Another case where a broad gets labeled a spy when, really, she’s just a propogandist, that is to say, a chick who talks smack. Portland, Maine native, Mildred Gillars (1900-1988), while studying overseas in Germany prior to WWII, was duped recruited by a professor with whom she was involved, and became the voice of propaganda [...]
C.J. Cregg
Say what you will about the politics of the show, but TV’s “The West Wing” accomplished a very important feat: the writers of the show provided us with a fully realized female character at a time when women characters on TV kinda sucked. Okay, so C.J. was not a spy-dame, per se, but this lady [...]
Tokyo Rose
Important fact to note: talking trash may equal treason but does not necessarily equal spying. “Tokyo Rose” was an umbrella term referring to any one of a dozen English speaking ladies on Japanese radio. However, the most famous rose in the garden was Iva Toguri D’Aquino (1916-2006). An American born Girl Scout of Japanese descent, [...]
Mata Hari
You’ve heard it, admit it, you have. Any dame involved in anything the least bit manipulative in nature or related to espionage and she instantly and incorrectly merits the name a “Mata Hari”. Double Agent or naive floozy? The world may never know the true story of Margarethe Zelle (1876-1917), a Dutch exotic dancer and [...]
Elise Kraft/Sharon Bridger
Yowser, did Annette Benning rock in “The Siege” or what? I always liked her as an actress, she’s terribly ballsy in everything she does, but this move kicked some serious butt. Benning plays Elise Kraft/Sharon Bridger, a government agent of unknown origin. She’s either CIA or NSA, we’re never quite sure because she’s excellent at [...]
“M”
As a lover of all things Ian Fleming, I was terribly dismayed when I heard that the character “M”, the venerable British Intelligence Chief, was going to be played by a woman in the 1995 James Bond installment “Goldeneye”. I’m a purist. I like my characters to remain the same gender. Unless, of course, I’m [...]
Hedy Lamarr
Ms. Lemarr, an Austrian born actress (1913-2000) who enchanted movie goers world wide with her ravishing beauty, also co-invented spread spectrum encoding, the basic technology for anti-ballistic missiles and the cell phone in your purse. Married to an arms manufacturer in the 1930′s who had forbidden her from acting (while also failing to notice her [...]
Julia Child
Aside from her incredible life of writing fabulous cookbooks, hosting a much-beloved cooking show on TV, and introducing everyday American schmoes to the lush and wonderful world of French Cuisine, a little known fact about Julia Child (1912-2004) is that she worked for the OSS during WWII. Being too tall for the Navy at a [...]
Fiona Glenanne
If you’re not watching “Burn Notice” you best get to it. Gabrielle Anwar as a former IRA guerilla who specializes in bomb making and selling light weaponry on the side makes me all weepy for The Old Sod. Season 1, Episode 3: Fiona is guarding a witness to a crime when she receives a phone [...]
Nikita
Anne Parillaud in the 1990 movie classic “La Femme Nikita”, never opened a can of whoop-ass on someone she didn’t like. A junkie slated for execution for her part in a robbery gone wrong, “Nikita” is given a last minute reprieve, provided she agrees to become a trained assassin for French government. All of which [...]
