (1943)
*Assignment in Brittany (1943)
*The Purple V (1943)
*Pilot #5 (1943)
*The Sky's the Limit (1943)
*The Man from Down Under (1943)
*Above Suspicion (1943)
*Someone to Remember (1943)
*West Side Kid (1943)
*Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943)
*Corvette K-225 (1943)
*Paris After Dark (1943)
*Sahara (1943)
*Flesh and Fantasy (1943)
*Girl Crazy (1943)
*The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944)
*The White Cliffs of Dover (1944)
*The Canterville Ghost (1944)
*Mrs. Parkington (1944)
*The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
*Son of Lassie (1945)
*Ziegfeld Follies (1946) (voice)
*Two Sisters from Boston (1946)
*Cluny Brown (1946)
*It Happened in Brooklyn (1947)
*My Brother Talks to Horses (1947)
*Screen Snapshots: Out-of-This-World Series (1947)
(short subject)
*Good News (musical)|Good News (1947)
*On an Island with You (1948)
*Easter Parade (1948)
*Julia Misbehaves (1948)
*Little Women (1949)
*The Red Danube (1949)
*Please Believe Me (1950)
*Royal Wedding (1951)
*Just This Once (1952)
*Kangaroo (1952)
*You for Me (1952)
*The Hour of 13 (1952)
*Rogue's March (1953)
*It Should Happen to You (1954)
*Never So Few (1959)
*Exodus (movie)|Exodus (1960)
*Ocean's Eleven (1960)
*Pepe (1960) (cameo)
*Sergeants 3 (1962)
*Advise and Consent (1962)
*The Longest Day (1962)
*Dead Ringer (1964)
*Sylvia (1965)
*Harlow (1965)
*The Oscar (1966)
*A Man Called Adam (1966)
*Dead Run (1967)
*Salt and Pepper (1968)
*Skidoo (1968)
*Bunoa Sera, Mrs. Campbell (1968)
*Walls of Sin (1969)
*Hook, Line & Sinker (1969)
*The April Fools (1969)
*Togetherness (1970) 
*One More Time (1970)
*They Only Kill Their Masters (1972)
*Just One More Time (1974) (short subject)
*That's Entertainment! (1974)
*Rosebud (1975)
*Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976)
*Angels' Brigade (1979)
*Gypsy Angels (1980)
*Body and Soul (1981)
*Where Is Parsifal? (1983)