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

The last wife of screen star Lawford and coauthor Schwartz, a freelance writer, recreate in often tawdry detail the actor's life and recall his three previous wives, including Patricia Kennedy. Basing their narrative on the performer's diaries and notes for a projected autobiography, and on conversations with his friends, the authors recount titillating goings-on of Hollywood celebrities and at the Kennedy White House, as well as the alcohol and drug abuse that led to Lawford's physical, emotional and financial ruin. Members of the infamous ``Rat Pack,'' Lawford and Sinatra both arranged amorous encounters for President Kennedy, notably with Marilyn Monroe for whose death Lawford felt partly responsible, according to this memoir. In his turn, the actor's own drug-induced death in 1984 entailed humiliating complications for his wife of 10 years, who emerges from this account as an unbelievably long-suffering widow. Photos not seen by PW . 50,000 first printing; $60,000 ad/promo; first serial to National Enquirer; author tour. (Nov.)