Lew Ayres
Actor
Born December 28, 1908 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
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.
Filmography
Hart to Hart: Crimes of the Hart
Professor Cabel
MGM: When the Lion Roars
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
actor 'Advise and 'Consent' (archive footage) (uncredited)
Cast the First Stone
Martin
Outlaws
L.A. Law
Lorimar Henderson
Under Siege
John Pace
Lime Street
Henry Wade Culver
Finder of Lost Loves
Oliver Hawthorne
Highway to Heaven
Don Camillo
Doc
Bruised Celluloid
Himself
The A-Team
Bernie Greene
Hotel
Nelson O'Neil
Cagney & Lacey
Fame
Of Mice and Men
Candy
Simon & Simon
Magnum, P.I.
Sidney Dollinger
Reunion
Bob Hollander
Knots Landing
Andrew Douglas
Letters from Frank
Dan Miller
Salem's Lot
Jason Burke
Trapper John, M.D.
Suddenly, Love
Mr. Graham
The Story of Noah
Noah
Battlestar Galactica
President Adar
Flying High
Battlestar Galactica
President Adar
Damien - Omen II
Bill Atherton
The Love Boat
Carl Hooper
End of the World
Com. Joseph Beckerman
The Fantastic Journey
Rayat
Quincy, M.E.
Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident
Allen Dulles
That's Entertainment, Part II
(archive footage)
Altars of the World
The Bionic Woman
Wonder Woman
Dr. Kenneth Wilson
Little House on the Prairie
Heatwave!
Dr. Grayson
The Questor Tapes
Vaslovik
The Magician
Max Braden
Battle for the Planet of the Apes
Mandemus
Hawkins
Gus Bitterman
The Stranger
Prof. Dylan MacAuley
Kung Fu
Beaumont
The Streets of San Francisco
The Man
Noah Calvin
The Biscuit Eater
Mr. Ames
She Waits
Dr. Sam Carpenter
Earth II
President Charles Carter Durant
McMillan & Wife
Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
Columbo
Howard Nicholson
San Francisco International Airport
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Interns
Marcus Welby, M.D.: A Matter of Humanities
Dr. Andrew Swanson
Here Come the Brides
Cocoon
The Governor
Hawaii Five-O
The Governor
ABC Stage 67
Arthur
The F.B.I.
Marshall Winslow
The Big Valley
Sheriff Roy Kingston
Slattery's People
The Carpetbaggers
Mac McAllister
Kraft Suspense Theatre
Dr. Thomas Clay
The Virginian
Judge John Markham
Saints and Sinners
Advise & Consent
The Vice President
Ben Casey
Bus Stop
Route 66
My Three Sons
The Barbara Stanwyck Show
Dr. Paul Harris
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
Howard Moon
Laramie
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
The Family Nobody Wanted
Carl Doss
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Clint Howard
Screen Director's Playhouse
Dr. John Mohler
MGM Parade
self
Gunsmoke
Jonathan Cole
Climax!
Bob Kilgore
Donovan's Brain
Dr. Patrick J. Cory
No Escape
John Howard Tracy
Omnibus
Cavalcade of America
Matt Needham
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
New Mexico
Capt. Hunt
The Capture
Lin Vanner / Lindley Brown
Johnny Belinda
Robert Richardson
The Unfaithful
Larry Hannaford
The Way of Peace
Narrator (voice)
Blow-Ups of 1946
Self
The Dark Mirror
Scott Elliott
Fingers at the Window
Oliver Duffy
Dr. Kildare's Victory
Dr. James Kildare
Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day
Dr. James Kildare
The People Vs. Dr. Kildare
Dr. James Kildare
Maisie Was a Lady
Bob Rawlston
Dr. Kildare's Crisis
Dr. James Kildare
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
Self
Dr. Kildare Goes Home
Dr. James Kildare
The Golden Fleecing
Henry Twinkle
Hollywood: Style Center of the World
Self
Dr. Kildare's Strange Case
James Kildare
Remember?
Sky Ames
The Secret of Dr. Kildare
James Kildare
These Glamour Girls
Philip S. Griswold III
From the Ends of the Earth
Self
Calling Dr. Kildare
Dr. James Kildare
Broadway Serenade
James Geoffrey 'Jimmy' Seymour
The Ice Follies of 1939
Eddie Burgess
Spring Madness
Sam Thatcher
Young Dr. Kildare
Dr. James Kildare
Rich Man, Poor Girl
Henry Thayer
Holiday
Ned Seton
King of the Newsboys
Jerry Flynn
Scandal Street
Joe McKnight
Hold 'Em Navy
Tommy Graham
The Last Train from Madrid
Bill Dexter
The Crime Nobody Saw
Nick Milburn
Murder with Pictures
Kent Murdock
Lady Be Careful
Chester aka Dynamite
Shakedown
Bob Sanderson
Hearts in Bondage
Panic on the Air
Jerry
The Leathernecks Have Landed
Woodruff 'Woody' Davis
Silk Hat Kid
Eddie Howard
Spring Tonic
Caleb Enix
The Lottery Lover
Cadet Frank Harrington
Servants' Entrance
Erik Landstrom
She Learned About Sailors
Larry Wilson
Let’s Be Ritzy
Jimmy Sterling
Cross Country Cruise
Norman Winthrop
My Weakness
Ronnie Gregory
Don't Bet on Love
Bill McCaffrey
State Fair
Pat Gilbert
Okay, America!
Larry Wayne
Night World
Michael Rand
The Cohens and Kellys in Hollywood
Lew Ayres
The Impatient Maiden
Dr. Myron Brown
Heaven on Earth
States
The Spirit of Notre Dame
Edward Aloysius "Bucky" O'Brian
Up for Murder
Robert Marshall
Iron Man
Kid Mason
Many a Slip
Jerry Brooks
East Is West
Billy Benson
The Doorway to Hell
Louie Ricarno
Common Clay
Hugh Fullerton
All Quiet on the Western Front
Paul Bäumer
The Kiss
Pierre
Big News
Copyboy (uncredited)
The Sophomore
Sophomore Fraternity Brother (uncredited)