
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.
Acting (95 movies)

All Quiet on the Western Front
1930

End of the World
1977

Battle for the Planet of the Apes
1973

Of Mice and Men
1981

Damien - Omen II
1978

Suddenly, Love
1978

The Kiss
1929

Shakedown
1936

The Doorway to Hell
1930

Donovan's Brain
1953

Johnny Belinda
1948

The Capture
1950

The Dark Mirror
1946

The Questor Tapes
1974

Holiday
1938

Fingers at the Window
1942

Advise & Consent
1962

No Escape
1953

Okay, America!
1932

State Fair
1933

Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day
1941

The Unfaithful
1947

Dr. Kildare Goes Home
1940

Dr. Kildare's Crisis
1940

Earth II
1971

Young Dr. Kildare
1938

The People Vs. Dr. Kildare
1941

The Secret of Dr. Kildare
1939

Dr. Kildare's Strange Case
1940

Calling Dr. Kildare
1939

Dr. Kildare's Victory
1942

Maisie Was a Lady
1941

Broadway Serenade
1939

New Mexico
1951

East Is West
1930

The Golden Fleecing
1940

King of the Newsboys
1938

The Crime Nobody Saw
1937

The Impatient Maiden
1932

Don't Bet on Love
1933

Iron Man
1931

Murder with Pictures
1936

Panic on the Air
1936

The Ice Follies of 1939
1939

These Glamour Girls
1939

Spring Tonic
1935

The Man
1972

Rich Man, Poor Girl
1938

Remember?
1939

The Last Train from Madrid
1937

Spring Madness
1938

Common Clay
1930

Don Camillo
1984

My Weakness
1933

Up for Murder
1931

Night World
1932

Battlestar Galactica
1978

Heatwave!
1974

Cross Country Cruise
1934

Marcus Welby, M.D.: A Matter of Humanities
1969

Big News
1929

Reunion
1980

The Sophomore
1929

The Stranger
1973

She Learned About Sailors
1934

The Carpetbaggers
1964

Heaven on Earth
1931

Bruised Celluloid
1984

She Waits
1972

Servants' Entrance
1934

Under Siege
1986

Hart to Hart: Crimes of the Hart
1994

Cast the First Stone
1989

The Leathernecks Have Landed
1936

Hold 'Em Navy
1937

The Way of Peace
1947

Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident
1976

A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
1940

The Spirit of Notre Dame
1931

The Lottery Lover
1935

Let’s Be Ritzy
1934

Silk Hat Kid
1935

The Biscuit Eater
1972

The Story of Noah
1978

Lady Be Careful
1936

Blow-Ups of 1946
1946

The Cohens and Kellys in Hollywood
1932

Hollywood: Style Center of the World
1940

That's Entertainment, Part II
1976

Scandal Street
1938

Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
1991

Letters from Frank
1979

Cocoon
1968

Many a Slip
1931

The Family Nobody Wanted
1956
Directing (2 movies)
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