The Peter Lawford Story: Life With the Kennedys, Monroe and the Rat Pack

Rating:
Summary: Speculation about Rat Pack non-singer
Review: Had really interesting segment about Peter Lawford appearances on $10,000 Pyramid and then $20,000 Pyramid. Lawford really liked this gameshow and was quite good at it. Details like this (rather than speculation by someone who should know better) make this an intriguing character study.

Rating:
Summary: Speculation about Rat Pack non-singer
Review: Had really interesting segment about Peter Lawford appearances on $10,000 Pyramid and then $20,000 Pyramid. Lawford really liked this gameshow and was quite good at it. Details like this (rather than speculation by someone who should know better) make this an intriguing character study.

Rating:
Summary: Did you ever hear two different stories...?
Review: I know that Patricia Seaton was married to Peter Lawford, and I am confident that many of the things she covered in this biography are undeniable, but the gross variances between her accounts and established facts almost begs the reader to question this author's credibility. Prime example: Seaton Lawford states that Colonel Ernest Aylen (Lady May Lawford's husband at the time) learned that his wife was pregnant (by his commanding officer) and killed himself in 1923--in front of May's own eyes. Dramatic story, yet public records clearly indicate that Aylen filed for divorce seven months after his alleged suicide and died some 24 years later (on October 12, 1947) by his own hand. Obviously, both stories cannot be true... So, when Seaton Lawford writes that Bobby Kennedy did NOT have a sexual relationship with Marilyn Monroe, can I believe her? Or when she states that Peter Lawford showed more concern for a marijuana plant than for his son Christopher (who was strung-out on heroin and standing on a second-story ledge) can I believe her? Or when she states that First Lady-to-be Nancy Davis (before her marriage to Ronald Reagan) was known for certain sexual acts, can I believe her? Just as troubling, Seaton Lawford interjects personal stories (like her rape by an OB-GYN or Ted Kennedy's apparent proposition for sex) and awkwardly tries to include them as some significant commentary on Peter Lawford's sensibilities or psyche. These disturbing experiences seem inappropriate in a discussion of his life, and they paint the author as someone who is too close to the subject to convey objective information. Overall, I was left with the unsatisfying feeling that someone had been mixing lies with facts.