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
Advise & Consent (1962)
as The Vice President
That's Entertainment, Part II (1976)
as (archive footage)
The Lottery Lover (1935)
as Cadet Frank Harrington
Holiday (1938)
as Ned Seton
Johnny Belinda (1948)
as Robert Richardson
The Dark Mirror (1946)
as Scott Elliott
End of the World (1977)
as Com. Joseph Beckerman
New Mexico (1951)
as Captain Hunt
The Kiss (1929)
as Pierre
The Secret of Dr. Kildare (1939)
as James Kildare
The Unfaithful (1947)
as Larry Hannaford
The Biscuit Eater (1972)
as Mr. Ames
Dr. Kildare's Strange Case (1940)
as James Kildare
Earth II (1971)
as President Charles Carter Durant
State Fair (1933)
as Pat Gilbert
The Carpetbaggers (1964)
as Mac McAllister
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker (1991)
as actor 'Advise and 'Consent' (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Ice Follies of 1939 (1939)
as Eddie Burgess
The Impatient Maiden (1932)
as Dr. Myron Brown
Okay, America! (1932)
as Larry Wayne
The Man (1972)
as Noah Calvin
The Capture (1950)
as Lin Vanner / Lindley Brown
Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day (1941)
as Dr. James Kildare
These Glamour Girls (1939)
as Philip S. Griswold III
Letters from Frank (1979)
as Dan Miller
The Last Train from Madrid (1937)
as Bill Dexter
The Stranger (1973)
as Prof. Dylan MacAuley
The Questor Tapes (1974)
as Vaslovik
The Doorway to Hell (1930)
as Louie Ricarno
Cast the First Stone (1989)
as Martin
Marcus Welby, M.D.: A Matter of Humanities (1969)
as Dr. Andrew Swanson
Broadway Serenade (1939)
as James Geoffrey 'Jimmy' Seymour
Fingers at the Window (1942)
as Oliver Duffy
Donovan's Brain (1953)
as Dr. Patrick J. Cory
Calling Dr. Kildare (1939)
as Dr. James Kildare
The People Vs. Dr. Kildare (1941)
as Dr. James Kildare
She Waits (1972)
as Dr. Sam Carpenter
The Upper Chamber (1963)
Actor
The Spirit of Notre Dame (1931)
as Edward Aloysius "Bucky" O'Brian
Don Camillo (1984)
as Doc
Dr. Kildare Goes Home (1940)
as Dr. James Kildare
Heatwave! (1974)
as Dr. Grayson
Murder with Pictures (1936)
as Kent Murdock
Spring Madness (1938)
as Sam Thatcher
Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident (1976)
as Allen Dulles
The Golden Fleecing (1940)
as Henry Twinkle
The Cohens and Kellys in Hollywood (1932)
as Lew Ayres
Let’s Be Ritzy (1934)
as Jimmy Sterling
Of Mice and Men (1981)
as Candy
Young Dr. Kildare (1938)
as Dr. James Kildare
Under Siege (1986)
as John Pace
Dr. Kildare's Victory (1942)
as Dr. James Kildare
Dr. Kildare's Crisis (1940)
as Dr. James Kildare
Heaven on Earth (1931)
as States
Cocoon (1968)
as The Governor
The Crime Nobody Saw (1937)
as Nick Milburn
Panic on the Air (1936)
as Jerry
From the Ends of the Earth (1939)
as Self
The Family Nobody Wanted (1956)
as Carl Doss
Checking Out: Grand Hotel (2004)
as Self (archive footage)
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound (1940)
as Self
Suddenly, Love (1978)
as Mr. Graham
King of the Newsboys (1938)
as Jerry Flynn
The Sophomore (1929)
as Sophomore Fraternity Brother (uncredited)
Remember? (1939)
as Sky Ames
Common Clay (1930)
as Hugh Fullerton
Cross Country Cruise (1934)
as Norman Winthrop
Blow-Ups of 1946 (1946)
as Self
Rich Man, Poor Girl (1938)
as Henry Thayer
No Escape (1953)
as John Howard Tracy
Hold 'Em Navy (1937)
as Tommy Graham
Hollywood: Style Center of the World (1940)
as Self
Silk Hat Kid (1935)
as Eddie Howard
Many a Slip (1931)
as Jerry Brooks
Night World (1932)
as Michael Rand
Iron Man (1931)
as Kid Mason
Hart to Hart: Crimes of the Hart (1994)
as Professor Cabel
Reunion (1980)
as Bob Hollander
Shakedown (1936)
as Bob Sanderson
East Is West (1930)
as Billy Benson
Scandal Street (1938)
as Joe McKnight
Servants' Entrance (1934)
as Erik Landstrom
Maisie Was a Lady (1941)
as Bob Rawlston
Big News (1929)
as Copyboy (uncredited)
The Story of Noah (1978)
as Noah
She Learned About Sailors (1934)
as Larry Wilson
Lady Be Careful (1936)
as Chester aka Dynamite
Up for Murder (1931)
as Robert Marshall
Spring Tonic (1935)
as Caleb Enix
The Leathernecks Have Landed (1936)
as Woodruff 'Woody' Davis
My Weakness (1933)
as Ronnie Gregory
Bruised Celluloid (1984)
as Himself
One Against Many (1956)
as Dr. John Mohler
The Way of Peace (1947)
as Narrator (voice)
Don't Bet on Love (1933)
as Bill McCaffrey