Patricia Kennedy Lawford
| Patricia Kennedy Lawford | |
|---|---|
Patricia Kennedy Lawford, c. 1948
|
|
| Born |
Patricia Helen Kennedy May 6, 1924 Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | September 17, 2006 (aged 82) Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Pneumonia |
| Resting place | Southampton Cemetery |
| Alma mater | Rosemont College |
| Spouse(s) | Peter Lawford (m. 1954; div. 1966) |
| Children |
|
| Parent(s) |
Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. Rose Kennedy |
| Relatives | See: Kennedy family |
Patricia Helen "Pat" Kennedy Lawford (May 6, 1924 – September 17, 2006) was an American socialite and the sixth of nine children of Rose and Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. She was a sister of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and Senator Ted Kennedy. Pat wanted to be a film producer, a profession not readily open to young women in her time. She married English actor Peter Lawford in 1954, but they experienced a serious culture-clash and divorced in 1966.
Patricia Helen Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts. She was considered the most sophisticated, yet also the most introverted, of her parents' five daughters. Since childhood she had a fascination with travel and Hollywood. In time she would become a world traveler, so much so that as a young girl she was given assignments by the independent and foreign press to write of her travels. Her ongoing fascination with Hollywood was fueled by her father's stories and adventures there as a movie mogul heading RKO Pictures. After graduating from Rosemont College, she moved to Hollywood in hopes of becoming a movie producer and director like her father.
Her father apparently believed that she could do as much, once saying, "Pat is the one with head for business. She could really run this town if she put her mind to it." However, because she was a woman in the very conservative 1950s, she was restricted to working as a production assistant on patriotic and religious productions such as singer Kate Smith's radio program and Father Peyton's Family Rosary Crusade.
She met English actor Peter Lawford through her sister Eunice in the 1940s. They met again in 1949, and again in 1953. They courted briefly and officially announced their engagement in February 1954. They married on April 24, 1954, at the Roman Catholic Church of St. Thomas More in New York City, twelve days before her thirtieth birthday. They settled in Santa Monica, California, and often socialized with actress Judy Garland and her family. Garland gave birth to her son Joseph at the same hospital and on the same day Kennedy gave birth to her son Christopher.
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