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