Peter Lawford

by James Spada

  I reconstructed Lady Lawford’s last years from her autobiography, contemporary newspaper accounts, her personal papers, court records, and a number of interviews with those who knew her toward the end of her life.

  Many of the details of Peter’s courtship of Mary Rowan are contained in an interview with both of them by Jane Ardmore, published in Motion Picture magazine, December 1972. The Lawford-Rowan divorce settlement is part of the public record in Los Angeles County, as are the numerous lawsuits filed by and against Peter. The letters Mary wrote Peter are in the Lawford collection at ASU.

  Much of the information about the drug use of Christopher Lawford, Bobby Kennedy, Jr., and David Kennedy is based on interviews contained in the Collier and Horowitz book, The Kennedys, as well as on contemporary newspaper accounts.

  In addition to my lengthy interview with Deborah Gould, details of her relationship with Peter came from contemporary accounts quoting Deborah, and The Peter Lawford Story.

  Amy Rea’s evening with Peter in New York is taken from an unpublished account of it she wrote on June 5, 1988, and kindly granted me permission to use.

  My account of Peter’s relationship with Pat Seaton is based on her own in The Peter Lawford Story, as well as on contemporary newspaper and magazine reports and interviews with many of Peter’s friends and associates.

  SELECTED

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