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