After an unconventional, nomadic childhood spent in the company of his aristocratic British parents, Lawford arrived in Hollywood in 1940 and quickly filled the void that WWII had left in the ranks of romantic young male leads. With his clipped accent, aristocratic good manners and charm, and boyish athleticism, Lawford was quickly signed by MGM to play young British soldiers in a series of patriotic features, and by the War's end rose to the romantic lead or second lead in numerous first-rate studio productions including "Good News" (1947), "Easter Parade" (1948), "Little Women" (1949), and "Royal Wedding" (1951).
One of Hollywood's most sought after bachelors, Lawford was romantically linked to almost every Hollywood sex goddess of the 1940s (including Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, and Rita Hayworth) before marrying Patricia Kennedy, daughter of Joseph Kennedy and sister of John F. Kennedy, in 1954.
Lawford's career fizzled with the demise of the studio system; MGM did not renew his contract in 1952 and his films as a free agent were few and far between. In the 1950s Lawford starred in two TV comedy series, as an advice-to-the-lovelorn columnist in 1954 "Dear Phoebe" (which he also co-produced), and as Dashiell Hammett's sophisticated sleuth Nick Charles in "The Thin Man" (1957-59), of which Lawford was a co-owner. By the 1960s he cemented his image as a sophisticated playboy as part of Frank Sinatra's swinging Hollywood "Rat Pack" and co-starred in the fraternity's seemingly off-the-cuff, "hip" films ("Never So Few" 1959, "Ocean's Eleven" 1960 , and "Sergeants Three" 1962).
With the deaths of John and Robert Kennedy, his divorce from Patricia Kennedy and his falling out with the "Rat Pack", Lawford was regarded by the end of the 1960s as a charming lightweight personality, famous for being famous. He was relegated to fairly small roles in big pictures and in the 1970s his alcohol and drug abuse further limited his work to guest appearances on TV game shows and to infrequent small roles in minor films. His death at age 61 was brought on by kidney failure and cirrhosis of the liver.