Filmmaker John Ford was a Secret Agent
Photo by Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images
Director and multiple Academy Award winner John Ford was one of the world’s most iconic filmmakers and is known for films including Stagecoach, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and The Grapes of Wrath. He also worked for the Office for Strategic Services during World War II. As a secret agent, Ford warned the agency that enemy Japanese were likely present in Baja, northwestern Mexico. He also produced propaganda and training films for the OSS and U.S. Navy. Among the footage, he shot was a video from “Area B” in Maryland where future CIA directors William Colby and William Casey trained. Two of Ford’s Oscars were even put on display in the CIA Exhibit Center.