Peter Sydney Ernest Aylen
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Peter Lawford, a Rat Pack member, gained fame in Good News 1947 and married Patricia Kennedy in 1954. Born in London in 1923, he began acting as a child and appeared in A Yank at Eton 1942. His films include Ocean’s Eleven 1960 and The Longest Day 1962. He died in 1984 from liver and kidney disease.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Peter Lawford — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Peter Lawford by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Peter Lawford — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Peter Lawford, born in London in 1923 to a British war hero father, spent his early childhood in Paris, France. He spoke French before English and learned English later. His arm was severely injured as a child when he ran through a glass door, leaving it slightly deformed and keeping him out of World War II. His parents were not married at his birth, causing a scandal that led the family to flee to America.
A Yank at Eton 1942, co-starring Mickey Rooney, was Lawford’s first major film. It earned him praise and leads at MGM when Clark Gable enlisted. Good News 1947, co-starring June Allyson, brought his greatest fame. He became a Rat Pack member, appearing in Ocean’s Eleven 1960 and Sergeants 3 1962. He also produced television through his company Chrislaw, named after his son.
Lawford married Patricia Kennedy in 1954, becoming brother-in-law to John F. Kennedy. The couple had four children: Christopher, Sydney, Victoria, and Robin. He had a controversial relationship with Dorothy Dandridge, with whom he considered marriage. His marriage to Patricia ended in divorce in 1966. He also had brief marriages to Mary Ann Rowan, Deborah Gould, and Patricia Seaton. He was fluent in four languages and was a frequent guest on the game show Password, where he set a record for the lightning round.
The Rat Pack and his marriage to Patricia Kennedy define Lawford’s legacy. He was the first Rat Pack member to die, in 1984 from liver and kidney disease. His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, awarded in 1960, remains a tribute. He appeared in films like Ocean’s Eleven 1960 and produced television through his company Chrislaw. His son Christopher became an actor and author.
The complete filmography of Peter Lawford — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Peter Lawford — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
Little-known facts about Peter Lawford — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
When the Kennedy administration politically alienated Frank Sinatra in 1962, Sinatra blamed Peter and severed their friendship permanently. Peter was replaced by Bing Crosby in the Rat Pack movie Robin and the 7 Hoods 1964. In later years, when Lawford tried to call a truce by attending Sinatra’s Las Vegas performance, Sinatra refused to go on until Lawford was escorted out.
In the poignant photograph of John Kennedy Jr. saluting the casket of his assassinated father outside St. Matthews Cathedral in Washington on November 25, 1963, Lawford is standing between Ted Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
Lawford was the first member of the Rat Pack to pass away. With the death of Joey Bishop in October 2007, no surviving members of the Rat Pack remain.
His production company, Chrislaw, was named after his son Christopher Lawford. Among other projects, the company produced Patty Duke’s sitcom.
In his 20s, he worked at a country club. A member of the club once complained to the management that Lawford was eating lunch and fraternizing with the black employees, and that he should be fired. That member was Joseph P. Kennedy, who years later became his father-in-law!
He was a member of the Rat Pack with Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Joey Bishop. The five appeared together in the films Ocean’s Eleven 1960 and Sergeants 3 1962. They also performed on stage and were successful with their informal Las Vegas stage act during the filming of the first movie.
As a close friend and mysterious figure in the coverup of her death, Lawford and the other Rat Pack members were banned from Marilyn Monroe’s funeral by Joe DiMaggio.
He was a year old before his parents were married. His parents were married to other people when he was conceived, so he was given his mother’s husband’s surname Aylen on his birth certificate. He did not learn of his illegitimacy until he was 27 years old.
As a child, he fell through a French door and cut his right arm badly. He never regained full use of his right arm and hand, and was turned down as unfit for military duty during World War II.
John F. Kennedy became the godfather of daughter Victoria Francis Lawford, whose middle name was in honor of his good friend at the time, Frank Sinatra.
A frequent guest on the game show Password 1961, Lawford was the all-time champion at the lightning round, prompting 5 out of 5 correct guesses in only 12 seconds.
He was fluent in English, French, Italian and Spanish.
He suffered second degree burns on his right hand and arm during a 1950 Jimmy Durante television show skit. Titanium tetrachloride was being used in the making of a smoking concoction and it accidentally spilled on him. Durante and Lawford were close friends and later performed frequently on stage in a song-and-dance nightclub act.
He never obtained a formal education; he was educated through tutors.
He had four children with Patricia Kennedy: Christopher Lawford 1955-2018, Sydney Maleia Kennedy Lawford born 1956, Victoria Francis Lawford born 1958, and Robin Elizabeth Lawford born 1961.
During his early days as a young actor, Lawford worked as an usher at the Westwood Village Theatre in Los Angeles. Years later, many of his films would premiere there.
Since he spent his early childhood in France, he spoke French before he spoke English. Later, he struggled to learn English.
He was romantically linked with actresses Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, Dorothy Dandridge, June Allyson, Rita Hayworth, Lee Remick, Kim Novak, Judy Holliday, Evelyn Keyes, and socialites Sharman Douglas and Melissa Weston.
He was cremated after death and his ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.
He became a United States citizen in early 1960 so that he could vote for his brother-in-law John F. Kennedy in the presidential election later that year.
He met his third wife, Mary Rowan daughter of Dan Rowan, in December 1970 while he was appearing on her father’s television show Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In 1967.
He was a former son-in-law of Dan Rowan.
His ex-wife Patricia Kennedy died on September 17, 2006 from complications from pneumonia at age 82.
In her 2004 autobiography ‘Tis Herself, Maureen O’Hara wrote that Lawford and Richard Boone were arrested in a gay brothel full of beautiful boys while filming Kangaroo 1952 in Australia, but the studio managed to avoid this being reported by the press.
He was put under contract at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer when it was under the leadership of Louis B. Mayer. He later bought Mayer’s former Hollywood mansion.
He appeared in three films nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Mrs. Miniver 1942, Random Harvest 1942 and The Longest Day 1962. Mrs. Miniver won the category.
He spent his early years travelling with his family until the war years froze their funds.
He was the ex-brother-in-law of John F. Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Sargent Shriver and Robert F. Kennedy.
He was an uncle of Maria Shriver.
In Hollywood his first role in the film Mrs. Miniver put him in demand.
Raised in France, his mother’s childhood nickname for him was Pierrot.
In the 1966 tell-all film The Oscar 1966, Lawford had a bit part as a washed-up actor now forced to work as the maitre’d at a Hollywood restaurant. Given his real-life career downturn after being banished from the Rat Pack by Frank Sinatra, taking such a minor role was seen as type casting.
He did radio spots for Rodeway Inn in the mid 1970s.
He was the son of actor Sidney Lawford and nephew of Ernest Lawford.
Both his parents, Sidney Lawford and Mary Somerville aka Lady Lawford, appeared as minor players in a few films. Sir Sydney shot his first movie in a party sequence in The Picture of Dorian Gray 1945, which co-starred Peter. That scene was cut, but he went on to appear in others. His mother appeared in the film Hong Kong 1952 and in an episode of Peter’s television series The Thin Man 1957.
The Kennedy administration was none too happy when Peter accepted a role in the picture Advise & Consent 1962 portraying a swinging senator.
He co-starred with Elizabeth Taylor twice in back-to-back films: Julia Misbehaves 1948 and Little Women 1949. Years later, Taylor got him a small part in her television movie Malice in Wonderland 1985, but by the time filming began, Lawford’s health had so deteriorated that he had to be replaced.
He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6922 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.
The producers of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? 1962 originally wanted him to play Edwin Flagg; the role eventually went to Victor Buono.
He is portrayed by Angus Macfadyen in The Rat Pack 1998 and by Ian Buchanan in Marilyn & Bobby: Her Final Affair 1993.
During a 1966 appearance on Password, Lawford announced he was producing a television series based on important days in the presidency of John F. Kennedy. The series apparently was never produced.
He was a cousin of Betty Lawford.
A biography appears in The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 488-489 New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1998.
In November 1951, his dates with Dawn Addams in London were studio-engineered.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Peter Lawford.
Celebrities similar to Peter Lawford — same craft, ranked by reach.
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