Lew Ayres
Biography
Lew Ayres was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and raised in San Diego, California. A college dropout, he was found by a talent scout in the Coconut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles and entered Hollywood as a bit player. He was leading man to Greta Garbo in The Kiss (1929), but it was the role of Paul Baumer in All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) that was his big break. He was profoundly affected by the anti-war message of that film, and when, in 1942, the popular star of Young Dr. Kildare (1938) and subsequent Dr. Kildare films was drafted, he was a conscientious objector. America was outraged, and theaters vowed never to show his films again, but quietly he achieved the Medical Corps status he had requested, serving as a medic under fire in the South Pacific and as a chaplain's aid in New Guinea and the Phillipines. His return to film after the war was undistinguished until Johnny Belinda (1948) - his role as the sympathetic physician treating the deaf-mute Jane Wyman won him an Academy Award nomination as Best Actor. Subsequent movie roles were scarce; an opportunity to play Dr. Kildare in television was aborted when the network refused to honor his request for no cigarette sponsorship. He continued to act, but in the 1970s put his long experience into a project to bring to the west the philosophy of the East - the resulting film, Altars of the World (1976), while not a box-office success, won critical acclaim and a Golden Globe Award. Lew Ayres died in Los Angeles, California on December 30, 1996, just two days after his 88th birthday.
Known For
Paul Bäumer
All Quiet on the Western Front
Com. Joseph Beckerman
End of the World
Mandemus
Battle for the Planet of the Apes
Candy
Of Mice and Men
Bill Atherton
Damien - Omen II
Mr. Graham
Suddenly, Love
Pierre Lassalle
The Kiss
Bob Sanderson
Shakedown
Louie Ricarno
The Doorway to Hell
Dr. Patrick J. Cory
Donovan's Brain
Dr. Robert Richardson
Johnny Belinda
Lin Vanner / Lindley Brown
The Capture
Dr. Scott Elliott
The Dark Mirror
Vaslovik
The Questor Tapes
Ned Seton
Holiday
Oliver Duffy
Fingers at the Window
The Vice President
Advise & Consent
John Howard Tracy
No Escape
Larry Wayne
Okay, America!
Pat Gilbert
State Fair
Dr. James Kildare
Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day
Larry Hannaford
The Unfaithful
Dr. James Kildare
Dr. Kildare Goes Home
Dr. James Kildare
Dr. Kildare's Crisis
President Charles Carter Durant
Earth II
Dr. James Kildare
Young Dr. Kildare
Dr. James Kildare
Calling Dr. Kildare
Dr. James Kildare
The Secret of Dr. Kildare
Dr. James Kildare
Dr. Kildare's Strange Case
Dr. James Kildare
The People Vs. Dr. Kildare
Dr. James Kildare
Dr. Kildare's Victory
Bob Rawlston
Maisie Was a Lady
Capt. Hunt
New Mexico
James Geoffrey 'Jimmy' Seymour
Broadway Serenade
Billy Benson
East Is West
Henry Twinkle
The Golden Fleecing
Jerry Flynn
King of the Newsboys
Nick Milburn
The Crime Nobody Saw
Dr. Myron Brown
The Impatient Maiden
Bill McCaffrey
Don't Bet on Love
Kid Mason
Iron Man
Kent Murdock
Murder with Pictures
Jerry Franklin
Panic on the Air
Eddie Burgess
The Ice Follies of 1939
Philip S. Griswold III
These Glamour Girls
Caleb Enix
Spring Tonic
Noah Calvin
The Man
Henry Thayer
Rich Man, Poor Girl
Sky Ames
Remember?
Bill Dexter
The Last Train from Madrid
Sam Thatcher
Spring Madness
Hugh Fullerton
Common Clay
Doc
Don Camillo
Self (archive footage)
Checking Out: Grand Hotel
Ronnie Gregory
My Weakness
Robert Marshall
Up for Murder
Michael Rand
Night World
President Adar
Battlestar Galactica
Dr. Grayson
Heatwave!
Norman Winthrop
Cross Country Cruise
Dr. Andrew Swanson
Marcus Welby, M.D.: A Matter of Humanities
Copyboy (uncredited)
Big News
Bob Hollander
Reunion
Sophomore Fraternity Brother (uncredited)
The Sophomore
Prof. Dylan MacAuley
The Stranger
Larry Wilson
She Learned About Sailors
'Mac' McAllister
The Carpetbaggers
States
Heaven on Earth
Himself
Geschundenes Zelluloid - Das Schicksal des Kinoklassikers "Im Westen nichts Neues"
Dr. Sam Carpenter
She Waits
Erik Landstrom
Servants' Entrance
John Pace
Under Siege
Professor Cabel
Hart to Hart: Crimes of the Hart
Martin
Cast the First Stone
Woodruff 'Woody' Davis
The Leathernecks Have Landed
Tommy Graham
Hold 'Em Navy
Narrator (voice)
The Way of Peace
Allen Dulles
Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident
Self
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
Edward Aloysius "Bucky" O'Brian
The Spirit of Notre Dame
Cadet Frank Harrington
The Lottery Lover
Jimmy Sterling
Let’s Be Ritzy
Eddie Howard
Silk Hat Kid
Mr. Ames
The Biscuit Eater
Noah
The Story of Noah
Chester aka Dynamite
Lady Be Careful
Self
Blow-Ups of 1946
Lew Ayres
The Cohens and Kellys in Hollywood
Self
Hollywood: Style Center of the World
(archive footage)
That's Entertainment, Part II
Self
From the Ends of the Earth
Joe McKnight
Scandal Street
actor 'Advise and 'Consent' (archive footage) (uncredited)
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
Dan Miller
Letters from Frank
The Governor
Cocoon
Jerry Brooks
Many a Slip
Dr. John Mohler
One Against Many
Dr. Kildare
Dr. Kildare (Unaired Pilot)
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
98
Gender
Male
Birthday
1908-12-28
Place of Birth
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Also Known As
Lewis Frederick Ayre III