Christopher Kennedy Lawford, an actor and writer who fought addiction, dies at age 63

Christopher Kennedy Lawford, an actor born of Hollywood politics and nobility who turned his drug recovery career into a public health advocacy and best-selling author, died Tuesday in Vancouver, British Columbia. He was 63 years old and lived in Los Angeles and Hawaii.

The cause was a heart attack, said his family.

Mr. Lawford, whose mother was Patricia Kennedy, a sister of John F. Kennedy, and whose father was Peter Lawford, actor and British member of the Rat Pack, started playing in the late 1980s and participated in TV shows like "Frasier" and "The OC", as well as in films including "Terminator 3."

He struggled against addiction from an early age, describing in his books how he was "a pioneering pharmaceutical engineer" at the age of 13.

Mr. Lawford has written several books describing his efforts to recover from drug addiction, including "Withdrawal Symptoms", "Moments of Clarity" and "Recover to Live". He explained that despite his origins and his problems, he has never received as much attention as his cousins, saying that he was a "Kennedy Kennedy."

Over the past two decades, Mr. Lawford has traveled across the country to talk about his addiction experience and has been able to change the perception of the disease, said his cousin Patrick J. Kennedy, a former Rhode Island congressman . wrote about it.

Mr. Lawford has also served as a public health advocate with the United Nations, the Canadian Center on Substance Abuse and Addiction, the Office of National Drug Policy and the White House. World Health Organization.

The recovery talks are often focused on prison and health care, but Mr. Lawford has been successful in conveying a more positive aspect, Kennedy said. "Chris was one of those people who had a way of telling stories that raised the perceptions and judgments of people with addiction disease," he said.

Mr. Lawford also made a significant difference in Mr. Kennedy's fight against addiction, he said. "I would not be where I am in life without him," he said, explaining that Mr. Lawford was the only person who could understand what it was like to deal with a problem of addiction in his life. a family. like theirs

"I'm a better person because of Chris," Kennedy said. "And many people can say the same thing I can today because of what he has contributed to their lives."

Mr. Lawford had been a member of California Public Health Advisory Committee since 2009. He was appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the Treatment and Care of Drug Abuse by the United Nations in 2011.