Ben Affleck paid tribute on Saturday to Tony Mendez, the former CIA officer he played in the Oscar-winning Argo, on Twitter after Mendez’s death at 78 this past Friday.
“Tony Mendez was a true American hero,” Affleck tweeted. “He was a man of extraordinary grace, decency, humility and kindness. He never sought the spotlight for his actions, he merely sought to serve his country. I’m so proud to have worked for him and to have told one of his stories.”
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Affleck added the hashtag “RIP Tony Mendez.”
Tony Mendez was a true American hero. He was a man of extraordinary grace, decency, humility and kindness. He never sought the spotlight for his actions, he merely sought to serve his country. I’m so proud to have worked for him and to have told one of his stories. #RIPTonyMendez
— Ben Affleck (@BenAffleck) January 20, 2019
Mendez died Friday at an assisted-living center in Frederick, Maryland, reports The Washington Post. He suffered from Parkinson’s disease.
Affleck’s film was based in part on Mendez’s book The Master of Disguise, which detailed his plan to smuggle U.S. hostages out of the American embassy in Tehran during the 1979-1981 Iran hostage crisis by convincing the Iranian government he was an Irish filmmaker going location-scouting for a movie called Argo. When leaving Iran, he passed off six State Department employees as his Canadian movie crew. Affleck played Mendez in the movie, which won the 2012 Best Picture Oscar.
Since Mendez is Latino, he was asked how he felt about being played by Affleck in the film. Mendez supported Affleck’s film though, and told ShowBizCafe in 2012 he did not see himself as Hispanic. He pointed out that his father’s family is originally from Mexico, but his mother’s family was from Europe.
However, the “Canadian Caper,” as it became known, was just one of many achievements during Mendez’s long career. He worked for the CIA from 1965 until his retirement in 1990 and was famous for pulling off forgeries and disguises to help CIA sources around the world. In one case, he made a black agent and an Asian diplomat look like movie stars.
Mendez was born in Eureka, Nevada and enrolled in the University of Colorado, having moved to the state as a teen. He dropped out after a year because he could not pay for tuition, and worked as an illustrator for Martin Marietta. In 1965, he spotted an want ad for artists in a newspaper, which turned out to be planted by the CIA. He went on the interview and got the job.
After his retirement, Mendez co-wrote three books on his experience in the CIA, Master of Disguise: My Secret Life in the CIA, Spy Dust: Two Masters of Disguise Reveal the Tools and Operations That Helped Win The Cold War and Argo: How The CIA And Hollywood Pulled Off The Most Audacious Rescue in History.
Mendez is survived by his second wife, Jonna Hiestand; a son and daughter from his first marriage; a son from his second marriage; his sisters; and two grandchildren.
Photo credit: Steve Granitz/WireImage/Getty Images
