Peter Sidney Lawford was born on September 7, 1923 in London, England. His father was the Liet. Gen. Sir Sidney Lawford, a knighted World War I veteran who became an actor after retiring from the military. His mother was Lady Lawford, the former May Somerville Bunny.
Lawford’s family was wealthy, and as a child, young Peter lived a nomadic lifestyle aboard ships and in India, England and Hong Kong. His own film debut came when he was eight years old in the British film, Poor Old Bill. An arm injury sustained by Peter in France necessitated that he move to a warmer climate. The family, low on funds, packed up and moved into a modest home in Palm Beach, Florida. While there, a teenage Peter worked as a valet. His favorite patron was Joseph Patrick Kennedy, a man whose daughter he would later marry.
After moving to the United States, Lawford, a handsome and debonair young man, quickly gained success as an MGM studio star. He had roles in films such as Mrs. Miniver, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Easter Parade, Little Women, Royal Wedding, It Should Happen to You, Ocean’s Eleven, Pepe, Sergeants Three, The Longest Day, Advise and Consent, Harlow, The April Fools, and Body and Soul. He was the first actor to kiss Elizabeth Taylor on camera and also organized the famous 1962 birthday party for President John F. Kennedy in Madison Square Garden where Marilyn Monroe sang “Happy Birthday” to the president.
Lawford was a member of the famous Hollywood Rat Pack, a group of entertainers who performed together in Las Vegas and in films and maintained friendships off-screen. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Joey Bishop and Sammy Davis Jr were all members of the Rat Pack. The group of friends has maintained popularity over the years, in 2001, Ocean’s Eleven was remade into a film starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt.
Lawford married Patricia Kennedy, sister of President John F. Kennedy, in 1954. They had four children together – Chris, Sydney, Victoria, and Robin.. Lawford, dubbed “Brother-in Lawford” by JFK was a staunch supporter of his wife’s brother, and the entire Rat Pack got behind Kennedy’s 1960 presidential campaign. Lawford has been credited with helping merge Hollywood glamour with the campaign, increasing his brother-in-law’s popularity significantly. After the tragic deaths of friend Marilyn Monroe in 1962 and JFK in 1963, Lawford and his wife divorced.
In 1971, he married Mary Rowan, daughter of comedian Daniel Rowan. The marriage only lasted eight months, and in 1975 he married Deborah Gould, which proved an even shorter union. In July 1984 he married his fourth and final wife, Patricia Seaton, after a nine-year courtship.
Lawford died in Los Angeles on Christmas 1984. He suffered a cardiac arrest due to kidney and liver failure.