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.
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.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0000817
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q444371
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Filmography (Movies)
Checking Out: Grand Hotel
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:03/02/2004
Hart to Hart: Crimes of the Hart
Character:Professor Cabel
Release Date:25/03/1994
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
Character:actor 'Advise and 'Consent' (archive footage) (uncredited)
Release Date:28/10/1991
Cast the First Stone
Character:Martin
Release Date:13/11/1989
Under Siege
Character:John Pace
Release Date:09/02/1986
Don Camillo
Character:Doc
Release Date:08/02/1984
Bruised Celluloid
Character:Himself
Release Date:01/01/1984
Of Mice and Men
Character:Candy
Release Date:29/11/1981
Reunion
Character:Bob Hollander
Release Date:14/10/1980
Letters from Frank
Character:Dan Miller
Release Date:22/11/1979
Suddenly, Love
Character:Mr. Graham
Release Date:04/12/1978
The Story of Noah
Character:Noah
Release Date:19/11/1978
Battlestar Galactica
Character:President Adar
Release Date:25/10/1978
Damien - Omen II
Character:Bill Atherton
Release Date:09/06/1978
End of the World
Character:Com. Joseph Beckerman
Release Date:01/08/1977
Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident
Character:Allen Dulles
Release Date:29/09/1976
That's Entertainment, Part II
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:16/05/1976
Heatwave!
Character:Dr. Grayson
Release Date:26/01/1974
The Questor Tapes
Character:Vaslovik
Release Date:23/01/1974
Battle for the Planet of the Apes
Character:Mandemus
Release Date:15/06/1973
The Stranger
Character:Prof. Dylan MacAuley
Release Date:26/02/1973
The Man
Character:Noah Calvin
Release Date:19/07/1972
The Biscuit Eater
Character:Mr. Ames
Release Date:22/03/1972
She Waits
Character:Dr. Sam Carpenter
Release Date:28/01/1972
Earth II
Character:President Charles Carter Durant
Release Date:28/11/1971
Marcus Welby, M.D.: A Matter of Humanities
Character:Dr. Andrew Swanson
Release Date:26/03/1969
Cocoon
Character:The Governor
Release Date:20/09/1968
The Carpetbaggers
Character:'Mac' McAllister
Release Date:08/04/1964
Advise & Consent
Character:The Vice President
Release Date:06/06/1962
The Family Nobody Wanted
Character:Carl Doss
Release Date:20/12/1956
One Against Many
Character:Dr. John Mohler
Release Date:07/03/1956
Donovan's Brain
Character:Dr. Patrick J. Cory
Release Date:30/09/1953
No Escape
Character:John Howard Tracy
Release Date:31/07/1953
New Mexico
Character:Capt. Hunt
Release Date:18/05/1951
The Capture
Character:Lin Vanner / Lindley Brown
Release Date:08/04/1950
Johnny Belinda
Character:Dr. Robert Richardson
Release Date:14/09/1948
The Unfaithful
Character:Larry Hannaford
Release Date:01/07/1947
The Way of Peace
Character:Narrator (voice)
Release Date:23/04/1947
Blow-Ups of 1946
Character:Self
Release Date:31/12/1946
The Dark Mirror
Character:Dr. Scott Elliott
Release Date:17/10/1946
Fingers at the Window
Character:Oliver Duffy
Release Date:22/04/1942
Dr. Kildare's Victory
Character:Dr. James Kildare
Release Date:04/02/1942
Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day
Character:Dr. James Kildare
Release Date:22/08/1941
The People Vs. Dr. Kildare
Character:Dr. James Kildare
Release Date:02/05/1941
Maisie Was a Lady
Character:Bob Rawlston
Release Date:10/01/1941
Dr. Kildare's Crisis
Character:Dr. James Kildare
Release Date:29/11/1940
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
Character:Self
Release Date:24/10/1940
Dr. Kildare Goes Home
Character:Dr. James Kildare
Release Date:06/09/1940
The Golden Fleecing
Character:Henry Twinkle
Release Date:16/08/1940
Hollywood: Style Center of the World
Character:Self
Release Date:29/05/1940
Dr. Kildare's Strange Case
Character:Dr. James Kildare
Release Date:12/04/1940
Remember?
Character:Sky Ames
Release Date:19/12/1939
The Secret of Dr. Kildare
Character:Dr. James Kildare
Release Date:24/11/1939
These Glamour Girls
Character:Philip S. Griswold III
Release Date:18/08/1939
From the Ends of the Earth
Character:Self
Release Date:28/05/1939
Calling Dr. Kildare
Character:Dr. James Kildare
Release Date:28/04/1939
Broadway Serenade
Character:James Geoffrey 'Jimmy' Seymour
Release Date:07/04/1939
The Ice Follies of 1939
Character:Eddie Burgess
Release Date:10/03/1939
Spring Madness
Character:Sam Thatcher
Release Date:11/11/1938
Young Dr. Kildare
Character:Dr. James Kildare
Release Date:14/10/1938
Rich Man, Poor Girl
Character:Henry Thayer
Release Date:12/08/1938
Holiday
Character:Ned Seton
Release Date:26/05/1938
King of the Newsboys
Character:Jerry Flynn
Release Date:18/03/1938
Scandal Street
Character:Joe McKnight
Release Date:11/02/1938
Hold 'Em Navy
Character:Tommy Graham
Release Date:04/11/1937
The Last Train from Madrid
Character:Bill Dexter
Release Date:25/06/1937
The Crime Nobody Saw
Character:Nick Milburn
Release Date:12/03/1937
Murder with Pictures
Character:Kent Murdock
Release Date:24/09/1936
Lady Be Careful
Character:Chester aka Dynamite
Release Date:03/09/1936
Shakedown
Character:Bob Sanderson
Release Date:17/07/1936
Panic on the Air
Character:Jerry Franklin
Release Date:10/04/1936
The Leathernecks Have Landed
Character:Woodruff 'Woody' Davis
Release Date:17/02/1936
Silk Hat Kid
Character:Eddie Howard
Release Date:19/07/1935
Spring Tonic
Character:Caleb Enix
Release Date:27/06/1935
The Lottery Lover
Character:Cadet Frank Harrington
Release Date:05/02/1935
Servants' Entrance
Character:Erik Landstrom
Release Date:25/09/1934
She Learned About Sailors
Character:Larry Wilson
Release Date:28/06/1934
Let’s Be Ritzy
Character:Jimmy Sterling
Release Date:01/05/1934
Cross Country Cruise
Character:Norman Winthrop
Release Date:16/01/1934
My Weakness
Character:Ronnie Gregory
Release Date:22/09/1933
Don't Bet on Love
Character:Bill McCaffrey
Release Date:30/06/1933
State Fair
Character:Pat Gilbert
Release Date:10/02/1933
Okay, America!
Character:Larry Wayne
Release Date:08/09/1932
Night World
Character:Michael Rand
Release Date:04/05/1932
The Cohens and Kellys in Hollywood
Character:Lew Ayres
Release Date:27/03/1932
The Impatient Maiden
Character:Dr. Myron Brown
Release Date:01/03/1932
Heaven on Earth
Character:States
Release Date:27/11/1931
The Spirit of Notre Dame
Character:Edward Aloysius "Bucky" O'Brian
Release Date:13/10/1931
Up for Murder
Character:Robert Marshall
Release Date:26/05/1931
Iron Man
Character:Kid Mason
Release Date:29/04/1931
Many a Slip
Character:Jerry Brooks
Release Date:02/03/1931
East Is West
Character:Billy Benson
Release Date:23/10/1930
The Doorway to Hell
Character:Louie Ricarno
Release Date:18/10/1930
Common Clay
Character:Hugh Fullerton
Release Date:01/08/1930
All Quiet on the Western Front
Character:Paul Bäumer
Release Date:29/04/1930
The Kiss
Character:Pierre Lassalle
Release Date:15/11/1929
Big News
Character:Copyboy (uncredited)
Release Date:06/09/1929
The Sophomore
Character:Sophomore Fraternity Brother (uncredited)
Release Date:24/08/1929
Television Appearances
MGM: When the Lion Roars
Character:
Outlaws
Character:
L.A. Law
Character:Lorimar Henderson
Lime Street
Character:Henry Wade Culver
Finder of Lost Loves
Character:Oliver Hawthorne
Highway to Heaven
Character:
The A-Team
Character:Bernie Greene
Hotel
Character:
Cagney & Lacey
Character:
Fame
Character:
Simon & Simon
Character:
Magnum, P.I.
Character:Sidney Dollinger
Knots Landing
Character:Andrew Douglas
Salem's Lot
Character:Jason Burke
Trapper John, M.D.
Character:
Flying High
Character:
Battlestar Galactica
Character:President Adar
The Love Boat
Character:Carl Hooper
The Fantastic Journey
Character:Rayat
Quincy, M.E.
Character:
The Bionic Woman
Character:
Wonder Woman
Character:Dr. Kenneth Wilson
Little House on the Prairie
Character:
The Magician
Character:Max Braden
Hawkins
Character:Gus Bitterman
Kung Fu
Character:Beaumont
The Streets of San Francisco
Character:
McMillan & Wife
Character:
Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
Character:
Columbo
Character:Howard Nicholson
San Francisco International Airport
Character:
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Character:
The Interns
Character:
Here Come the Brides
Character:
Hawaii Five-O
Character:The Governor
Hawaii Five-O
Character:Dr. Elias Haig
Hawaii Five-O
Character:Comm. Reginald Blackwell
ABC Stage 67
Character:Arthur
The F.B.I.
Character:Marshall Winslow
The Big Valley
Character:Sheriff Roy Kingston
The Big Valley
Character:Jason Fleet
Slattery's People
Character:
Kraft Suspense Theatre
Character:Dr. Thomas Clay
The Virginian
Character:Judge John Markham
Saints and Sinners
Character:
Ben Casey
Character:
Bus Stop
Character:
Route 66
Character:
My Three Sons
Character:
The Barbara Stanwyck Show
Character:Dr. Paul Harris
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
Character:Howard Moon
Laramie
Character:
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
Character:
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Character:Clint Howard
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Character:Jud Lester
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Character:Jesse Martin
Screen Director's Playhouse
Character:Dr. John Mohler
Gunsmoke
Character:Jonathan Cole
Climax!
Character:Bob Kilgore
Omnibus
Character:
Cavalcade of America
Character:Matt Needham
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Character:
The Ken Murray Show
Character:
Images
