Christopher Lawford

He was the eldest child and only son of actor and "Rat Pack" member Peter Lawford (1923–1984) and Patricia "Pat" Kennedy Lawford (1924–2006), who was President John F. Kennedy's sister.

Christopher Kennedy Lawford (March 29, 1955 – September 4, 2018) was an American author, actor, and activist.

He was a member of the prominent Kennedy family, and son of English actor Peter Lawford and Patricia "Pat" Kennedy Lawford, who was a sister of President John F. Kennedy.

Lawford was born on March 29, 1955, at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California.

He was named for Saint Christopher and because his mother liked the name.

His three younger sisters were Sydney Lawford McKelvy (born 1956), Victoria Pender (born 1958), and Robin Lawford (born 1961).

Lawford described himself as a "second-string Kennedy" because he did not get as much attention as his cousins.

His parents divorced in 1966; Patricia Lawford moved from California to New York City with her son and daughters.

Before his parents' divorce, Lawford attended St. Martin of Tours Elementary School in Los Angeles, where at the age of 8, he was informed about his uncle John F. Kennedy's assassination.

After moving to New York City with his mother, he attended the Middlesex School, a prep school in Concord, Massachusetts.

In 1969, the year after his uncle Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated, when Lawford was 14, he was introduced to LSD by his peers at school.

He was addicted to alcohol, cocaine, uppers, downers, and "any other drugs he could buy" for the next 17 years.

He graduated from Tufts University in 1977 and earned a Juris Doctor degree from Boston College in 1983.

He later earned a master's certificate in Clinical Psychology from Harvard University and was a lecturer on drug addiction.

After struggling with addiction for 17 years, he became an actor, performing in several movies and television shows for over 20 years.

He wrote several books, based on his own experience, about addiction and recovery.

He also traveled around the U.S. speaking about his experiences with addiction for 20 years, and was a public health campaigner, working with organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations (UN), and for the U.S. federal government.

He graduated from Tufts University in 1977 and earned a J.D. degree from Boston College Law School in 1983.

He later earned a master's certificate in Clinical Psychology from Harvard University, and lectured on drug addiction at Harvard, Columbia University, and other colleges.

During that time, he was "in and out of hospitals and arrested three times", including in 1980, for impersonating a doctor in Aspen, Colorado in order to purchase prescription medication.

The charges were later dropped when Lawford completed his probation.

Lawford chose to become, like his father, an actor in the mid-1980s, after realizing that a law career would not suit him.

In April 1984, the same year his father Peter Lawford died at the age of 61, after years of alcohol and drug abuse, Lawford's cousin and best friend David Kennedy, and third oldest son of Robert Kennedy, who also battled substance abuse issues, died of a drug overdose at the age of 28.

David's death prompted Lawford to seek professional help for his issues.

In 1986, at the age of 30, Lawford entered rehab and got treatment for his drug addiction.

He performed in commercials in Boston for two years, and then he and his wife moved to Southern California in 1988 so that he could pursue an acting career.

He worked in film and television for over 20 years.

His acting credits included the sitcom Frasier and the drama The O.C..

Lawford had small roles in films such as The Russia House, a 1990 spy thriller co-starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Sean Connery, and the 1991 rock-music film The Doors, which was directed by Oliver Stone.

He also had a small role in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, co-starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, who directed Lawford in a 1990 episode of the HBO anthology series Tales from the Crypt ("The Switch") and was married to Lawford's cousin Maria Shriver at the time.

In 1997, Lawford had a role in the independent comedy Kiss Me Guido as the gay lover of the main character.

In 2000, Lawford was diagnosed with hepatitis C, which he contracted due to his years of drug use.

Lawford briefly attended Fordham Law School, but dropped out after a few months due to his dependency on heroin.

Lawford played a Navy officer in the 2000 film Thirteen Days, a drama about the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

In 2003, he had a brief stint on the soap opera General Hospital, but was best known for playing Philip "Charlie" Brent, Jr. on All My Children from 1992 to 1995.

In 2005, Lawford appeared in the motorcycle racing film The World's Fastest Indian, co-starring Anthony Hopkins.

Lawford wrote several books "that described his efforts to recover from drug addiction".

In 2005, he published his memoir, Symptoms of Withdrawal, in which he recounted decades of "better living through chemistry".

In 2009, he wrote Moments of Clarity, a compilation of first-person recollections by famous addicts, including Ed Begley, Jr., Alec Baldwin, Buzz Aldrin, Richard Dreyfuss, Martin Sheen, Judy Collins, and musician and federal prisoner Dejuan Verrett.

Lawford remained clean and sober until his death in 2018.