Lew Ayres
Personal Info
Known For Actor
Gender Male
Birthday 1908-12-28
Deathday 1996-12-30 (88 years old)
Place of Birth Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Also Known As Lewis Frederick Ayre III
Lew Ayres
Biography
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
Actor
as Self (archive footage)
as Professor Cabel
as actor 'Advise and 'Consent' (archive footage) (uncredited)
as Martin
as John Pace
as Lorimar Henderson
as Henry Wade Culver
as Doc
as Himself
as Oliver Hawthorne
as Bernie Greene
as Candy
as Bob Hollander
as Sidney Dollinger
as Dan Miller
as Andrew Douglas
as Jason Burke
as Mr. Graham
as Noah
as President Adar
as Bill Atherton
as President Adar
as Com. Joseph Beckerman
as Carl Hooper
as Allen Dulles
as (archive footage)
as Dr. Kenneth Wilson
as Dr. Grayson
as Vaslovik
as Mandemus
as Prof. Dylan MacAuley
as Max Braden
as Gus Bitterman
as Noah Calvin
as Mr. Ames
as Dr. Sam Carpenter
as President Charles Carter Durant
as Howard Nicholson
as Dr. Andrew Swanson
as The Governor
as The Governor
as Dr. Elias Haig
as Comm. Reginald Blackwell
as Arthur
as Marshall Winslow
as Sheriff Roy Kingston
as Jason Fleet
as 'Mac' McAllister
as Dr. Thomas Clay
as The Vice President
as Judge John Markham
as Dr. Paul Harris
as Howard Moon
as Dr. John Mohler
as Clint Howard
as Jud Lester
as Jesse Martin
as Dr. John Mohler
as Jonathan Cole
as Bob Kilgore
as Dr. Patrick J. Cory
as John Howard Tracy
as Matt Needham
as Capt. Hunt
as Lin Vanner / Lindley Brown
as Dr. Robert Richardson
as Larry Hannaford
as Narrator (voice)
as Self
as Dr. Scott Elliott
as Oliver Duffy
as Dr. James Kildare
as Dr. James Kildare
as Dr. James Kildare
as Bob Rawlston
as Dr. James Kildare
as Dr. James Kildare
as Henry Twinkle
as Dr. James Kildare
as Sky Ames
as Dr. James Kildare
as Philip S. Griswold III
as Self
as Dr. James Kildare
as James Geoffrey 'Jimmy' Seymour
as Eddie Burgess
as Sam Thatcher
as Dr. James Kildare
as Henry Thayer
as Ned Seton
as Jerry Flynn
as Joe McKnight
as Tommy Graham
as Bill Dexter
as Nick Milburn
as Kent Murdock
as Chester aka Dynamite
as Bob Sanderson
as Jerry Franklin
as Woodruff 'Woody' Davis
as Eddie Howard
as Caleb Enix
as Cadet Frank Harrington
as Erik Landstrom
as Larry Wilson
as Jimmy Sterling
as Norman Winthrop
as Ronnie Gregory
as Bill McCaffrey
as Pat Gilbert
as Larry Wayne
as Michael Rand
as Lew Ayres
as Dr. Myron Brown
as States
as Edward Aloysius "Bucky" O'Brian
as Robert Marshall
as Kid Mason
as Jerry Brooks
as Billy Benson
as Louie Ricarno
as Hugh Fullerton
as Paul Bäumer
as Pierre Lassalle
as Copyboy (uncredited)
as Sophomore Fraternity Brother (uncredited)
Director
as Director
as Director