n this day and age of full transparency, there is one operation the CIA ran that has still not been revealed. It wasn’t so much to accomplish a mission but to test out a theory on popularity and celebrity. Many years ago, a plan was hatched to see if a celebrity could be created, that is an intelligence operative become a celebrity and then the long term plan was to sue this person to mould public opinion the way that that the intelligence agencies wish. As a test, a young military intelligence agent took a new name and identity even changing his country of origin. He had the look and they made the connections and soon he was in films achieving leading man status. His rise was quick as was his almost complete disappearance five or six years later going from Hollywood films to the occasional TV show appearance and straight to video movies coupled with years of no activity at all. This was due to changing priorities at the CIA as well as the feeling they had proved their point so he was given a huge pension and allowed to pursue acting when he felt like it but without the supercharged backing. He was so into the role that he didn’t say a word about it to any of his partners (one of whom was a very famous female sex symbol to a certain generation) before his death. It’s ironic because one of his leading man roles in his heyday was in this film where identity was a theme.