8. Cary Grant informed the British Government about German sympathizers
According to biographer Charles Higham, at least two of the most popular leading men in Hollywood in the 1940s – Errol Flynn and Cary Grant – were involved in espionage, though on opposite sides. Higham reported that Flynn was a Nazi sympathizer who had visited Germany before the war and even met with Adolf Hitler. Grant, who was born in Britain and had several relatives living in Bristol during the war, revealed Flynn’s pro-Nazi leanings to British agents in Washington, and kept them informed about other Nazi sympathizers in Hollywood. He also worked with Roald Dahl and other British agents in shaping the British propaganda messages aimed at discrediting America First and other isolationist groups in the United States.
Flynn was an Australian and was known in Hollywood circles for being anti-British, as well as antisemitic. According to Higham’s biography, which has no shortage of detractors, he first started working with the German secret police – the Gestapo – in 1937 while on a trip to Spain. Flynn’s role was identifying those surreptitiously opposing Franco during the Spanish Civil War. When he returned to Hollywood his pro-Nazi views were noted by many, and Grant kept British agents in Washington aware of Flynn’s activities and companions throughout the war years. Other historians dispute the account completely. Whether the tales of Flynn are true or not, the reports of Grant working with British agents are documented in the reports of MI6 and in the diaries of many participants.