Lew Ayres
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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
Credits
Damien - Omen II (1978)
as Bill Atherton
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
as Paul Bäumer
Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)
as Mandemus
Battlestar Galactica (1978)
as President Adar
Advise & Consent (1962)
as The Vice President
Holiday (1938)
as Ned Seton
The Dark Mirror (1946)
as Scott Elliott
Johnny Belinda (1948)
as Robert Richardson
The Carpetbaggers (1964)
as Mac McAllister
End of the World (1977)
as Com. Joseph Beckerman
Under Siege (1986)
as John Pace
The Last Train from Madrid (1937)
as Bill Dexter
The Unfaithful (1947)
as Larry Hannaford
The Man (1972)
as Noah Calvin
Don Camillo (1984)
as Doc
The Questor Tapes (1974)
as Vaslovik
That's Entertainment, Part II (1976)
as (archive footage)
The Stranger (1973)
as Prof. Dylan MacAuley
Calling Dr. Kildare (1939)
as Dr. James Kildare
The Biscuit Eater (1972)
as Mr. Ames
Earth II (1971)
as President Charles Carter Durant
The Capture (1950)
as Lin Vanner / Lindley Brown
The Ice Follies of 1939 (1939)
as Eddie Burgess
Broadway Serenade (1939)
as James Geoffrey 'Jimmy' Seymour
Murder with Pictures (1936)
as Kent Murdock
New Mexico (1951)
as Captain Hunt
The Golden Fleecing (1940)
as Henry Twinkle
Suddenly, Love (1978)
as Mr. Graham
The Lottery Lover (1935)
as Cadet Frank Harrington
Maisie Was a Lady (1941)
as Bob Rawlston
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound (1940)
as Self
Iron Man (1931)
as Kid Mason
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker (1991)
as actor 'Advise and 'Consent' (archive footage) (uncredited)
Hollywood: Style Center of the World (1940)
as Self
Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident (1976)
as Allen Dulles
Fingers at the Window (1942)
as Oliver Duffy
Donovan's Brain (1953)
as Dr. Patrick J. Cory
Young Dr. Kildare (1938)
as Dr. James Kildare
Night World (1932)
as Michael Rand
The Kiss (1929)
as Pierre
She Waits (1972)
as Dr. Sam Carpenter
Cast the First Stone (1989)
as Martin
Letters from Frank (1979)
as Dan Miller
Reunion (1980)
as Bob Hollander
Marcus Welby, M.D.: A Matter of Humanities (1969)
as Dr. Andrew Swanson
Dr. Kildare's Strange Case (1940)
as James Kildare
Of Mice and Men (1981)
as Candy
Spring Madness (1938)
as Sam Thatcher
The Secret of Dr. Kildare (1939)
as James Kildare
Scandal Street (1938)
as Joe McKnight
The Doorway to Hell (1930)
as Louie Ricarno
Dr. Kildare's Victory (1942)
as Dr. James Kildare
Checking Out: Grand Hotel (2004)
as Self (archive footage)
State Fair (1933)
as Pat Gilbert
Cocoon (1968)
as The Governor
Hold 'Em Navy (1937)
as Tommy Graham
Hart to Hart: Crimes of the Hart (1994)
as Professor Cabel
These Glamour Girls (1939)
as Philip S. Griswold III
The Cohens and Kellys in Hollywood (1932)
as Lew Ayres
Heaven on Earth (1931)
as States
Dr. Kildare's Crisis (1940)
as Dr. James Kildare
Heatwave! (1974)
as Dr. Grayson
The Leathernecks Have Landed (1936)
as Woodruff 'Woody' Davis
The Impatient Maiden (1932)
as Dr. Myron Brown
Okay, America! (1932)
as Larry Wayne
Dr. Kildare Goes Home (1940)
as Dr. James Kildare
Rich Man, Poor Girl (1938)
as Henry Thayer
Big News (1929)
as Copyboy (uncredited)
No Escape (1953)
as John Howard Tracy
Servants' Entrance (1934)
as Erik Landstrom
She Learned About Sailors (1934)
as Larry Wilson
Blow-Ups of 1946 (1946)
as Self
Remember? (1939)
as Sky Ames
The Sophomore (1929)
as Sophomore Fraternity Brother (uncredited)
The Spirit of Notre Dame (1931)
as Edward Aloysius "Bucky" O'Brian
Let’s Be Ritzy (1934)
as Jimmy Sterling
Cross Country Cruise (1934)
as Norman Winthrop
Common Clay (1930)
as Hugh Fullerton
My Weakness (1933)
as Ronnie Gregory
Many a Slip (1931)
as Jerry Brooks
From the Ends of the Earth (1939)
as Self
The Story of Noah (1978)
as Noah
King of the Newsboys (1938)
as Jerry Flynn
Shakedown (1936)
as Bob Sanderson
Bruised Celluloid (1984)
as Himself
East Is West (1930)
as Billy Benson
Spring Tonic (1935)
as Caleb Enix
Lady Be Careful (1936)
as Chester aka Dynamite
The Crime Nobody Saw (1937)
as Nick Milburn
The People Vs. Dr. Kildare (1941)
as Dr. James Kildare
Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day (1941)
as Dr. James Kildare
The Way of Peace (1947)
as Narrator (voice)
The Family Nobody Wanted (1956)
as Carl Doss
Don't Bet on Love (1933)
as Bill McCaffrey
Panic on the Air (1936)
as Jerry
Up for Murder (1931)
as Robert Marshall
Silk Hat Kid (1935)
as Eddie Howard
One Against Many (1956)
as Dr. John Mohler
The Upper Chamber (1963)
Actor