Lew Ayres
Age: 88 | From: Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Person Details
Birthday: 1908-12-28 21:50:06
Death: 1996-12-30 21:50:06
Aliases: Lewis Frederick Ayre III
Gender: Male
Place of birth: Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Homepage:
Movie Involvements: 78
TV Involvements: 27
Most Famous Work
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.
Most Famous Work
Columbo
(1971) Howard Nicholson
The A-Team
(1983) Bernie Greene
The Virginian
(1962) Judge John Markham
Hawaii Five-O
(1968) Comm. Reginald Blackwell
L.A. Law
(1986) Lorimar Henderson
The Big Valley
(1965) Jason Fleet
Wonder Woman
(1975) Dr. Kenneth Wilson
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
(1956) Jesse MartinActing
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Self (archive footage) | |
| 1994 | Professor Cabel | |
| 1992 | N/A | |
| 1991 | actor 'Advise and 'Consent' (archive footage) (uncredited) | |
| 1989 | Martin | |
| 1986 | N/A | |
| Lorimar Henderson | ||
| John Pace | ||
| 1985 | Henry Wade Culver | |
| 1984 | Oliver Hawthorne | |
| N/A | ||
| Doc | ||
| Himself | ||
| 1983 | Bernie Greene | |
| 1982 | N/A | |
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1981 | Candy | |
| N/A | ||
| 1980 | N/A | |
| Bob Hollander | ||
| 1979 | N/A | |
| Dan Miller | ||
| Jason Burke | ||
| Jason Burke | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1978 | Mr. Graham | |
| Noah | ||
| N/A | ||
| President Adar | ||
| President Adar | ||
| Bill Atherton | ||
| 1977 | Carl Hooper | |
| Com. Joseph Beckerman | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1976 | N/A | |
| Allen Dulles | ||
| (archive footage) | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1975 | Dr. Kenneth Wilson | |
| 1974 | N/A | |
| Dr. Grayson | ||
| Vaslovik | ||
| 1973 | Max Braden | |
| Mandemus | ||
| Gus Bitterman | ||
| Prof. Dylan MacAuley | ||
| 1972 | N/A | |
| N/A | ||
| Noah Calvin | ||
| Mr. Ames | ||
| Dr. Sam Carpenter | ||
| 1971 | President Charles Carter Durant | |
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| Howard Nicholson | ||
| 1970 | N/A | |
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1969 | Dr. Andrew Swanson | |
| 1968 | N/A | |
| The Governor | ||
| The Governor | ||
| Comm. Reginald Blackwell | ||
| Dr. Elias Haig | ||
| 1966 | Arthur | |
| 1965 | Self (archive footage) | |
| Marshall Winslow | ||
| Sheriff Roy Kingston | ||
| Jason Fleet | ||
| 1964 | N/A | |
| 'Mac' McAllister | ||
| 1963 | Dr. Thomas Clay | |
| Self (archive footage) | ||
| 1962 | Judge John Markham | |
| N/A | ||
| The Vice President | ||
| 1961 | N/A | |
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1960 | N/A | |
| N/A | ||
| Dr. Paul Harris | ||
| 1959 | Howard Moon | |
| N/A | ||
| 1958 | N/A | |
| 1956 | Jud Lester | |
| Jesse Martin | ||
| Clint Howard | ||
| 1955 | Dr. John Mohler | |
| Jonathan Cole | ||
| 1954 | Bob Kilgore | |
| 1953 | Dr. Patrick J. Cory | |
| John Howard Tracy | ||
| 1952 | N/A | |
| Matt Needham | ||
| 1951 | N/A | |
| Capt. Hunt | ||
| 1950 | Lin Vanner / Lindley Brown | |
| N/A | ||
| 1948 | Dr. Robert Richardson | |
| 1947 | Larry Hannaford | |
| Narrator (voice) | ||
| 1946 | Self | |
| Dr. Scott Elliott | ||
| 1942 | Oliver Duffy | |
| Dr. James Kildare | ||
| 1941 | Dr. James Kildare | |
| Dr. James Kildare | ||
| Bob Rawlston | ||
| 1940 | Dr. James Kildare | |
| Self | ||
| Dr. James Kildare | ||
| Henry Twinkle | ||
| Self | ||
| Dr. James Kildare | ||
| 1939 | Sky Ames | |
| Dr. James Kildare | ||
| Philip S. Griswold III | ||
| Self | ||
| Dr. James Kildare | ||
| James Geoffrey 'Jimmy' Seymour | ||
| Eddie Burgess | ||
| 1938 | Sam Thatcher | |
| Dr. James Kildare | ||
| Henry Thayer | ||
| Ned Seton | ||
| Jerry Flynn | ||
| Joe McKnight | ||
| 1937 | Tommy Graham | |
| Bill Dexter | ||
| Nick Milburn | ||
| 1936 | Kent Murdock | |
| Chester aka Dynamite | ||
| Bob Sanderson | ||
| Jerry Franklin | ||
| Woodruff 'Woody' Davis | ||
| 1935 | Eddie Howard | |
| Caleb Enix | ||
| Cadet Frank Harrington | ||
| 1934 | Erik Landstrom | |
| Larry Wilson | ||
| Norman Winthrop | ||
| 1933 | Ronnie Gregory | |
| Bill McCaffrey | ||
| Pat Gilbert | ||
| 1932 | Larry Wayne | |
| Michael Rand | ||
| Lew Ayres | ||
| Dr. Myron Brown | ||
| 1931 | States | |
| Edward Aloysius "Bucky" O'Brian | ||
| Robert Marshall | ||
| Kid Mason | ||
| Jerry Brooks | ||
| 1930 | Billy Benson | |
| Louie Ricarno | ||
| Hugh Fullerton | ||
| Paul Bäumer | ||
| 1929 | Pierre Lassalle | |
| Copyboy (uncredited) | ||
| Sophomore Fraternity Brother (uncredited) | ||
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
Directing
| Year | Role | Movie/Tv |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Director | |
| 1936 | Director | |
| Year | Role | Movie/Tv |
