Trivia of Lew Ayres

 Trivia of Lew Ayres (28 December 1908 - 30 December 1996)

*Leaving high school before graduating, he started a small band which traveled to Mexico. He returned months later to pursue an acting career, but continued working full-time as a musician. He played banjo and guitar for big bands, including the Henry Halstead Orchestra. He recorded one of the earliest Vitaphone movie shorts called Carnival Night in Paris (Warner Brothers, 1927).

*His credited role was play opposite Greta Garbo in The Kiss (1929), but it was his leading role in the original version of All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) that made him a star, secured him a contract with Universal.

*After Ayres split up with actress Lola Lane in bitter divorce, he met actress Ginger Rogers while starring in the film Don't Bet on Love in 1933. They sealed the deal on November 14 but separated after less than two years. Four years later, in 1940, Rogers finalized the divorce.Reportedly, one of the reasons he and Ginger Rogers split up was that she was gregarious and outgoing, while Ayres preferred to be alone.

*As his intellectual interests grew, he became more of loner, often going days without seeing people. He has a small group of friends, but even they (such as William Bakewell and Ida Lupino) spoke of his tendency to be alone.Lew Ayres and Ida Lupino were neighbors when she was just starting in Hollywood and still living with her mother and sister. They were complete opposites but became friends through William Bakewell. One of the most notorious stories retold is the night they played a prank on Ida (a prank she didn't even notice), reorganizing her living room because she'd forgotten to lock the door.

*He appeared in nine films as Dr. Kildare : Young Dr Kildare (1938), Calling Dr Kildare (1939), The Secret of Dr Kildare (1939), Dr Kildare's Strange Case (1940), Dr Kildare Goes Home (1940), Dr Kildare's Crisis (1940), The People vs Dr Kildare (1941) , Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day (1941), Dr Kildare's Victory (1942).

*His career crashed in 1942 as a result of his declaring himself a conscientious objector to the war-a most unpopular stance in that era.Theatre owners boycotted his movies and the studio dropped him.He returned to acting in 1946.

*He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Johnny Belinda (1948) as Dr Robert Richardson.Johnny Belinda is widely considered to be the first Hollywood film for which the restriction was first relaxed since its implementation in 1934, and as such was controversial at the time of its initial release.