Lew Ayres
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
161
Gender
Male
Birthday
1908-12-28
Day of death
1996-12-30 (88 years old)
Place of Birth
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
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.
Known For
Columbo
The A-Team
Little House on the Prairie
Magnum, P.I.
The Love Boat
Quincy, M.E.
Hotel
Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O
Knots Landing
The Virginian
The Big Valley
The Big Valley
L.A. Law
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
My Three Sons
Highway to Heaven
Gunsmoke
Simon & Simon
The Bionic Woman
Climax!
Ben Casey
Route 66
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The F.B.I.
Cagney & Lacey
Laramie
Battlestar Galactica
Omnibus
Trapper John, M.D.
The Streets of San Francisco
Fame
McMillan & Wife
Wonder Woman
Kraft Suspense Theatre
Salem's Lot
The Barbara Stanwyck Show
Battlestar Galactica
Battle for the Planet of the Apes
Cavalcade of America
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
Suddenly, Love
Earth II
Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident
Under Siege
Remember?
Flying High
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
Here Come the Brides
Bus Stop
Screen Director's Playhouse
The Carpetbaggers
New Mexico
Spring Tonic
Iron Man
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
The Sophomore
Cocoon
The Capture
The Magician
Spring Madness
State Fair
Finder of Lost Loves
No Escape
Broadway Serenade
ABC Stage 67
Don Camillo
My Weakness
Reunion
The Unfaithful
All Quiet on the Western Front
Hawkins
Night World
Shakedown
Damien - Omen II
Okay, America!
Johnny Belinda
Saints and Sinners
The Fantastic Journey
She Waits
Blow-Ups of 1946
The Biscuit Eater
The Way of Peace
Checking Out: Grand Hotel
End of the World
The Ice Follies of 1939
Slattery's People
From the Ends of the Earth
The Secret of Dr. Kildare
Hollywood: Style Center of the World
Hart to Hart: Crimes of the Hart
King of the Newsboys
Many a Slip
Calling Dr. Kildare
Dr. Kildare's Victory
Donovan's Brain
The Interns
Dr. Kildare's Strange Case
Let’s Be Ritzy
Heaven on Earth
East Is West
Don't Bet on Love
The Story of Noah
The Family Nobody Wanted
Outlaws
MGM: When the Lion Roars
Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day
The Last Train from Madrid
Holiday
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
The Spirit of Notre Dame
The Dark Mirror
Dr. Kildare Goes Home
The Man
That's Entertainment, Part II
The Doorway to Hell
Lime Street
The Impatient Maiden
The Leathernecks Have Landed
Panic on the Air
Marcus Welby, M.D.: A Matter of Humanities
Young Dr. Kildare
Advise & Consent
Rich Man, Poor Girl
Up for Murder
The Cohens and Kellys in Hollywood
The Crime Nobody Saw
Bruised Celluloid
The Kiss
Hold 'Em Navy
One Against Many
The Questor Tapes
The Lottery Lover
San Francisco International Airport
Silk Hat Kid
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Kung Fu
These Glamour Girls
Fingers at the Window
Cast the First Stone
The Ken Murray Show
The People Vs. Dr. Kildare
The Golden Fleecing
The Stranger
Maisie Was a Lady
Lady Be Careful
Common Clay
Cross Country Cruise
Of Mice and Men
Heatwave!
Servants' Entrance
Big News
She Learned About Sailors
Scandal Street
Murder with Pictures
Dr. Kildare's Crisis
Letters from Frank
