Lew Ayres: Hollywood's Conscientious Objector

Hollywood Legends

by Lesley L. Coffin, Marya E. Gates (Foreword)

Lew Ayres (1908-1996) became known to the public when he portrayed the leading character in the epic war film All Quiet on the Western Front . The role made him a household name, introduced him to his closest friends, brought him to the attention of his first two wives, and would overshadow the rest of his career. To be a movie star was his first and only ambition as a child, but once he found success, he was never fully satisfied in his choice of profession. Although lacking a formal education, Ayres spent the rest of his life pursuing dozens of intellectual studies, interests, and hobbies. He even considered ended his acting career after just a few years to pursue a more "respectable and fulfilling" path as a director.
Ayres was given not one but two comeback opportunities in his acting career, in 1938 and 1945. He was cast in the film series Dr. Kildare where he showed his abilities in comedy and his unique strength at bringing a level of sincerity to even the most outlandish or idealist character. But he was willing to give up his star status in order to follow his moral compass, first as a conscientious objector and ultimately as a noncombat medic during World War II. To everyone's surprise, he was welcomed back to Hollywood with open arms and new opportunities despite his objector status.
Biographer Lesley L. Coffin presents the story of a man of quiet dignity, constantly searching for the right way to live his life and torn between the public world of Hollywood and secluded life of spiritual introspection.

Genres: Biography

264 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

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Lesley Coffin completed a masters in Biographical Studies at NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Studies, specializing in film history and star studies. Lew Ayres: Hollywood's Conscientious Objector is her first biography.

Reviews

[Leslie]

While Ayres is an interesting figure, this book has some serious weaknesses. The author's writing skills are unimpressive and the book does not seem to have been properly proofread, so you get passages like this: "For example, in the Chicago radio market the famed reporter Studs Terkel was one of the most public individuals on the radio to speak out directly against Lew, whom he gently critiqued. He later regretting his arrogant, righteous address about Ayres, for his 'hurting the efforts to recruit soldier boys....'" That is wordy, repetitive, contradictory (how can Terkel's comments be gentle, arrogant, and righteous all at the same time?), and with a glaring error in the middle of it all. The author just seems to have a tin ear for prose: Ayres' first wife "trained as a stage actress before moving on to movies." You only have to read that out loud once to know it sounds awful. So the writing is at best serviceable and flat, at worst awkward, wordy, and clumsy. And while she gives the basic facts about Ayres' life and career, she doesn't have anything in particular to say about any of it. She lists his movie roles without having anything interesting to say about a single one of them. She tells us that Ayres felt constricted by the studio system but doesn't analyse that system or tell us why Ayres (and others) was frustrated with it. She doesn't put his career or his public image or the industry in which he worked into any useful or illuminating larger context that might allow us to understand it. The book is neither analytical enough to satisfy a scholarly audience (it was published by a university press) nor narratively compelling enough to satisfy a general audience.

[Donna Walsh]

I loved this book! Could not stop reading it.
Lesley Coffin really lets you know what Lew was really like.
So interesting about his conscientious objection in WWII.

[Nancy]

And this is a very generous rating because this book.... What can I say about it that will make sense to the people who aren't me?

To begin with, I should probably explain that I'm not a Lew Ayres novice. I've spent several years collecting his film, television, and radio appearances, as well as magazine articles and books that reference him. It's by no means a complete collection, and my recall of everything I've read, seen, and heard is neither encyclopedic nor perfect, but I've got a pretty solid background in the subject of Lew Ayres.

When I saw that this book was available, I was excited. He's one of the more fascinating Hollywood actors from the classic era and deserves far more attention from modern cinephiles than he gets. As I read this book, however, I became increasingly disappointed because, frankly, Lew Ayres deserves better than this.

This biography suffers from bad facts and bad writing.

The bad facts aren't constant, but they're enough to be distracting if you know the actual facts; the cumulative effect is that you begin to call into question other things mentioned, mentally adding "if that's actually right" to the new (to you) information in the book. That said, there are a number of new and interesting sources backing this book, including access to Ayres's unpublished autobiography and conversations with Ayres's son; these are the sorts of things that you want to make time for while reading.

As for the writing, the best that can be said is that it's rather pedestrian and that the author doesn't seem to be very sure of her voice. At worst, there's plenty of awkward prose that falls completely flat, is confusing, or simply says something that I hope is the complete opposite of what she intended (because otherwise it says something very bad indeed). There are also several places where it reads like a sentence was partially rewritten, but someone didn't make sure the new sentence made sense. There are also errors that could and probably should be attributed to poor editing. In a better written book, I'd overlook them; in this book it becomes almost too much to deal with, what with having to deal with inaccurate facts and awkward writing.

If you're interested in Lew Ayres's life and career, this is definitely worth the time to read, but know that not everything said in it is right and be prepared to cringe or scratch your head occasionally as you tackle the writing.

[Holley Snaith]

I am so glad Lesley L. Coffin wrote this book about Lew Ayres. He is an under appreciated figure in Classic Hollywood and an important actor whose life and career have long deserved this kind of attention. The book takes readers through his childhood, his rise to fame, his film career, and his conscientious objector stance during World War II. But what I especially appreciated was learning more about Ayres beyond Hollywood. His interests in art, philosophy, spirituality, and other subjects reveal a thoughtful and intellectually curious man whose identity extended far beyond his work as an actor.

Coffin gives us a much fuller picture of Ayres and helps separate the man himself from some of the myths that have surrounded his life and career. This biography was long overdue, and if you love Old Hollywood and film history, I highly recommend it.

[Alistair]

I first saw Lew Ayres in a film called "Holiday " (1938) co-starring Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. His role as Hepburn's brother Ned is both funny and immensely touching, a performance I still fondly recall. The film he is best remembered for however, was his first, "All Quiet on the Western Front " which shot him to stardom and the eye of more than several Hollywood starlets, two who would later become wives - one named Ginger Rogers. Ayres didn't finish high school but became somewhat of an autodidact with far ranging interests. His anti-war stance was a cause célèbre as he insisted on serving as a non-combat medic in conscientious objection to World War 2. Despite this, post-war Hollywood welcomed him back and his second career took off in the Dr. Kildare series of films, with Lionel Barrymore quickly becoming audience favourites. This is a thoroughly engaging biography of an under-appreciated actor and very interesting man.
Three and a half stars.

[B]

I was introduced to Lew Ayres because I became a fan of Ginger Rogers, who was married to him for a while. The truth is, the initial reason I had wanted to read this biography was because I wanted to do some research on Ginger's relationship with Lew.

Having finished it now, though, I've come to a whole new level of appreciation for Lew Ayres. I recently watched "The Doorway to Hell" after reading about it in the book and finally realized a kind of quiet yet powerful performer Lew was. And then, of course, I now have so much respect about Lew's point of view on a lot of things, most especially his desire for peace among humans. Ms. Coffin had painted a portrait of Lew that seemed and sounded so ideal to me, even with his personal turmoils. I feel like had I known the man personally, I would've definitely gotten attracted to him on an intellectual level.

Now I have a new homework: watch ALL the Lew Ayres films!

[Elizabeth S.]

Glad for the chance to learn more about this underrated actor, but this book needed another proofreading once-over. There were more than a few errors I noticed, which distract from the story. Still, recommended for any fan of Ayres.

[Bill]

lew ayres was a fascinating personality. this book has many editorial deficiencies