Lew Ayres
Acting
🎂 1908-12-28
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.
Cast credits(161)
1974
Sidney Dollinger
1980
1971
Bernie Greene
1983
1979
Howard Nicholson
1971
The Governor
1968
Dr. Elias Haig
1968
Comm. Reginald Blackwell
1968
1982
1970
Dr. John Mohler
1955
Oliver Hawthorne
1984
1981
Marshall Winslow
1965
Lorimar Henderson
1986
1960
Andrew Douglas
1979
Clint Howard
1956
Jud Lester
1956
Jesse Martin
1956
Dr. Paul Harris
1960
1961
Sheriff Roy Kingston
1965
Jason Fleet
1965
1952
Carl Hooper
1977
1958
1959
1976
Bob Kilgore
1954
1961
1976
Howard Moon
1959
1971
1972
President Adar
1978
1984
Judge John Markham
1962
Dr. Thomas Clay
1963
1968
1978
1964
1962
Dr. Kenneth Wilson
1975
1960
1970
Jonathan Cole
1955
Max Braden
1973
1982
1982
Gus Bitterman
1973
1977
1970
Matt Needham
1952
1986
Jason Burke
1979
Arthur
1966
Mandemus
1973
1951
Dr. James Kildare
1940
Paul Bäumer
1930
1950
Bill Atherton
1978
Henry Wade Culver
1985
1992
Beaumont
1972
Lin Vanner / Lindley Brown
1950
Com. Joseph Beckerman
1977
President Adar
1978
Ned Seton
1938
(archive footage)
1976
Mr. Ames
1972
Noah Calvin
1972
Pierre Lassalle
1929
Capt. Hunt
1951
John Howard Tracy
1953
The Vice President
1962
actor 'Advise and 'Consent' (archive footage) (uncredited)
1991
President Charles Carter Durant
1971
Dr. Scott Elliott
1946
Dr. Robert Richardson
1948
'Mac' McAllister
1964
John Pace
1986
Prof. Dylan MacAuley
1973
Dr. James Kildare
1939
Doc
1984
Dan Miller
1979
Sky Ames
1939
Jerry Flynn
1938
Pat Gilbert
1933
Dr. Andrew Swanson
1969
Professor Cabel
1994
The Governor
1968
Candy
1981
Eddie Burgess
1939
Bob Sanderson
1936
Dr. Sam Carpenter
1972
Henry Twinkle
1940
Larry Hannaford
1947
Dr. Grayson
1974
Dr. James Kildare
1940
Vaslovik
1974
Dr. James Kildare
1939
Larry Wilson
1934
Bob Rawlston
1941
Oliver Duffy
1942
Dr. James Kildare
1938
Bill Dexter
1937
Copyboy (uncredited)
1929
Edward Aloysius "Bucky" O'Brian
1931
Dr. James Kildare
1941
James Geoffrey 'Jimmy' Seymour
1939
Dr. Patrick J. Cory
1953
Martin
1989
Bob Hollander
1980
Dr. James Kildare
1942
Dr. James Kildare
1941
Kent Murdock
1936
Lew Ayres
1932
Philip S. Griswold III
1939
Joe McKnight
1938
Dr. James Kildare
1940
Woodruff 'Woody' Davis
1936
Kid Mason
1931
Norman Winthrop
1934
Jerry Franklin
1936
Mr. Graham
1978
Caleb Enix
1935
Eddie Howard
1935
Tommy Graham
1937
Michael Rand
1932
Louie Ricarno
1930
Self
1940
Dr. Myron Brown
1932
Sam Thatcher
1938
Sophomore Fraternity Brother (uncredited)
1929
Erik Landstrom
1934
Allen Dulles
1976
Cadet Frank Harrington
1935
Self (archive footage)
2004
Nick Milburn
1937
Hugh Fullerton
1930
Henry Thayer
1938
Ronnie Gregory
1933
Jerry Brooks
1931
Larry Wayne
1932
Noah
1978
Himself
1984
Self
1940
States
1931
Robert Marshall
1931
Self
1939
Dr. Kildare
1960
Jimmy Sterling
1934
Chester aka Dynamite
1936
Self
1946
Billy Benson
1930
Narrator (voice)
1947
Bill McCaffrey
1933
Dr. John Mohler
1956
