Who are some famous spies in history?
Asked by: Dr. Jameson Feil IV | Last update: February 3, 2026Score: 5/5 (68 votes)
Famous spies in history include Cold War moles Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen, WWI dancer Mata Hari, and WWII double agent Juan Pujol García (Garbo). Key figures also include US Civil War spy Belle Boyd, Revolutionary War spy Nathan Hale, and British spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham. These individuals operated across various eras, ranging from early intelligence gathering to modern high-stakes espionage.
Who is the most famous spy ever?
Famous spies in history include legendary figures like Mata Hari, the exotic dancer executed in WWI; Soviet moles Kim Philby, Guy Burgess, and Anthony Blunt; double agents like Juan Pujol Garcia (Garbo) and Oleg Penkovsky; WWII operatives such as Virginia Hall and Richard Sorge; and Cold War traitors like Aldrich Ames and the Rosenbergs, showcasing espionage across eras with roles from intelligence gatherers to devastating double agents.
Who are the famous five spies?
The members of the ring were Donald Maclean (1913 - 1983), Guy Burgess (1911 - 1963), Harold 'Kim' Philby (1912 - 1988) and Anthony Blunt (1907 - 1983). Several other people have been suggested as belonging to the ring, including John Cairncross.
Who is the greatest spy?
Also known as The Black Tiger, Kaushik is considered as one of India's greatest spies. He worked as a clerk in the Pakistan Army's Military Accounts Department, not as a commissioned officer. He was exposed after a botched communication attempt by another operative.
Who is a famous female spy?
VIRGINIA HALL. Of the many women who served in the OSS, field agent Virginia Hall was one of the most distinguished. Undaunted by her artificial leg, she created a spy network and helped organize and arm French commandos behind enemy lines. Posing as a dairy farmer, she scouted potential drop zones while herding cows.
Who Were the Most Successful Spies of All Time?
Who was the most feared spy?
Virginia Hall: The Most Feared Allied Spy of WWII. Learn how Virginia Hall, woman with a prosthetic leg, became the most feared allied spy in WWII. See how she eluded Nazi capture and aided in a victory at D-Day.
Which actor was a spy?
Before his acting career, Lee served in the Royal Air Force as an intelligence officer, attached to the No. 260 Squadron RAF during World War II as a liaison officer for the Special Operations Executive.
What are the five types of spies?
The five classic types of spies, from Sun Tzu's Art of War, are: Local spies (citizens in enemy territory), Inward spies (enemy officials), Converted spies (captured enemy agents turned to your side), Doomed spies (expendable decoys with false info), and Surviving spies (those who gather info and return). These types work together for comprehensive intelligence gathering, from local knowledge to strategic deception.
Who is the most iconic secret agent?
One of the most famous double agents who can be counted among the world's greatest spies is Juan Pujol Garcia. Codenamed “Garbo” by the British and “Alaric” by Nazi Germany, his exploits earned him the Iron Cross by Germany and a Member of the Order of the British Empire.
Was George Blake ever found?
Blake was eventually discovered in 1961 and sentenced to 42 years in prison, one of the longest terms ever imposed for espionage in Britain. In 1966, with the help of fellow inmates and outside supporters, he escaped from HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs in West London.
Who was the world's first spy?
Who was the first spy? It has been suggested that the Twelve Spies that Moses sent to scout the land of Canaan, mentioned in the Book of Numbers in The Bible, might be candidates for the world's first spies.
What famous actress was a spy?
Audrey Hepburn: Spy for the Resistance. By 1944, Hepburn was working for Dr. Hendrik Visser 't Hooft, an anti-German leader, where she solidified her ties to the underground Resistance and doctors who helped forge identity papers.
Who was the famous American spy?
Nathan Hale (June 6, 1755 – September 22, 1776) was an American Patriot, soldier, and spy for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission in New York City but was captured by the British and executed.
What are the names of the 12 spies?
These are the names of the men who were to go spy out the land: Shammua, Shaphat, Caleb, Igal, Hoshea (also known as Joshua), Palti, Gaddiel, Gaddi, Ammiel, Sethur, Nahbi and Geuel.
Which actor refuses to kiss on screen?
The most prominent actor known for refusing to kiss on-screen due to his faith and respect for his wife, Ruvé, is Neal McDonough, who has included no-kissing clauses in his contracts and faced career repercussions for it, although he later clarified his gratitude for Hollywood. Other actors like Kirk Cameron, known for his role in Growing Pains, also maintained a no-kissing policy for religious reasons, with his wife sometimes acting as his body double.
Who was Hitler's greatest enemy?
Hitler's biggest enemy was international Jewry, which he falsely portrayed as a global conspiracy controlling nations like Britain, Russia, and the U.S., viewing them as the ultimate threat to the "Aryan race" and German survival, leading to the Holocaust; however, other major enemies included Communists, Social Democrats, Jehovah's Witnesses, Roma, and political opponents, while Franklin D. Roosevelt was also a prominent political adversary.
Who is the most famous real spy?
5 of History's Most Famous Spies
- Sir Francis Walsingham. Sir Francis Walsingham lived in England at a time when one's religion was a matter of life and death. ...
- Nathan Hale. Nathan Hale was only 20 years old when the American Revolution began in 1775. ...
- Rose O'Neal Greenhow. ...
- Mata Hari. ...
- Aldrich Ames.
Who was the female spy in ww2 with one leg?
Virginia Hall became a master British spy during WWII, leading French Resistance forces and conducting intelligence operations with a wooden leg, becoming the Gestapo's most wanted agent.
Who was the queen of Spies?
Biography of Louise Marie Jeanne Henriette de Bettignies, a French secret agent who ran the most efficient spy network in France during the first World War. The network spied on the Germans and submitted their intelligence to Britian. De Bettignies used the pseudonym Alice Dubois.
What celebrities worked as spies?
The American-born performer was one of surprisingly large number of celebrities involved in espionage during the 20th century, including escape artist Harry Houdini, baseball catcher Moe Berg, movie actress Marlene Dietrich, spy novelist Ian Fleming, chef Julia Child and Hollywood heartthrob Cary Grant.
Is Agent Zigzag a true story?
Agent Zigzag: The True Wartime Story of Eddie Chapman: The Most Notorious Double Agent of World War II.