Peter
Sydney Ernest Lawford (born Peter
Sydney Ernest Aylen; 7 September 1923 – 24 December 1984) was an
English-born American actor, producer, and socialite,
who resided in the United States throughout his adult life.He was a member of
the "Rat Pack"
and the brother-in-law of President John F. Kennedy and
senators Robert F. Kennedy and Edward
Kennedy. From the 1940s to the 1960s, he was a well-known celebrity
and starred in a number of highly acclaimed films. In later years, he was noted
more for his off-screen activities as a celebrity than for his acting; it was
said that he was "famous for
being famous". Born in London in 1923, he was the only child
of Lieutenant General Sir Sydney Turing Barlow Lawford, KBE (1865–1953) and May Sommerville
Bunny (1883–1972). At the time of Peter's birth, however, his mother was
married to Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Ernest Vaughn Aylen
D.S.O, one
of Sir Sydney's officers, while his father was married to Muriel Williams.[1] At
the time, May and Ernest Aylen were living apart. May confessed to Aylen that
the child was not his, a revelation that resulted in a double divorce. Sydney
and May wed in September 1924 after their divorces were finalised and when
their son was one year old. Lawford's
family was connected to the English
aristocracy through his uncle Ernest Lawford's wife (a daughter
of the Scottish 14th Earl of
Eglinton) as well as his aunt Ethel Turner Lawford (who married a
son of the 1st Baron Avebury). His aunt, Jessie Bruce Lawford,
another of his father's sisters, was the second wife of the Hon Hartley
Williams, senior puisne judge of
the Supreme Court of the colony of Victoria, Australia. A relative, through
his mother, was Australian artist Rupert Bunny.
e spent his early childhood in France and, owing to his family's travels, was
never formally educated. Instead, he was schooled by governesses and tutors,
and his education included tennis and ballet lessons. "In
the beginning," his mother observed, "he had no homework. When he was
older he had Spanish, German and music added to his studies. He read only
selected books: English fairy stories, English and French classics; no crime
stories. Having studied Peter for so long, I decided he was quite
unfitted for any career except art, so I cut Latin, Algebra,
high mathematics and substituted dramatics instead." Because of the widely varying national and
religious backgrounds of his tutors, Lawford "attended various services in
churches, cathedrals, synagogues and for some time was an usher in a Christian
Science Sunday School...." Around 1930, aged
seven, he made his acting debut in the English film Poor Old Bill. He
also had an uncredited bit in A Gentleman of Paris (1931).
At the age of 14, Lawford severely injured his right arm in an accident when it
went through a glass door. Irreversible nerve damage severely compromised the
use of his forearm and hand, which he later learned to conceal. The injury
resulted in his being unable to follow a military career as his parents had
hoped. Instead, Lawford pursued a career as an actor, a decision that
resulted in one of his aunts refusing to leave him her considerable fortune, as
she had originally planned. In 1938, Lawford was travelling through Hollywood
when spotted by a talent scout. He was screen tested and made his Hollywood
debut in a minor part in the film Lord Jeff starring Freddie Bartholomew. The outbreak of
World War II found the Lawfords in Florida. In a matter of days, they realized
that they had been stranded. Their money was in Britain and Britain was at war.
Their assets were frozen. Peter, then 16, took a job parking cars. When he
saved enough money for the fare, he went back to Hollywood where he supported
himself working as a theater usher until he began to get film work. The advent of World War II saw an increase in
British war stories and Lawford found himself in demand playing military
personnel, albeit usually in uncredited parts. He could be glimpsed in Mrs. Miniver (1942)
and Eagle Squadron (1942), both times
as pilots. His first decent role in a major film production was in A Yank at
Eton (1942), starring Mickey Rooney,
in which Lawford played a snobbish bully It was very popular at the box
office. Lawford was a cadet in Thunder Birds: Soldiers of the Air (1942)
and Junior Army (1942) (starring
Bartholomew), a soldier in Random Harvest (1942), Immortal Sergeant (1942),
and London Blackout Murders (1943)
(directed by George Sherman), and a navigator in Assignment in Brittany (1943). He
had a billed part in The Purple V (1943).
At MGM he was a student in Above Suspicion (1943), a soldier
in Pilot #5 (1943), a naval commander
in The Sky's the Limit (1943)
(with Fred Astaire), and an Australian in The Man from Down Under (1943).
He had a minor role at Republic's Someone to Remember (1943) and The West Side
Kid (1943), the latter directed by Sherman. Lawford played
a soldier in Sahara (1943) and sailors
in Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943)
and Corvette K-225 (1943). He was a
Frenchman in Paris After Dark (1943) and Flesh and
Fantasy (1943), and was a student in MGM's Girl Crazy (1943) and The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944).
Lawford's career stepped up a notch when signed to a long-term contract to MGM
in June 1943. The studio signed him with a specific role in mind - The White Cliffs of Dover (1944),
in which he played a young soldier during the Second World War. Lawford
had a small role in The Canterville Ghost (1944)
and Mrs. Parkington (1944), playing a
suitor of Greer Garson. MGM gave him another important
role in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945).