22. Chuck Barris falsely claimed to be a spy and assassin for the CIA
Before he found fame and fortune creating game shows for television, Chuck Barris wrote the song Palisades Park, which became a major hit for Freddy Cannon. Barris then created television shows such as The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and The Gong Show. Barris’s television productions and investments made him a wealthy man, though he was seldom seen on camera before the creation of The Gong Show in 1976. In 1984 Barris published an autobiography which explained why he was seldom on camera. According to his story, he worked throughout the 1960s and early 1970s as a spy and assassin for the Central Intelligence Agency. A movie based on the book, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, was released in 2002.
Barris’s claims to have been employed by the CIA as an assassin were believed by many, though they were immediately refuted by the agency. To some, the refutation is in itself not a denial, given the mission and reputation of the agency. Barris recanted the claim in 1984, saying that he had applied to work for the agency and was denied. He told an interviewer that the tales of his working as an assassin in the book were simply a fantasy of what he would likely have done for the agency. There are those who still believe that he worked for the CIA during the 1960s, and that the actions are being covered up by the government. Such is the nature of espionage. Truth and lies are often indistinguishable.
Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“William Somerset Maugham”. Article, Nova Online. Public Broadcasting System
“The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington”. Jennet Conant. 2008
“Christopher Marlowe: the Elizabethan James Bond”. Derek Flynn, The Irish Times. June 6, 2016
“Frank Sinatra’s Mob Ties and Other Secrets from His FBI File”. Erin Blakemore, History.com. Online
“Allan Pinkerton’s Detective Agency”. American Experience, PBS. Online
“Disney Link to the FBI and Hoover is Disclosed”. Herbert Mitgang, The New York Times. May 6, 1993
“‘Moe’ Berg: Sportsman, Scholar, Spy”. Article, Central Intelligence Agency. 2013. Online
“Steinbeck: Citizen Spy. The Untold Story of John Steinbeck and the CIA. Brian Kannard. 2013
“Josephine Baker”. Arlisha R. Norwood, National Women’s History Museum. 2017. Online
“Troubled Waters”. Paul X. Rutz, Military History Magazine. May, 2017
“A Memorable History of Deception and Spy Capers”. History Collection. Khalid Elhassan. June 7, 2020
“George Washington, Spymaster”. Article, George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Online
“Mata Hari was innocent”. Staff, The Week. January 1, 2007. Online
“Chuck Barris: Lying to tell the truth”. Joel Stein, TIME Magazine. January 7, 2003