Lew Ayres Movies

Want to know the best Lew Ayres movies?  How about the worst Lew Ayres movies?  Curious about Lew Ayres box office grosses or which Lew Ayres movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Lew Ayres movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well, you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.

Lew Ayres (1908-1996) was an Oscar®-nominated American actor.   Ayres is known his role in 1930’s All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and for playing Dr. Kildare in nine movies. He was nominated for an Academy Award® for his performance in Johnny Belinda (1948).  His IMDb page shows 119 acting credits between 1944 and 1988.  This page will rank Lew Ayres movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos, uncredited roles, and movies that were not released in North American were not included in the rankings.

1930’s All Quiet on the Western Front

Lew Ayres Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

1938’s Holiday

Lew Ayres Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies any way you want.

  • Sort Lew Ayres movies by his co-stars
  • Sort Lew Ayres movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost.
  • Sort Lew Ayres movies by domestic yearly box office rank
  • Sort Lew Ayres movies how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Lew Ayres movie received.
  • Sort Lew Ayres movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
1964’s The Carpetbaggers

Possibly Interesting Facts About Lew Ayers

1. Lewis Frederick Ayres III was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1908.

2.  Lew Ayres was a Big Band musician before becoming an actor. His instruments were tenor banjo, long-neck banjo and guitar.

3. After dropping out of college, Lew Ayres was found by a talent scout in the Coconut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles and entered Hollywood as a bit player.

4.  Lew Ayres was a conscientious objector during World War II, which made him rather unpopular at the studio.

5.  Lew Ayres appeared in three Best Picture Oscar® nominees: All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), State Fair (1933) and Johnny Belinda (1948), with All Quiet on the Western Front the only winner.

Check out Lew Ayres’s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

Steve’s Lew Ayres YouTube Movie Ranking Page

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42 thoughts on “Lew Ayres Movies”

  1. I have seen 26 Lew Ayres movies including 7 of the top 10.

    The HIGHEST rated movie I have seen is All Quiet on the Western Front.

    The highest rated movie I have NOT seen is Johnny Belinda.

    The LOWEST rated movie I have seen is Battle for the Planet of the Apes.

    Favourite Lew Ayres Movies:

    All Quiet on the Western Front
    Holiday
    The Dark Mirror
    The Unfaithful
    Young Dr. Kildare
    State Fair
    No Escape
    The Carpetbaggers
    Dr. Kildare Goes Home
    The Kiss
    The Doorway to Hell
    The Secret of Dr. Kildare
    Dr. Kildare Goes Home

    Other Lew Ayres Movie I Have Seen:

    Maisie Was a Lady
    These Glamour Girls
    The Ice Follies
    The People vs. Dr. Kildare
    Spring Madness
    Dr. Kildare’s Wedding Day
    Remember?
    The Secret of Dr. Kildare
    The Last Train to Madrid
    Dr. Kildare’s Victory
    Dr. Kildare’s Crisis
    Rich Man Poor Girl
    Calling Dr. Kildare
    Battle For the Planet of the Apes

    Reply

    1. Hey Flora. Thanks for checking out our latest page. Tally count: you destroyed us…26 for you, 8 for bob cox, 7 for Steve and 5 for me. Our combined total is still behind you, pretty impressive.

      Surprised you have not seen Johnny Belinda.That is one of his better performances. I have seen two of your favorites but they are the first two you mentioned, so maybe I’ve seen the right ones.

      As always your visit, comment, and your movie sharing knowledge is greatly appreciated.

      Reply

  2. When Lew’s name comes up most people tend to mention All Quiet on the Western Front; and being debonair when he was young he was [as Bruce well-chronicles above] also famous on screen for the Dr Kildare MGM 9-movie series from 1938 to 1942 with the great Lionel Barrymore as his sidekick Dr Gillespie. Lionel and his Dr Gillespie got their own MGM 6-movie series from 1942 – 1947

    However as I’ve said before I don’t like war films – not even The Duke’s ones such as The Longest Day– and I wouldn’t have had much interest in Dr Kildare. So my own fave memories of Lew are in 1953’s minor but to me satisfying film noir No Escape despite the Work Horse’s low 50% rating for it- I don’t hang onto HIS every word ; the 1964 political drama Advise and Consent; and the sex potboiler and Ladd’s last movie The Carpetbaggers in 1964.

    Oh and before the Work Horse and Phil start getting the boot into me again for being slow on the draw I should quickly mention that I saw Lew in the 1974’s Columbo episode “Mind over Mayhem” in which Lew’s Dr Nicholson gets bumped off by guest murderer Jose Ferrer the real-life uncle of today’s Gorgeous George Clooney – Jose also being one-time husband of George’s Aunt Rosemary Clooney of White Christmas fame and a host of recording successes. Old pros like Lew and Jose acting their age are always fund to watch in modern TV movies/series. Robert Walker Jr was Jose’s son in the Columbo episode.

    Lew did a couple of radio stints briefly: a Dr Kildare series from 1949-51 and an episode of the Philip Morris Playhouse in 1952 – Dark Victory. Lew refused to do the later Dr Kildare TV series as it was being sponsored by a cigarette company

    I always like to see the old stalwarts of the early days of the talkies getting their due recognition and Cogerson is very good for that – so “Voted Up!” Lew is said to have left behind a net worth equal to $2.7 million today.

    Reply

    1. Hey Bob. Thank goodness she be filled to the Colombo punch… LOL. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on our leaders page.Sorry no Escape got such a low rating, that was made at the end of his leading man days. After that it seems to be only supporting roles or leads in television roles.

      The thing that surprises me about Dr. Kildaire, is how many movies they made in such a short time. Thanks for the information on his net worth in his non-movie roles. Good stuff as always.

      Reply

    2. Hi Bob, interesting thoughts on Lew Ayres. Damn you beat me on the Columbo connection this time (I saw your comment also on the Laurence Harvey page)! Actually, to be honest, I had only vaguely remembered Ayres on Columbo so thanks for refreshing my memory. Ayres looked like too nice of a guy to play a murderer so it makes sense that he was the “bumped off” guest star and that Jose Ferrer had the bigger part as the murderering guest star.

      Reply

      1. HI PHIL

        Thanks for your thoughts on Columbo/Lew/Jose. I agree with you about Lew being too nice. In his later years he seemed to always in his roles be the foil/victim of some stronger and more- determined person.

        Everybody seems to turn up in Columbo to match wits with him. William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy of Star Trek were guest villains in 3 episodes – Leonard in one episode and William in two others. Shatner in particular was delicious. Don Ameche was in another episode though as a good-guy lawyer.

        Even Kim Hunter Brando’s Stelahhhh in Streetcar was in an episode as a scatty aunt – in the Lew Ayers one in fact.

        Reply

        1. Looks like PhilHoF17 might be able to challenge Bob when it comes to Colombo…..proving their HoF status in not only movies but television work as well.

          Reply

  3. 500 views for this new page at time of writing, it’s already passed Kelly Preston’s tribute page. There is still a lot of interest in the old classics. Bob remembers these films when they were new! [Bob snarls] Thanks for the video share, much appreciated, this page will probably beat my video views by this evening!

    I’ve seen 7 of the 62 films on the chart, not a good tally. My favorites are – Battle for the Planet of the Apes (Ayres plays an orangutan), Battlestar Galactica, The Carpetbaggers, Omen: Damien II and All Quiet on the Western Front. I’ve also seen Donovan’s Brain and Holiday.

    Richard Chamberlain is the only Dr. Kildare I’ve seen, back when I was a kid.

    Good work Bruce. Vote Up!

    Reply

    1. Hey Steve Peary this page is actually been around for a few days, I have been generating new pages just not promoting them. Last night I stayed up so late commenting and I took a shortcut and made this page the post of the day. Don’t wanna overwhelm the readers with so many new pages, just they let them discover them on their own pace.

      Ok back to Mr. Lea Ayres. Tally count. Flora 26, bob cox 8, you 7 and me last with 5. I have to admit, I was shocked when I saw he was in Battlestar Galactica. I have not seen that show for many years, it would be interesting to see how it looks today.As a kid I love that show. Not surprised his appearance in the planet of the apes franchise made your favorites list.

      Glad to add your video….though I have no memory of commenting…but I see a Cogerson comment….so I assume it was me…lol. Good stuff.

      Reply

    1. Thank you Mike. This Joel subject, took some time to finish. Still missing some movies from the 1930s, but got a ton from the 1930s.

      Reply

  5. I saw 8 including 5 of top 7. 10 not favorite all quiet on the western front. 9s and favorites: holiday, johnny Belinda. hidden gem dark mirror an 8, fun film noire with olivia dehavilland in 2 roles a tour deforce from Thomas Mitchell..

    Reply

    1. Hey bob cox…as always thanks for sharing your thoughts. Lew Ayres is another of the Joel subjects that I quietly included on the website. So you have seen 8….I have seen 5…so you have me topped. Good rankings on his movies….I agree with them. As for The Dark Mirror….it is one I have not seen…..but it sounds interesting. Good stuff.

      Reply

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