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