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.
Movie | Checking Out: Grand Hotel | Self (archive footage) | 2004-02-03 |
Movie | Hart to Hart: Crimes of the Hart | Professor Cabel | 1994-03-25 |
Series | MGM: When the Lion Roars | 1992-03-22 | |
Movie | Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker | actor 'Advise and 'Consent' (archive footage) (uncredited) | 1991-10-28 |
Movie | Cast the First Stone | Martin | 1989-11-13 |
Movie | Under Siege | John Pace | 1986-02-09 |
Series | Outlaws | Unknown | 1986-12-28 |
Series | L.A. Law | Unknown | 1986-09-15 |
Series | Lime Street | Henry Wade Culver | 1985-09-21 |
Series | Finder of Lost Loves | Unknown | 1984-09-22 |
Movie | Don Camillo | Doc | 1984-02-08 |
Movie | Bruised Celluloid | Himself | 1984-01-01 |
Series | Highway to Heaven | Unknown | 1984-09-19 |
Series | The A-Team | Bernie Greene | 1983-01-23 |
Series | Fame | Unknown | 1982-01-07 |
Series | Hotel | Unknown | 1982-08-21 |
Series | Cagney & Lacey | Unknown | 1982-03-25 |
Series | Simon & Simon | Unknown | 1981-11-24 |
Movie | Of Mice and Men | Candy | 1981-11-29 |
Movie | Reunion | Bob Hollander | 1980-10-14 |
Series | Magnum, P.I. | Unknown | 1980-12-11 |
Series | Trapper John, M.D. | Unknown | 1979-09-23 |
Series | Knots Landing | Unknown | 1979-12-27 |
Series | Salem's Lot | Jason Burke | 1979-11-17 |
Movie | Damien: Omen II | Bill Atherton | 1978-06-09 |
Series | Flying High | Unknown | 1978-09-29 |
Movie | Battlestar Galactica | President Adar | 1978-09-16 |
Movie | Suddenly, Love | Mr. Graham | 1978-12-04 |
Movie | The Story of Noah | Noah | 1978-11-19 |
Series | The Fantastic Journey | Unknown | 1977-02-03 |
Movie | End of the World | Com. Joseph Beckerman | 1977-08-01 |
Series | The Love Boat | Unknown | 1977-09-24 |
Series | The Bionic Woman | Unknown | 1976-01-14 |
Movie | That's Entertainment, Part II | (archive footage) | 1976-05-16 |
Series | Quincy, M.E. | Unknown | 1976-10-03 |
Movie | Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident | Allen Dulles | 1976-09-29 |
Series | Wonder Woman | Unknown | 1975-11-07 |
Movie | The Questor Tapes | Vaslovik | 1974-01-23 |
Series | Little House on the Prairie | Unknown | 1974-09-11 |
Movie | Heatwave! | Dr. Grayson | 1974-01-27 |
Movie | The Stranger | Prof. Dylan MacAuley | 1973-02-26 |
Series | Hawkins | Unknown | 1973-03-13 |
Series | The Magician | Unknown | 1973-10-02 |
Movie | Battle for the Planet of the Apes | Mandemus | 1973-06-15 |
Movie | The Biscuit Eater | Mr. Ames | 1972-03-22 |
Movie | The Man | Noah Calvin | 1972-07-19 |
Movie | She Waits | Dr. Sam Carpenter | 1972-01-28 |
Series | The Streets of San Francisco | Unknown | 1972-09-23 |
Series | Kung Fu | Unknown | 1972-10-14 |
Series | Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law | Unknown | 1971-09-16 |
Series | Columbo | Prof. Nicholson | 1971-09-15 |
Series | McMillan and Wife | Unknown | 1971-09-29 |
Movie | Earth II | President Charles Carter Durant | 1971-11-28 |
Series | The Interns | Unknown | 1970-09-18 |
Series | The Mary Tyler Moore Show | Unknown | 1970-09-19 |
Series | San Francisco International Airport | Unknown | 1970-10-28 |
Movie | Marcus Welby, M.D. | Dr. Andrew Swanson | 1969-03-26 |
Series | Hawaii Five-O | Unknown | 1968-09-20 |
Series | Here Come the Brides | Unknown | 1968-09-25 |
Series | ABC Stage 67 | Unknown | 1966-09-14 |
Series | The Big Valley | Unknown | 1965-09-15 |
Series | The F.B.I. | Unknown | 1965-09-19 |
Movie | Hollywood My Home Town | Self (archive footage) | 1965-12-31 |
Movie | The Carpetbaggers | 'Mac' McAllister | 1964-04-08 |
Series | Slattery's People | Unknown | 1964-09-21 |
Series | Kraft Suspense Theatre | Unknown | 1963-10-10 |
Movie | Hollywood Without Make-Up | Self (archive footage) | 1963-07-01 |
Movie | Advise & Consent | The Vice President | 1962-06-06 |
Series | The Virginian | Unknown | 1962-09-19 |
Series | Saints and Sinners | Unknown | 1962-09-17 |
Series | Bus Stop | Unknown | 1961-10-01 |
Series | Ben Casey | Unknown | 1961-10-02 |
Series | The Barbara Stanwyck Show | Unknown | 1960-09-19 |
Series | Route 66 | Unknown | 1960-10-07 |
Series | My Three Sons | Unknown | 1960-09-29 |
Series | Laramie | Unknown | 1959-09-15 |
Series | The DuPont Show with June Allyson | Unknown | 1959-09-21 |
Series | Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse | Unknown | 1958-10-06 |
Series | Frontier Justice | Unknown | 1958-07-07 |
Series | Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre | Unknown | 1956-10-05 |
Series | Gunsmoke | Unknown | 1955-09-10 |
Series | Screen Director's Playhouse | Unknown | 1955-10-05 |
Series | Climax! | Unknown | 1954-10-07 |
Series | The Oscars | Unknown | 1953-03-19 |
Movie | No Escape | John Howard Tracy | 1953-07-31 |
Movie | Donovan's Brain | Dr. Patrick J. Cory | 1953-09-30 |
Series | This Is Your Life | Unknown | 1952-10-01 |
Series | Cavalcade of America | Unknown | 1952-10-01 |
Series | Omnibus | Unknown | 1952-11-09 |
Movie | New Mexico | Capt. Hunt | 1951-05-18 |
Series | Schlitz Playhouse of Stars | Unknown | 1951-10-05 |
Series | The Ken Murray Show | Unknown | 1950-01-07 |
Movie | The Capture | Lin Vanner / Lindley Brown | 1950-04-08 |
Movie | Johnny Belinda | Dr. Robert Richardson | 1948-09-14 |
Movie | The Unfaithful | Larry Hannaford | 1947-07-01 |
Movie | The Dark Mirror | Dr. Scott Elliott | 1946-10-17 |
Movie | Blow-Ups of 1946 | Self | 1946-12-31 |
Movie | Dr. Kildare's Victory | Dr. James Kildare | 1942-02-04 |
Movie | Fingers at the Window | Oliver Duffy | 1942-04-22 |
Movie | Maisie Was a Lady | Bob Rawlston | 1941-01-10 |
Movie | Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day | Dr. James Kildare | 1941-08-22 |
Movie | The People Vs. Dr. Kildare | Dr. James Kildare | 1941-05-02 |
Movie | Hollywood: Style Center of the World | Self | 1940-05-29 |
Movie | The Golden Fleecing | Henry Twinkle | 1940-08-16 |
Movie | Dr. Kildare's Strange Case | Dr. James Kildare | 1940-04-12 |
Movie | Dr. Kildare's Crisis | Dr. James Kildare | 1940-11-29 |
Movie | Dr. Kildare Goes Home | Dr. James Kildare | 1940-09-06 |
Movie | A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound | Self | 1940-10-24 |
Movie | Calling Dr. Kildare | Dr. James Kildare | 1939-04-28 |
Movie | The Ice Follies of 1939 | Eddie Burgess | 1939-03-10 |
Movie | From the Ends of the Earth | Self | 1939-05-28 |
Movie | Broadway Serenade | James Geoffrey 'Jimmy' Seymour | 1939-04-07 |
Movie | These Glamour Girls | Philip S. Griswold III | 1939-08-18 |
Movie | Remember? | Sky Ames | 1939-12-19 |
Movie | The Secret of Dr. Kildare | Dr. James Kildare | 1939-11-24 |
Movie | King of the Newsboys | Jerry Flynn | 1938-03-18 |
Movie | Scandal Street | Joe McKnight | 1938-02-11 |
Movie | Holiday | Ned Seton | 1938-05-26 |
Movie | Young Dr. Kildare | Dr. James Kildare | 1938-10-14 |
Movie | Rich Man, Poor Girl | Henry Thayer | 1938-08-12 |
Movie | Spring Madness | Sam Thatcher | 1938-11-11 |
Movie | The Crime Nobody Saw | Nick Milburn | 1937-03-12 |
Movie | Hold 'Em Navy | Tommy Graham | 1937-11-04 |
Movie | The Last Train from Madrid | Bill Dexter | 1937-06-11 |
Movie | The Leathernecks Have Landed | Woodruff 'Woody' Davis | 1936-02-17 |
Movie | Shakedown | Bob Sanderson | 1936-07-17 |
Movie | Panic on the Air | Jerry Franklin | 1936-04-10 |
Movie | Lady Be Careful | Chester aka Dynamite | 1936-09-03 |
Movie | Murder with Pictures | Kent Murdock | 1936-09-24 |
Movie | The Lottery Lover | Cadet Frank Harrington | 1935-02-05 |
Movie | Spring Tonic | Caleb Enix | 1935-06-27 |
Movie | Cross Country Cruise | Norman Winthrop | 1934-01-16 |
Movie | Servants' Entrance | Erik Landstrom | 1934-09-25 |
Movie | She Learned About Sailors | Larry Wilson | 1934-06-28 |
Movie | State Fair | Pat Gilbert | 1933-02-10 |
Movie | Don't Bet on Love | Bill McCaffrey | 1933-06-30 |
Movie | My Weakness | Ronnie Gregory | 1933-09-22 |
Movie | The Impatient Maiden | Dr. Myron Brown | 1932-03-01 |
Movie | Okay, America! | Larry Wayne | 1932-09-08 |
Movie | Night World | Michael Rand | 1932-05-04 |
Movie | Iron Man | Kid Mason | 1931-04-29 |
Movie | Many a Slip | Jerry Brooks | 1931-03-02 |
Movie | Up for Murder | Robert Marshall | 1931-05-26 |
Movie | Heaven on Earth | States | 1931-11-27 |
Movie | All Quiet on the Western Front | Paul Bäumer | 1930-04-29 |
Movie | Common Clay | Hugh Fullerton | 1930-08-01 |
Movie | The Doorway to Hell | Louie Ricarno | 1930-10-18 |
Movie | East Is West | Billy Benson | 1930-10-23 |
Movie | The Sophomore | Sophomore Fraternity Brother (uncredited) | 1929-08-24 |
Movie | The Kiss | Pierre Lassalle | 1929-11-15 |
Movie | Big News | Copyboy (uncredited) | 1929-09-06 |