A scene from one of those campy 1940s spy movies filmed entirely in black and white?

Not for some of the 4,500 women who actively engaged in espionage work for the OSS during WWII.

Josephine Baker

Spying for her adopted country of France, Josephine Baker personally carried confidential information throughout Europe.

Blinded by her stardom, passport checkers never once guessed that the famed entertainer’s sheet music carried secrets penned in invisible ink. When recruited by her agent’s older brother, Baker eagerly agreed to pass on any tantalizing bits of information overheard at cocktail parties.

Sipping martinis while idly chatting with high-ranking Japanese officials and Italian bureaucrats at embassy gatherings, the singer could easily contribute to the French Resistance movement.

Her other war efforts included: sending Christmas presents to French soldiers, hiding Belgian refugees at her house in Southern France and securing passports and visas for people dodging the Nazi regime.

Accompanied by her entourage, Baker smuggled information out of Spain by pinning it inside her underwear. Not only did the St. Louis native sing and dance for allied soldiers in North Africa, but she also entertained liberated inmates of Buchenwald too frail to travel.

Recognized as the first American women to receive the Croix de Guerre, France’s highest military honor, the St. Louis Walk of Fame and Hall of Famous Missourians also honor Baker’s accomplishments.

For more information regarding this world-famous, African-American entertainer read: Josephine Baker: The Hungry Heart by foster son, Jean-Claude Baker.

Julia McWilliams Child

Before achieving celebrity status as The French Chef, Julia McWilliams Child processed top-secret documents for the OSS, the forerunner of today’s CIA.

Too tall for the WACS or WAVES, this advertising copywriter worked for OSS Leader General William Donovan as a research assistant in the Secret Intelligence Division.

In those years before computers, her orderly mind came in handy when assigned the task of keeping track of 10,000 officers by typing each individual’s name on a white note card before adding their vital information.

In the Emergency Sea Rescue Equipment Section, Julia helped develop a signal mirror for downed pilots and “cooked up” a shark repellent to steer the sea creatures away from underwater explosives intended to blow up German U-boats.

Ripe for adventure, the California native volunteered for a posting in Ceylon where she handled highly classified papers dealing with the invasion of the Malay Peninsula.

Given top security clearances in Kumming, China, Julia personally examined every incoming and outgoing message for all the intelligence branches involved in war efforts.

Besides receiving the Emblem of Meritorious Civilian Service for her leadership in the OSS Secretariat in China, Julia McWilliams landed a husband who helped launch her star-studded culinary career after the war.

My Life in France chronicles the Child’s life after the war in Paris, Marseille, and Provence.

Virginia Hall

Considered “the most dangerous of all allied spies” by the Gestapo, Virginia Hall spent 15 months helping to coordinate the workings of the Underground in occupied France.

Called “the limping lady of the OSS,” Hall ducked behind enemy lines to map drop zones for necessary supplies and parachuting Allied forces . While working with the Underground, they cut  telegraph power lines disrupting vital German communications as the D-Day invasion played out.

The amputation of her left leg below the knee might have killed her chances for a diplomatic career but didn’t hamper Hall from training three battalions of Resistance forces in guerilla tactics for use against the Germans. Hobbling around on her wooden leg named Cuthbert, the operative continued to update reports of German troop movements until the Allies relieved her group.

In September 1945, Hall accepted A Distinguished Service Cross, the only one awarded to a woman in WWII. Previously in July 1943, British authorities had quietly recognized Hall as a Member of the Order of the British Empire fearing that a higher honor would ‘blow her cover’.

After marriage to OSS agent, Paul Goillot, the CIA requested her services as an intelligence analyst on French parliamentary affairs.

To learn more about Virginia Hall, read The Wolves at the Door: The True Story of America’s Greatest Female Spy by Judith L. Pearson.

Amy Elizabeth Thorpe

By all reports, the most controversial lady spy, Amy Elizabeth Thorpe exploited her beauty and seductive charms to secure valuable enemy data from admiring men in high places.

“Ashamed? Not in the least,” she retorted, “My superiors told me that the results of my work saved thousands of British and American lives.”

Under the code name, Cynthia, Thorpe procured cables, letters, files and accounts of embassy activities and personalities from her lover Charles Brousse, a French embassy official in Washington, D. C.  As his mistress, Thorpe exploited Brousse’s anti-Nazi sentiments and connections with the Vichy French government to her advantage.

Not afraid to scare off an inquisitive night guard by stripping down to her necklace and heels, Cynthia paved the way for the theft of  naval codes. In November, 1942, these ciphers proved to be extremely useful in planning the Allied invasion of  French-held North Africa.

The modern day Mata Hari remarked, “It involved me in situations from which ’respectable’ women draw back—but mine was total commitment. Wars are not won by respectable methods.”

Dubbed as one of the most successful spies in history, Amy Elizabeth Thorpe Pack Brousse also secured conclusive proof of Hitler’s plan to rip apart Czechoslovakia and linked the Polish and Allied efforts to break Germany’s enciphering machine, Enigma.

Some sources credit this translation of German ciphers with bringing an end to the European war two year earlier than previously expected.

The most accurate version of her life and service can be found in Sisterhoodof Spies – The Women of the OSS by Elizabeth P. McIntosh