Background
After moving to New York City with her mother to pursue a career in acting, Ayres was spotted by actress Alice Joyce.
After moving to New York City with her mother to pursue a career in acting, Ayres was spotted by actress Alice Joyce.
She was known for her role as Lady Diana Mayo in The Sheik opposite Rudolph Valentino. Born as Agnes Eyre Henkel in Carbondale, Illinois to Solon and Emma (née Slack) Henkel on April 4, 1898. She had an older brother, Solon William Henkel, who was a decade her senior.
She began her career in 1914 when she was noticed by an Essanay Studios staff director and cast as an extra in a crowd scene.
Joyce noticed the physical resemblance the two shared which eventually led to Ayres being cast in Richard the Brazen (1917), as Joyce"s character"s sister. In 1921, Ayres shot to stardom when she was cast as Lady Diana Mayo, an English heiress opposite "Latin lover" Rudolph Valentino in The Sheik.
Ayres later reprised her role as Lady Diana in the 1926 sequel Son of the Sheik. Following the release of The Sheik, she went on to have major roles in many other films including The Affairs of Anatol (1921) starring Wallace Reid, Forbidden Fruit (1921), and Cecil B. DeMille"s epic The Ten Commandments (1923).
By 1923, Ayres" career began to wane following the end of her relationship with Jesse Lasky.
The couple had a daughter before divorcing in 1927. In 1929, Ayres lost her fortune and real estate holdings in the Crash of ’29. That same year, she also appeared in her last major role in The Donovan Affair, starring Jack Holt.
To earn money, she left acting and played the vaudeville circuit.
She returned to acting in 1936, confident that she could make a comeback. Unable to secure starring roles and somewhat overweight, Ayres appeared in mostly uncredited bit parts and finally retired from acting for good in 1937.
After her retirement, Ayres became despondent and was eventually committed to a sanatorium. She died from a cerebral hemorrhage on December 25, 1940 at her home at the age of 42.
She is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Foreign her contribution to motion pictures, Agnes Ayres has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6504 Hollywood Boulevard.