He began on Broadway before moving to featured and supporting roles in Hollywood over a ten-year career at the very beginning of the sound film era.
[citation needed] In 1927 he had a featured role in the Broadway production Her First Affaire, which premiered at the Nora Bayes Theatre in August 1927.
[4] Aside from his professional career, he was also popular with many Hollywood actors, including William Haines, George Cukor, Gary Cooper, and Katharine Hepburn.
[5] Lawler produced the 1946 film Somewhere in the Night, which was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and starred John Hodiak, Nancy Guild, and Lloyd Nolan.
[9] Lawler purchased Donald L. Linder's house in West Hollywood, California, designed in the Streamline Moderne style by architect Edward B.