Lew Ayres

Intro

Lew Ayres was an American actor whose long career is closely associated with three very different kinds of screen doctor and soldier: Paul Bäumer in All Quiet on the Western Front, the young James Kildare in MGM's medical films, and Robert Richardson in Johnny Belinda. His performances often place an apparently gentle person inside a demanding moral situation. Outside acting, his conscientious objection to combat during the Second World War and subsequent service as a medic became an important part of his public story, alongside a later interest in documentary filmmaking and comparative religion.

Career snapshot

Ayres appeared opposite Greta Garbo in The Kiss in 1929, near the beginning of his film career. The following year brought roles in Common Clay, East Is West and The Doorway to Hell, as well as the picture that established his lasting reputation. AFI's filmography shows how quickly his work moved across settings and genres, from romantic drama to crime stories. He was not simply repeating a single successful part, even though All Quiet on the Western Front remained the title against which much of his later work would be remembered.

The entry point

In Lewis Milestone's All Quiet on the Western Front, Ayres plays Paul Bäumer, a German student drawn into the First World War. The film follows the destruction of youthful enthusiasm as military life becomes an experience of fear, loss and physical exhaustion. Louis Wolheim's Kat is an older soldier within that world, while Paul's return home exposes the distance between front-line experience and the confident speeches of people removed from it. Ayres's youth matters to the story: the audience watches a schoolboy's expectations give way to knowledge that cannot easily be communicated to those who stayed behind.

Screen identity and style

Young Dr. Kildare began Ayres's MGM medical series in 1938. James Kildare arrives at a New York hospital and comes under the demanding supervision of Lionel Barrymore's Dr. Gillespie. TCM's account emphasises the chemistry between the young intern and his older mentor, a relationship strong enough to support further films. Ayres appeared in nine Kildare entries, with Laraine Day joining as nurse Mary Lamont from Calling Dr. Kildare onward. The part drew on his ability to suggest sincerity without making the character entirely passive: Kildare must learn, argue and act on his convictions.

Collaborations and patterns

The war interrupted that screen identity. Ayres's refusal to undertake combat duty brought public hostility and damaged his position in Hollywood, but he subsequently served overseas as a medic and chaplain's aide. Lesley L. Coffin's biography treats the decision as part of a sustained effort to reconcile his profession with his beliefs, rather than a temporary publicity controversy. His return to acting after the war therefore carried a different public context. The story of the performer and the story of his service had become inseparable, even when the roles themselves were not military ones.

Era reflection

Johnny Belinda gave Ayres a major postwar role as Dr. Robert Richardson, opposite Jane Wyman's Belinda in a drama set in Nova Scotia. Richardson helps Belinda communicate through sign language and becomes involved in the conflict surrounding her place in the community. The film brought Ayres an Academy Award nomination for leading actor at the 1949 ceremony, which honoured films released in 1948; Wyman won the leading-actress award. This was another medical role, but its setting, emotional pressures and relationship with the central woman distinguish it from the recurring hospital world of Dr. Kildare.

Legacy and rediscovery

Ayres continued into television and also pursued work outside fictional acting. His documentary Altars of the World explored religious traditions and received a Golden Globe, an achievement his wife described as especially important to him in the Associated Press obituary. He died in December 1996 at eighty-eight. The photographs here span a 1930s publicity portrait, the Johnny Belinda trailer and a 1970 appearance with Doris Day. They show both the young leading man and the older television performer, while the career itself also includes the less easily pictured work of service, study and documentary production.

Selected screen roles

• The Kiss: Pierre — 1929
• All Quiet on the Western Front: Paul Bäumer — 1930
• Young Dr. Kildare: Dr. James Kildare — 1938
• Johnny Belinda: Dr. Robert Richardson — 1948
• Altars of the World: Documentary filmmaker — 1976

A career in pictures

Three distinct archival images trace Ayres from a 1930s studio portrait through Johnny Belinda to a television appearance with Doris Day.

Fox publicity portrait (1930s)

Publicity portrait

Lew Ayres photographed by Carl Dial for Fox Film; the archive dates the publicity portrait to the 1930s.

Johnny Belinda trailer (1948)

Dr. Robert Richardson

Ayres in a frame from the Johnny Belinda trailer; original promotional lettering is retained.

The Doris Day Show (1970)

Television appearance

Doris Day in the foreground with Lew Ayres behind her; CBS publicity photograph dated October 2, 1970.

Rewatch notes

• Ayres played Dr. James Kildare in nine MGM films.
• His Johnny Belinda performance received a leading-actor Oscar nomination at the 1949 ceremony.
• Altars of the World reflects his interest in comparative religion.