Lew Ayres

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: Acting

Born: Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, 1908-12-28

Died: 1996-12-30

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1929	The Sophomore	Sophomore Fraternity Brother (uncredited)	45
2	1929	Big News	Copyboy (uncredited)	42
3	1929	The Kiss	Pierre Lassalle	63
4	1930	All Quiet on the Western Front	Paul Bäumer	78
5	1930	Common Clay	Hugh Fullerton	0
6	1930	The Doorway to Hell	Louie Ricarno	63
7	1930	East Is West	Billy Benson	40
8	1931	Many a Slip	Jerry Brooks	0
9	1931	Iron Man	Kid Mason	56
10	1931	Up for Murder	Robert Marshall	35
11	1931	The Spirit of Notre Dame	Edward Aloysius "Bucky" O'Brian	63
12	1931	Heaven on Earth	States	30
13	1932	The Impatient Maiden	Dr. Myron Brown	0
14	1932	The Cohens and Kellys in Hollywood	Lew Ayres	0
15	1932	Night World	Michael Rand	69
16	1932	Okay, America!	Larry Wayne	53
17	1933	State Fair	Pat Gilbert	62
18	1933	Don't Bet on Love	Bill McCaffrey	0
19	1933	My Weakness	Ronnie Gregory	0
20	1934	Cross Country Cruise	Norman Winthrop	60
21	1934	Let’s Be Ritzy	Jimmy Sterling	0
22	1934	She Learned About Sailors	Larry Wilson	25
23	1934	Servants' Entrance	Erik Landstrom	0
24	1935	The Lottery Lover	Cadet Frank Harrington	30
25	1935	Spring Tonic	Caleb Enix	53
26	1935	Silk Hat Kid	Eddie Howard	60
27	1936	The Leathernecks Have Landed	Woodruff 'Woody' Davis	50
28	1936	Panic on the Air	Jerry Franklin	55
29	1936	Shakedown	Bob Sanderson	0
30	1936	Lady Be Careful	Chester aka Dynamite	45
31	1936	Murder with Pictures	Kent Murdock	51
32	1937	The Crime Nobody Saw	Nick Milburn	50
33	1937	The Last Train from Madrid	Bill Dexter	47
34	1937	Hold 'Em Navy	Tommy Graham	30
35	1938	Scandal Street	Joe McKnight	0
36	1938	King of the Newsboys	Jerry Flynn	35
37	1938	Holiday	Ned Seton	73
38	1938	Rich Man, Poor Girl	Henry Thayer	59
39	1938	Young Dr. Kildare	Dr. James Kildare	65
40	1938	Spring Madness	Sam Thatcher	39
41	1939	The Ice Follies of 1939	Eddie Burgess	56
42	1939	Broadway Serenade	James Geoffrey 'Jimmy' Seymour	62
43	1939	Calling Dr. Kildare	Dr. James Kildare	61
44	1939	From the Ends of the Earth	Self	0
45	1939	These Glamour Girls	Philip S. Griswold III	55
46	1939	The Secret of Dr. Kildare	Dr. James Kildare	56
47	1939	Remember?	Sky Ames	58
48	1940	Dr. Kildare's Strange Case	Dr. James Kildare	46
49	1940	Hollywood: Style Center of the World	Self	55
50	1940	The Golden Fleecing	Henry Twinkle	53
51	1940	Dr. Kildare Goes Home	Dr. James Kildare	68
52	1940	A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound	Self	67
53	1940	Dr. Kildare's Crisis	Dr. James Kildare	60
54	1941	Maisie Was a Lady	Bob Rawlston	68
55	1941	The People Vs. Dr. Kildare	Dr. James Kildare	68
56	1941	Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day	Dr. James Kildare	66
57	1942	Dr. Kildare's Victory	Dr. James Kildare	58
58	1942	Fingers at the Window	Oliver Duffy	55
59	1946	The Dark Mirror	Dr. Scott Elliott	69
60	1946	Blow-Ups of 1946	Self	60
61	1947	The Way of Peace	Narrator (voice)	55
62	1947	The Unfaithful	Larry Hannaford	60
63	1948	Johnny Belinda	Dr. Robert Richardson	68
64	1950	The Capture	Lin Vanner / Lindley Brown	61
65	1951	New Mexico	Capt. Hunt	35
66	1953	No Escape	John Howard Tracy	45
67	1953	Donovan's Brain	Dr. Patrick J. Cory	61
68	1956	One Against Many	Dr. John Mohler	0
69	1960	Dr. Kildare (Unaired Pilot)	Dr. Kildare	0
70	1962	Advise & Consent	The Vice President	72
71	1964	The Carpetbaggers	'Mac' McAllister	58
72	1968	Cocoon	The Governor	0
73	1969	Marcus Welby, M.D.: A Matter of Humanities	Dr. Andrew Swanson	0
74	1971	Earth II	President Charles Carter Durant	50
75	1972	She Waits	Dr. Sam Carpenter	57
76	1972	The Biscuit Eater	Mr. Ames	62
77	1972	The Man	Noah Calvin	63
78	1973	The Stranger	Prof. Dylan MacAuley	35
79	1973	Battle for the Planet of the Apes	Mandemus	57
80	1974	The Questor Tapes	Vaslovik	57
81	1974	Heatwave!	Dr. Grayson	59
82	1976	That's Entertainment, Part II	(archive footage)	69
83	1976	Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident	Allen Dulles	0
84	1977	End of the World	Com. Joseph Beckerman	36
85	1978	Damien - Omen II	Bill Atherton	64
86	1978	Battlestar Galactica	President Adar	69
87	1978	The Story of Noah	Noah	20
88	1978	Suddenly, Love	Mr. Graham	90
89	1979	Letters from Frank	Dan Miller	0
90	1980	Reunion	Bob Hollander	0
91	1981	Of Mice and Men	Candy	71
92	1984	Bruised Celluloid	Himself	0
93	1984	Don Camillo	Doc	56
94	1986	Under Siege	John Pace	75
95	1989	Cast the First Stone	Martin	0
96	1991	Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker	actor 'Advise and 'Consent' (archive footage) (uncredited)	77
97	1994	Hart to Hart: Crimes of the Hart	Professor Cabel	62
98	2004	Checking Out: Grand Hotel	Self (archive footage)	70

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1950	The Ken Murray Show		70
2	1951	Schlitz Playhouse of Stars		73
3	1952	Cavalcade of America	Matt Needham	35
4	1952	Omnibus		60
5	1954	Climax!	Bob Kilgore	33
6	1955	Gunsmoke	Jonathan Cole	66
7	1955	Screen Director's Playhouse	Dr. John Mohler	65
8	1956	Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre	Clint Howard	55
9	1956	Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre	Jud Lester	55
10	1956	Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre	Jesse Martin	55
11	1958	Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse		58
12	1959	Laramie		64
13	1959	The DuPont Show with June Allyson	Howard Moon	63
14	1960	The Barbara Stanwyck Show	Dr. Paul Harris	62
15	1960	My Three Sons		65
16	1960	Route 66		63
17	1961	Bus Stop		0
18	1961	Ben Casey		56
19	1962	Saints and Sinners		60
20	1962	The Virginian	Judge John Markham	65
21	1963	Kraft Suspense Theatre	Dr. Thomas Clay	53
22	1964	Slattery's People		50
23	1965	The Big Valley	Sheriff Roy Kingston	61
24	1965	The Big Valley	Jason Fleet	61
25	1965	The F.B.I.	Marshall Winslow	55
26	1966	ABC Stage 67	Arthur	62
27	1968	Hawaii Five-O	The Governor	71
28	1968	Hawaii Five-O	Dr. Elias Haig	71
29	1968	Hawaii Five-O	Comm. Reginald Blackwell	71
30	1968	Here Come the Brides		60
31	1970	The Interns		50
32	1970	The Mary Tyler Moore Show		75
33	1970	San Francisco International Airport		0
34	1971	Columbo	Howard Nicholson	81
35	1971	Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law		63
36	1971	McMillan & Wife		69
37	1972	The Streets of San Francisco		69
38	1972	Kung Fu	Beaumont	77
39	1973	Hawkins	Gus Bitterman	72
40	1973	The Magician	Max Braden	67
41	1974	Little House on the Prairie		79
42	1975	Wonder Woman	Dr. Kenneth Wilson	70
43	1976	The Bionic Woman		70
44	1976	Quincy, M.E.		75
45	1977	The Fantastic Journey		58
46	1977	The Love Boat	Carl Hooper	63
47	1978	Battlestar Galactica	President Adar	71
48	1978	Flying High		45
49	1979	Trapper John, M.D.		65
50	1979	Salem's Lot	Jason Burke	68
51	1979	Knots Landing	Andrew Douglas	69
52	1980	Magnum, P.I.	Sidney Dollinger	73
53	1981	Simon & Simon		67
54	1982	Fame		68
55	1982	Cagney & Lacey		69
56	1982	Hotel		68
57	1983	The A-Team	Bernie Greene	75
58	1984	Highway to Heaven		74
59	1984	Finder of Lost Loves	Oliver Hawthorne	57
60	1985	Lime Street	Henry Wade Culver	55
61	1986	L.A. Law	Lorimar Henderson	71
62	1986	Outlaws		68
63	1992	MGM: When the Lion Roars		78

Lew Ayres

Film

Television