Celebrity Biographies
9 Celebrities Who Also Worked As Real-Life Spies
Many actors built their careers by playingthe role of a famous spy – James Bond. For one thing, Sean Connery became one of Scotland’s most famous stars by reprising the role of the popular British spy in seven films. Pierce Brosnan raised his acting profile through his work in four Bond films. Recently, the film franchise has made Daniel Craig one of the most famous stars. Aside from the UK franchise, there have been countless films in which actors have impersonated the roles of secret agents and spies. However, a select few celebrities have been granted the privilege of working as spies in real life as well.
Most of the celebrities included in this article worked as spies during World War II in various operations to gather information on Nazi activities and made important contributions to the Allied cause. Featuring a writer, actor, magician and chef, here is a list of seven celebrities who have worked as spies in various capacities.
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Roald Dahl
Without a doubt, Roald Dahl is one of the world’s best-selling authors. In fact, he has been called “one of the greatest children’s storytellers of the 20th century.” Among the awards and accolades he has received for his work are the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1983 and Children’s Author of the One Year After the British Book Awards in 1990 and ranked 16th in the ’50 Greatest’ list by the prestigious TIME magazine British Writers since 1945”. However, before Dahl became a revered and loved children’s book author, he had quite an adventurous experience and exciting life. In 1939 he was commissioned into the Royal Air Force and was incidentally one of the three surviving pilots out of sixteen admitted to Nairobi for flight training. For his contributions to air battles, he became a “flying ace,” an honor recognized for shooting down multiple enemy aircraft in dogfights. Due to a severe headache stemming from a premature crash, Dahl was withdrawn from the Air Force and given a job at the British Embassy in Washington, DC.
In documents released in the 1980s, it was revealed that during his stay in the United States, he worked more as an intelligence officer than as a diplomat. He played a key role in countering the influence of the “America First” movement, which opposed US entry into the war. Some reports even state that Dahl bedded several powerful women to rally support in the US. Well, Bond would be proud of that.
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Noel Coward
Noel Coward was one of the most popular andsuccessful playwrights. He was particularly popular before and during World War I, and had achieved significant and enduring success with Hay Fever, Easy Virtue and Private Life. And he used his popularity and fame very well. After the outbreak of war he gave up theater work to campaign for the war. His first assignment was to run the British propaganda office in Paris, in connection with which he famously concluded that “if the policy of His Majesty’s Government is to bore the Germans to death, I don’t think we have time to have”. His next job on behalf of British Intelligence would be to capitalize on his popularity to sway American public opinion and political power in favor of supporting Britain in the war. Despite being on a secret mission, Feigling was still annoyed by regular criticism from the media and his countrymen for his trips abroad. In 1942 George VI. Granting Coward a knighthood for his clandestine work was dissuaded by Winston Churchill, who used Coward’s extravagant lifestyle as an excuse. In fact, Churchill believed that by entertaining the troops and the home front, Coward would contribute more to the war effort than intelligence work. Though dismayed by the advice, he did as he pleased, composing and singing war-themed songs including “London Pride” and “Don’t Let’
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Frank Sinatra
The mercurial and charismatic actor, singer and producer is probably one of the last men you would associate with clandestine and patriotic operations. Well, I’m not saying he wasn’t patriotic, but it’s difficult to associate the blue-eyed heart of Sinatra, who was prone to vocally participating in such works. He wasn’t a spy in the traditional sense. He worked in conjunction with the CIA and acted as a secret courier for the Secret Service. According to his daughter Tina, Sinatra did not collect or share intelligence information. He was involved in secretly transporting people in his private jet for the CIA. In her book My Father’s Daughter, Tina claimed that the CIA contacted Sinatra when she wanted someone to leave without a paper trail. Sinatra, who traveled the world in his private jet, was the ideal choice. In the book, Tina has also claimed that Sinatra also had connections with the crowd. He is reported to have told his daughter that he, with mob help, helped John F. Kennedy win the West Virginia Primary in 1960. However, the FBI or any other agency has not uncovered any material to support the claim. Kennedy to win the West Virginia Primary in 1960. However, the FBI or any other agency has not uncovered any material to support the claim. Kennedy to win the West Virginia Primary in 1960. However, the FBI or any other agency has not uncovered any material to support the claim.
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Ian Fleming
When you read Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels, one immediately gets the idea that the creator of the world’s most famous spy might have a secret experience that he used to make his work more dynamic and add depth and plot to the characters. And you will not be wrong if you come up with such an idea. Before the Second World War he was a journalist with great attention to detail and an excellent memory. During the war he was employed by British Naval Intelligence. He was given a lectern job managing communications between the British Admiralty and the intelligence department responsible for sabotage behind enemy lines. Through his proficiency at work, his sphere of work and influence expanded to the United States, where he was responsible for helping set up an American organization focused on gathering international intelligence. In 1941 he drew diagrams and plans for the head of the OSS demonstrating how the new organization was to be run. For his work he was honored with an engraved .38 Colt Police Positive Revolver.
He also got the opportunity to be a part of active operations when he joined the team tasked with a break-in at the Japanese Consul General’s office at Rockefeller Center. With Fleming in tow, the British agents snuck into the office in a thriller movie style, cracked open a safe and stole copies of the Japanese code books. Fleming would use this incident in his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale.
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Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo, a Swedish film actress, was an international star and one of the few stars to successfully transition from mute to “talkies.” She won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress for both Anna Karenina (1935) and Camille (1936). So there were mysteries and surprises when she retired from acting in 1941. In fact, towards the end of the last decade, she began appearing in fewer films and mysteriously disappeared for months. According to reports and historians, during these absences she worked alongside producer Alexander Korda and MI6 on a series of top-secret intelligence missions. It is reported that their first task was to gather information on Swiss industrialist Axel Wenner-Gren. Over the next few years, she continued to work for the agency, spying and reporting on potential Nazi agents and sympathizers. Some even credit their work in Denmark to the survival of legendary physicist Neils Bohr. Her hobby and great interest in art served as a valuable cover for Garbo. She was an avid art collector and owned paintings by Renoir, Rouault, Kandinsky, Bonnard and Jawlensky.
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Josephine Baker
Unlike some other celebrity contributions, Josephine Baker’s contribution to the war effort is well known. For her efforts in the French resistance during World War II, she was awarded the French military honor, the Croix de Guerre, and made a Knight of the Legion of Honor by General Charles de Gaulle. In September 1939, when France declared war on Germany after invading Poland, French military intelligence recruited Baker as an honorable correspondent determined to defeat racist and bigoted Germany. Baker collected information on the German locations of officers she met at parties. She was particularly adept at socializing in embassies and ministries, and her fame enabled her to to meet with those who had important information about the military operations, such as senior Japanese officials and Italian bureaucrats. After France invaded Germany, she left Paris and moved to the south of France, where she housed and provided visas for those wishing to help the Free French effort led by Charles de Gaulle. With her reputation as an entertainer, she continued to move around Europe, gathering vital and important information. who wanted to help the Free French effort led by Charles de Gaulle, and provided them with visas. With her reputation as an entertainer, she continued to move around Europe, gathering vital and important information. who wanted to help the Free French effort led by Charles de Gaulle, and provided them with visas. With her reputation as an entertainer, she continued to move around Europe, gathering vital and important information.
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Tired Berg
Moe Berg, der als der “klügste Mann” bezeichnet wurdein den wichtigsten Ligen seit fünfzehn Spielzeiten gespielt. Berg hatte einen Abschluss in Fremdsprachen in Princeton und konnte Berichten zufolge täglich 12 Sprachen sprechen und 10 Zeitungen lesen. Er erregte die Aufmerksamkeit der US-Regierung, als er zu Washington Senators wechselte und vom OSS (Office of Strategic Services, das als Vorläufer der CIA gilt) eingestellt wurde. Eine seiner ersten Aufgaben war es, im Rahmen einer amerikanischen All-Star-Team-Tour mit Babe Ruth und Lou Gehrig in Japan Spionagearbeit zu leisten. Es wird vermutet, dass das von ihm mitgebrachte Filmmaterial ein wesentlicher Bestandteil der Planung des Bombenangriffs von General Jimmy Doolittle auf Tokio im Jahr 1942 war. Seine nächste Aufgabe bestand darin, Informationen über Rebellengruppen in Jugoslawien zu sammeln. In Bezug auf Kühnheit und Gefahr war seine Spionagemission in Deutschland jedoch die größte. 1944 wurde er nach Deutschland geschickt, um Informationen über die Bemühungen des Landes um den Bau einer Atombombe zu sammeln. Und einem seiner Biographen zufolge wurde ihm befohlen, den führenden deutschen Physiker Werner Heisenberg zu erschießen, falls er kurz davor war, Atomwaffen zu entwickeln.
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Cary Grant
With his dashing good looks, sassy demeanor and charismatic personality, Cary Grant was one of Hollywood’s absolute leading men. In fact, the American Film Institute Grant named him the second greatest male star of American cinema of all time (after Humphrey Bogart) at 25. And it was his immense influence in show business that made him the perfect choice for MI6’s covert operation during WWII. British intelligence was concerned about the influence of the Axis sympathizers present in Hollywood. So they approached some Hollywood producers and asked them to find an insider who wanted to sabotage the Allied cause. Grant spent a number of years gathering information in the industry. His greatest achievement was the revelation that his colleague Errol Flynn wrote letters in support of Hitler. To be fair to Flynn, these claims have been heavily disputed and no definitive evidence has been found to support them.
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Julia Child
Julia Child is widely recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American mainstream. She’s also known for kickstarting the celebrity chef trend. Her two-volume cookbook “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” and the subsequent TV show “The French Chef” helped her enormously to become popular and successful in the 1960s. However, before she became everyone’s favorite cook, she worked for OSS during World War II. She was originally hired as a typist, but later her experience and training led to her promotion to the position of top-secret researcher reporting directly to the head of the OSS, General William J. Donovan. However, she has constantly downplayed her role in the organization.