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Happy Birthday, Lew Ayres

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Today is the birthday of the actor Lew Ayres.

Ayres was born in Minneapolis in 1908 and had a remarkable career in Hollywood, not necessarily for the work he did but for how he conducted himself and for the impression he left. Ayres breakthrough role was in the film “All Quiet on the Western Front”, which includes a scene where he is caught alone with an adversary he has killed. You can see it on You Tube but to get to the clip you have to watch an ad first. That’s a drag, but it’s not as painful as actual trench warfare.

By today’s standards I call it a toss-up as to which one of the two actors in the scene appears to be more wooden, but the anti-war message of the film had an effect on Ayres – so much so that when World War II came along he became America’s best-known concientious objector. He was told that refusing to take up arms would end his film career, but Ayres was adamant that he would not kill another human being.

“I thought, well, this may mean the end of a career. As far as I was concerned that was all right. I was ready. I said I don’t mind working with the army because you do have a tremdous problem with the Hitler situation. I can’t deny these things, but I said as far as I’m concerned I couldn’t kill, and I couldn’t go into the army even on your side unless I did what I considered to be constructive work.”

There was a backlash and some theaters refused to show his films, but Ayres stuck to his position and managed to get into the Medical Corps as a non-combatant. He served with distinction, patching people up in the Pacific and New Guinea and after the war ended he was able to resume his career, though his star power had dimmed. Still, Ayres must have had some personal magnetism. Jane Wyman, his co-star in the film “Johnny Belinda”, left her husband, apparently with the thought that she and Ayres could make a life together. That didn’t happen, but by that point Wyman’s marriage to Ronald Reagan was beyond repair. One wonders how she felt, years later, about taking that gamble.

Lew Ayres’ other remarkable and principled stand was to turn down a chance to star on TV in a role he had created for film – Dr. Kildare. Ayres wanted NBC to agree that there would be no cigarette advertising connected with the series. In 1961, that was incredibly foresighted call for an actor, and one that was totally impossible for the network to accept. The role went to Richard Chamberlain instead. People may have been puzzled at the time, but today we understand.

I, for one, tip my hat. Happy birthday, Mr. Ayres.

Who do you admire in the motion picture world?

60 thoughts on “Happy Birthday, Lew Ayres”

  1. As baboons we do need to note thepassing of a member of the motion picture world:
    PALM HARBOR, Fla. — A Florida animal sanctuary says Cheetah the chimpanzee sidekick in the Tarzan movies of the early 1930s has died at age 80.

    The Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbor announced that Cheetah died Dec. 24 of kidney failure.
    It was noted that he did well at the sanctuary but through feces when annoyed.

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    2. i loved the tarzan movies as a kid. they just finished a tarzan run on saturday mornings on tcm that had a run of a couple of months back in the johnny weismueller days til recent ones. i used to live for tarzan and the bowery boys as a kid. cheetah was a wonderful addition with jane and boy. what a family. may he rest in peace

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  3. Only two stars left in Hollywood? Ah, sir, I beg to differ. There is a genuine movie star working these days, and he is a man of principles who takes career risks to support good causes. Maybe I’m biased because people are always telling me that this man and I look so much alike it is spooky. I refer, of course,to George Clooney.

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    1. I was just talking last night with some friends about George Clooney and his paramours – and whether it was ethical (or just plain egotistical) to date a nameless waitress for 2 years, plucked from obscurity, put out on the red carpet and into the spotlight, and dump her like yesterday’s Chinese take-out. Sure, she’s a grown-up, too – but he does seem a bit of a cad on the romantic front.

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      1. Those are fighting words! Honestly, I don’t see how you can jump to the conclusions you have. You don’t even know that he dumped her; could have been the other way around. And as for plucking her from obscurity, I fail to see the crime. He should only date famous women? What if he meets a truly remarkable woman waiting tables. Some of the most desirable women I’ve met have done that at times. You ascribe all sorts of haughty attitudes to Clooney without apparently considering whether the young lady might have been a spoiled golddigger using her beauty to advance herself.

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      2. Well, the alternative is that women get bored with Mr. Clooney after about 2 years and dump him…which perhaps also doesn’t speak well to his character. I’m not saying he should only date famous women – he can date whomever he likes, gold diggers and femme fatales, starlets or the girl next door. Just saying that he is more gossip-worthy on the romantic front than say, Tom Hanks, who has been married to the same woman since 1988 (and seems insistent on remaining faithful to her).

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  4. I was recently saddened to hear of the death of Harry Morgan (Colonel Potter). It sounds like he had a fine long life and really was the guy you thought he was. Loved the fact that the picture prominently displayed on his desk in M*A*S*H was his wife in real life (ok, I know that was tv, but still).

    I honestly don’t keep up that much with the real lives of the stars to know who is truly admirable and who is not. I do like Harrison Ford’s work very much, also Meryl Streep.

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      1. but IIRC, he, like Jimmy Carter, can build a fine chair. That counts for rather a lot in my book.

        Ok you Baboons, I’ve got to get to work and not surface ’til the project has met its daily quota, smell ya later!

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  5. I absolutely loved Richard Burton. I thought along with being the sexiest man I’d ever seen his acting was phenomenal. From stage to screen. He proved from his works of “Night of the Iguana” & “Boom” his comedic side mixed in with his complete dramatic character side as well. And he had the ultimate voice of many centuries.

    Jack Lemmon was another ultimate all around favorite actor. Anybody who can perform such a dramatic role as he did in ” Days of Wine and Roses” then go onto to a complete hysterical comedy like “The Odd Couple” was indeed the perfection of his profession.

    He said in many interviews he lived his role off stage in “Save The Tiger” and it profoundly affected him. Bringing that character home was a living nightmare.

    Sadly miss both of these actors tremendously. I mean so many favorites gone.

    Deborah Kerr, Peter Niven, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn etc……

    There are no greats in Hollywood or anywhere that I know of that could ever stand up to these peoples stature.

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    2. I just read a biography of Richard Burton — a fascinating man altogether. He was highly intelligent, well-read, very generous financially and personally; and came from a poor, large Welsh family in the coal mining area of Wales. He wrote reams of stuff in his diaries and notebooks and took excellent care of his large, extended family. Quite a story and an immense natural talent that was discovered and honed at a young age by Philip Burton; who eventually adopted him in a sense, so Richard Jenkins took the last name of Burton. Unfortunately, his excesses and larger than life personality did him in eventually.

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  6. Colin Firth…but only ‘cuz I kinda have a crush on him. I don’t think he’s done much as a humanitarian. Also Judi Dench, because I want to be classy like her someday.

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  7. Good morning to all. There are many movies that I like. Two that always stick in my mind are A Thousand Clowns and A Woman Under the Influence. I very much liked Jason Robards in the first film and Gina Rowlands in the other one. Both Robards and Rowlands did outstanding jobs of playing people who were caught in bad situations. Robards played his role with a lot of humor. Rowlands gave an outstanding drmatic preformance as a woman struggling with very dificult problems.

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    1. Jason Robards has that genuine depth of character that can come from knowing great suffering and rising above it. He was once one of the most disgusting drunks among film or theater actors. And then he beat alcohol.

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  8. bono, brad pitt, willie nelson, angelina jolie, robin williams, oprah, bill clinton, all these people are celebrities who do more than preen in front of the miror, they stand up for causes out there in the world. harrison ford, sissey spacek, johnny depp jeff daniels are all stars who shun the hollywood brewhaha and try to live normal lives. it must be hard to have principles and be in the public eye. remember when sandy kofax wouldn’t pitch on the sabbith even in the world series? mohammed ali and his refusal to enter the viet nam war, there is a minnesota viking who will not take food or water from sun up until sundown during training camp because it is during ramadan and you are supposed to fast. i love guys like that. bob dylan does fun stuff with ticket sales at his concerts where he insists on a general admission area and no vip seats. he like minor league ballparks for his tours and keep ticket prices kind of in line in comparison to paul mccartney and the other whackos who charge 200 – 300 dollars for tickets.
    i wasn’t aware of lew ayres legacy, thanks dale for the new info

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    1. My fantasy about Bob Dylan is that he somehow finds out about Rock Bend Folk Festival and is so moved by the fact that we have remained a FREE festival for 21 years that he offers to make a surprise appearance on Saturday afternoon (highest attendance) and performs at least three songs, if not a whole set. What? I can have my fantasy.

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  9. No one has mentioned Paul Newman yet. You could keep a Netflix Paul Newman film festival going for several weeks without getting bored, and he made all that money for charity with the salad dressing too.

    I would also watch any movie that has Alan Rickman in it.

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    3. Is it bragging to mention I got to see Alan Rickman live in a Noel Coward play in London?…he was fabulous (‘natch). Would watch anything with him in it – or Paul Newman. “Delicious” is the word that comes to mind for both of them.

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      2. I saw him in a short film on PBS one evening. It was about a man having dinner with a former love later on in life. He is really a good actor!

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      5. i met paul in the bar at the holiday inn in brainerd while he was driving race cars. he only looked kind of like himself. lots more freckles in real life

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  10. This question is an interesting one for me. I’ve had the fun of working with some celebrities in my day, and have to say that the real “stars” tend to be hard-working people who are there to do the job. It is the wanna-bes that tend to throw the tantrums (and the furniture).

    I can’t say that I’ve ever really wanted to meet any particular celebrity, simply because I would have very little to say to them. Once I have stated that I enjoyed their work, I figure I’ve pretty much said all that can be said.

    Their are also any number of performers who do excellent work, but I certainly would not have much good to say about their private lives. I think it is possible to admire someone’s work, while disapproving of their character. In the case of many performers, it is a must.

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  12. Daniel Day-Lewis has done some memorable performances. It is fascinating to watch My Beautiful Laundrette and A Room with a View and consider that they were done both in the same year and his characters couldn’t be more unlike one another.

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  13. I enjoy movies, but I’m not what you’d call a film buff. I don’t know much about the private lives of most of these people – nor do I care to. Seems to me that people like Charlie Chaplin, Woody Allen, Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood, Marlon Brando and Ingmar Bergman, to mention but a few, have contributed immensely to film. I admire their work though I’m aware of public scandals associated with at least a couple of them, but to my mind, their work speaks for itself. Susan Sarandon and Liv Ullman are among my favorite actresses; I admire their diversity and also their commitment to issues.

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  14. I don’t follow the careers of movie stars but the ones I’ve really enjoyed are Meryl Streep, Helen Mirren, Helena Bonham-Carter, Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford, Paul Newman and Robin Williams. I think Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter would be great in a movie together! Maybe they already are and I just don’t know it.

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    1. Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd starred both Depp and Bonham-Carter (as well as Alan Rickman). I also believe Bonham-Carter is married to Tim Burton.

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  16. OT. The bread baker in me is quite sad today.. The Swany White flour mill burned down yesterday in Freeport. I love the flour they mill. Any bets as to if they will rebuild and keep milling? ND has a very lucrative State Four Mill, a vestige of a socialist-bent state government in the 1930’s that keeps making the state money and which vexes the state Republicans a great deal. I sent my son out this afternoon to a whole foods store in Fargo to buy 50 lbs of Swany White. I hope he can get it.

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  17. Afternoon–

    I’ve always liked Glenn Close and John Lithgow. And Judi Dench. And Michael Caine. And— And I want a voice like Edward Everett Horton.

    I can’t argue with any of the other choices mentioned here.

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    3. you wanna talk voices you have to add sterling hollaway,andy devine and chill wills but edward everett horton was a pip how about jiminy cricketts voice from cliff edwards

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