He had roles in four Hollywood films between 1933 and 1935, including playing Marlene Dietrich's lover in The Scarlet Empress and Shirley Temple's father in The Little Colonel.

He was a direct descendant of at least seven U.S. senators, and had many other politicians in his family, including his brother, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., who ran for Vice President of the United States in 1960 alongside presidential nominee Richard Nixon but was defeated by John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

During the 1930s, and after a brief career as a lawyer, Lodge worked as an actor on screen and stage, appearing in starring roles in several notable productions, including some major Hollywood pictures.

Lodge was affiliated with the motion picture industry and the theater from 1933 to 1942, appearing in movies such as Little Women and The Little Colonel in which he played Shirley Temple's father.

In 1941, after returning to the United States, he appeared in several Broadway stage productions, including Lillian Hellman's Watch on the Rhine.

He won the Republican nomination but lost to incumbent Democratic senator Thomas J. Dodd, 35.34% to 64.66%.

He served as chairman of the Committee Foreign Policy Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania from 1964 to 1969; delegate and assistant floor leader, Connecticut Constitutional Convention in 1965; United States Ambassador to Argentina, from 1969 to 1973; and United States Ambassador to Switzerland in 1983.

He was married July 6, 1929 to actress and ballet dancer Francesca Braggiotti; both of them appearing in the 1938 film Tonight at Eleven.

Lily Lodge is the director of the Actors Conservatory, and Beatrice is the wife of Antonio de Oyarzabal, the former ambassador of Spain to the United States.