17. Actor Sterling Hayden worked for the OSS during the Second World War
Sterling Hayden is largely forgotten now, though in the 1950s and 1960s he was a prolific actor. He was the performer concerned with the corruption of bodily fluids in Dr. Strangelove, as well as the corrupt police officer shot and killed by Michael Corleone in The Godfather. During World War II, the motion picture star played a different role entirely. He was an agent and operative of the OSS. Hayden enlisted in the army under his own name, broke an ankle during training, and was discharged. Using a false name – John Hamilton – he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, and performed well enough in training that he was sent to Officer Candidate School for commissioning. There he caught the attention of OSS Director Bill Donovan.
Hayden, under the name Hamilton, served in Italy and the Balkans, interacting with partisans and providing supplies and support to diverse groups. Donovan also tasked him to monitor and report on the communist leanings of several partisan organizations. Hayden – as Hamilton – established rescue teams for downed Allied airmen and underground safe houses and trails for them to find their way back to safety. He also reported to Donovan on the activities and plans of Yugoslavia’s Josip Tito. At the end of the war, Hayden received awards from the United States, Italy and Yugoslavia for his service, all in the name of John Hamilton.