Peter Lawford: The Man Who Kept Secrets

A very good writer whose books I have always enjoyed. I never liked Lawford as a person and he never fully explained what happened to Marilyn. But he was one of the group of British actors who were very much enjoyed by the American audiences. I had forgotten how awful his mother was, how sad.

I like most people who work for a living wish we had the fantasty movie star life Peter Lawford had. There was also a horrible side that came with Peters fantasty life. The Kennedys used Peter to get in with the stars, Frank Sinatra also used Peter to get in with JFK, to get some pull in the White House, to go along with all the mafia connections Frank had. When Frank did not get to have JFK stay at his home, Frank would blame Peter for the rest of life. The punishment that Frank unleashed on Peter would be incomprehensible. Frank black listed Peter from all the big hollywood producers as well as productions. Frank made Peter Lawford suffer for something that after JFKs death Bobby Kennedy would go to Franks home and tell Frank that Peter was not responsable for Jack not staying at Franks home in California in 1962. Some time before the JFK stay at Franks home J. Edgar Hoover stopped by the White House and told JFK that you can't stay at Frank Sinatras home because of his mob connections and that JFK was seeing and fooling around with young starlett Judy Cambell, and that Hoover would let the press know of his affair with Campbell and ruin JFKs presidency. So what happened? JFK told Peter Lawford that he had to tell Frank the bad news. When Peter did tell Frank it sealed Peters hollywood fate for the next 22 years of Peters alcohol drug filled life. Frank Sinatra did ruin Peters acting career, but Peter led a self destructive lifestyle. His alcohol and drug taking severed many ties to some of hollywood biggest connections, not just the ones Frank blackballed Peter with. In the mid sixties Peter co hosted the tonight show when Johnny Carson was unable to do the show. Peter blew it with Carson when Carson partied with Peter one night with some pot and drinking. During the night Johnny Carson was at the top 33rd floor of Peters condominium and nearly jumped off because of indulgances with Peter that night. Carson went to the hospital that night and was told by doctors that the marajuna he smoked had LSD in it ( a drug of the mid-- late 1960s). Peter denied it to Carson, and Carson had nothing to do with Peter ever again. Peter blew a really lucrative future deal. This is just one example of blown opportunities Peter had. Lawford could have made a really great career for himself after the Sinatra blackballing. Peters drugs and alcohol were his real demons, Peter was on a course of self destruction and he knew it in his heart. His mother and upbringing did not prepare him for the fantasty life he would lead. Frank Sinatra is loved by millions and I am one of those people, I was not around during those golden hollywood days but I do love to watch Sinatra movies and listen to his beautiful music. In the immortal words of the late Janet Leigh " God forbid if you ever do Frank wrong" watching that inteview with Liegh I knew she was referring to Sinatras blackballing of Peter. Peter was like many MGM manufactured stars of the 1940s 1950s used and discard

Spada has pieced this all together for us. It's a mamoth effort. Its lack of footnotes can be mostly excused because the narrative holds together and has power. In summary: an inconvenient but necessary child to his mother becomes a necessary and inconvenient inlaw. Lawford's childhood and family stories are astounding. This history includes sexual abuse, an inherited tendancy to addiction and emotional highs and lows. Your heart goes out to Peter as a little boy. The cards are stacked against him, but there surely must have been a hand he could play to win. Sir Sydney is sympathetic for his bravery. "Lady" Lawford has nothing going for her but the title she connived. These Victorian relics lived high and fell far. The Lady and the Sir have no marketable skills nor any disposition to acquire them. They need their 16 year old son to park cars... and succeed in a once disdained acting (working) career. The Lawfords save face and receive largess from others of their class by claiming their assets were frozen in war time Britain. Peter saves them from the abyss. Polish, persistence, war and good looks bring him movie roles and connections. He marries American royalty, but the family is IRISH and "Lady" is no lady in this regard. This re-elevation is no bed of roses for Peter. He is useful (and may have been critical) for the Kennedys. Through the Kennedys he becomes useful to his former friend Sinatra. Through Sinatra and Monroe he became inconvenient to everyone, and the divorce makes him totally unnecessary to anyone. The rest is history, in which Lawford, who has so many starring roles, may not even get a credit. He doesn't keep all secrets, he sells Elizabeth Taylor's for $15K. Does he really know who killed JFK and MM, or does he just think he knows? I came to this book because I read the bio of his son, "Symptoms of Withdrawal". Peter sees Chris very little, and his sisters even less. Spada makes us ache for Peter, but he did not break the cycle. This is a compelling and thought provoking book. It hits you on many levels. When you finish it, you feel you need a few days to absorb all you've read.

Excellent book about Peter Lawford and everything else going on in Hollywood! The book begins with Lawford's parents and his upbringing and how he got into the movie business and into Hollywood. And then you begin a rollercoaster ride that will leave you out of breath and unable to put the book down--the stars he meets, and dates, his marriage to Pat Lawford, the Kennedys, Sinatra and the Rat Pack, Marilyn.... The book also has a lot of information, as the title implies, about what Lawford knew from so many of his acquaintances. I was actually sad to finish the book and sad when Peter Lawford dies, he became somewhat of a welcome friend reading the book over the course of those couple weeks. I highly recommend this book.

I am a long-time amateur film historian, and have read many film and theater personality biographies over the past 25 years. This is one of the best bios I've ever read--not because of the subject matter--but because of the biographer. James Spada is an absolutely top-notch biographer. His detailed book on Peter Lawford--a pleasant, eager-to-please, nominally talented, gentle-spirited soul--is not only historically accurate, but is historically important. Why? Because Peter Lawford, a performer of modest ability only deserving of a footnote in American film history, if any at all--was also a well-bred, well-traveled, well-liked and well-associated gentleman who easily cultivated significant relationships with significant people. For instance, Lawford had a romance with Britain's Princess Margaret, and married the sister of the man who would become the most beloved 20th century American president. Lawford was intimates with and was admired and adored by major players in both industry (the Fords) and Hollywood (Monroe, Garland, Taylor, Sinatra). But overall--he was a really nice guy who was liked by a lot of people from all walks of life, someone you would want to have as a good friend. James Spada's gentle but non-editorializing understanding of human nature, his interest in his subject, his research, organization and writing style are among the best I've ever seen. I say that this work on Peter Lawford is, in many ways, a relevant companion and addition to an American presidential history reading list as is the assiduously-researched and reported Doris Kearns Goodwin book, "THE FITZGERALDS and THE KENNEDYS". Many times, movie personality biographers conclude their works with a chapter or paragraph that they hope will give some sort of a hindsight summation to their subject's life. But without indulging in writer's ego, Spada allows Lawford's life to speak for itself throughout the book, which negates the need for such a summary. Throughout the book, the author gently leads the reader through Lawford's enchanted but isolated early years with its strange details about Lawford's formidable, disturbed mother. He discusses Lawford's personal choices, his work challenges and difficulties, and the cruelty of power and politics when it is mixed with friendship. We walk along Lawford's personal life and career path that ends in an impassable roadblock. And finally, Spada lets us off on the rusty tracks of Lawford's later life train-wreck, which makes us understand for ourselves why and how his salvation was simply impossible. "PETER LAWFORD--THE MAN WHO KEPT THE SECRETS" is a poignant morality--and political--tale.

This book is very well-written. It soaked me in. It was as though every moment I read it, I disappeared into another world, and the moments I was away from the book, I longed to disappear into that world again. A world that I, at first, believed epitomized all that is lush & lovely gradually eroded into a world of illusion, darkness & loneliness, and a man who I once saw as one of the head angels of that heaven, was gradually brought down to earth. This novel revealed to me Peter Lawford: the man. It revealed him in every dimension. At times I fell in love with him; at times I loathed him. At other times I weeped for the man who was a victim of his own shaky foundation. A foundation which began crumbling at childhood, and inevitably led to his fall. Many who knew him personally, couldn't understand how a man as gifted as he was, in all facets of life, could lead a life so carelessly & self-destruct so willingly. This book gives the reader something that those who personally befriended the mysterious Peter Lawford weren't even able to obtain. It gives the reader a crisp, clear & intimate portrait of the man who hid behind the beauty & the charm which fooled so many. This book is more than a story of a man's life, it's a story of life in all it's light & darkness. It will, inevitably, give the reader a brand new outlook on life & the people who inhabit it: from the "lifestyles of the rich & famous" to the regular folks who lust after it. This book will open yours eyes.