British-born Rat Pack member was most well-known for his film roles as WWII heroes.  His puppy-dog eyes and thick eyebrows made him a ladies’ man, and his lust for life made him a celebrity, but he threw it all away for drugs and alcohol.

Peter Lawford was born to un-wed parents. This caused a scandal that drove the family to the United States, where they traveled constantly. Because of his family’s travels, Peter was never formally educated, and his lack of education was a sore subject. It contributed to his low self-esteem later on as a member of the Kennedy family (his brother-in-law was JFK), and throughout his adult life.

Injuring his arm in a childhood accident kept Peter from entering World War II, the greatest thing that could happen to his acting career. Hollywood was infatuated with heroic Englishmen, and as war movies were being churned out by the dozens, Peter Lawford was just what America was looking for.

Once he signed with MGM, his mother insisted that studio head Louis B. Mayer pay her a salary as Peter’s personal assistant. Mayer declined, so Mrs. Lawford responded by claiming her son to be homosexual and that he needed to be “supervised”. When Peter learned of his mother’s actions their relationship was never the same.

Perhaps to prove to everyone his sexuality, Lawford had a reputation as a ladies’ man, even as he was married to Patricia Kennedy. He allegedly had many affairs with famous women, including Ava Gardner, June Allyson, Lana Turner, Janet Leigh, Rita Hayworth, Lucille Ball, Judy Holliday, Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, Kim Novak, Jackie O, Nancy Reagan, and Elizabeth Taylor, to name just a few. These affairs made Peter more of a celebrity than a movie star, especially when he was made member of the Rat Pack.

As part of the Pack, he would party at the best clubs, drink the finest champagne, and eat the best food.  But as the parties wore on, he fell into drug and alcohol abuse. A great deal of stress wore on his increasingly fragile health, due to his habits and strained relationships. Despite many trips to rehab, he still found a way to the booze and drugs.  Towards the end of his life as the drugs and alcohol became his obsession, he was seen as unmanageable and the movie offers stopped coming. His vices not only caused him to lose any opportunity to get work, but it ended his life as well.

Days before his death, his wife found him laying on the kitchen floor, unconscious and bleeding. Peter was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in serious condition.  On December 19th he slipped into a coma and remained that way for the next four days. On December 24th, Peter moved for the first time in days, but moments later he fell back onto the mattress and was dead. The Christmas day newspapers read, “Peter Lawford dead at 61.”

Interestingly enough, none of the Rat Pack members attended the funeral. This is possibly due to a falling-out between Frank Sinatra and Lawford over Peter’s involvement with Ava Gardner.