Audrey Hepburn<\/h3>\n<\/div>
Despite being a child during the war, the future film and fashion icon did her bit by aiding the Dutch Resistance. Hepburn\u2019s mother had moved to the Netherlands hoping the neutral country would avoid attack, but that was not to be \u2013 the Nazis invaded in 1940. While both her parents actually supported fascism, the young Hepburn raised money for the Resistance by dancing at secret performances, and, like other children, she may have acted as a courier too. After she rose to global stardom, Hepburn only intensified her humanitarian efforts. She became a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1989.
Roald Dahl<\/h3>\n<\/div>
Anyone who has read Going Solo<\/em> knows there was more to Roald Dahl<\/a> than beloved stories of a Big Friendly Giant, chocolate factories and marvellous medicines. Shortly after war broke out, he joined the RAF as a pilot. He qualified as a fighter ace \u2013 seeing combat over Greece in 1941 \u2013 but was invalided home suffering the effects of a plane crash, which had temporarily blinded him. Dahl was later posted to the US to work as a spy delivering information to Winston Churchill. The \u2018King of Hollywood\u2019 volunteered for the US Army Air Forces at the age of 40 and flew combat missions as a tail gunner. Clark Gable\u2019s service saw him gain an unexpected fan, Adolf Hitler<\/a>, who offered a substantial reward for anyone who captured the movie star alive. But a near miss during a raid on Germany concerned his movie studio so much that they asked for Gable to be reassigned to noncombat duty. He resigned a major.<\/p>\n Over his seven-decade career, the English actor was a prolific movie villain \u2013 notably Saruman in The Lord of the Rings<\/em> and Dracula, a role he played 10 times \u2013 but in the war, he hunted real villains. Lee served as an RAF intelligence officer in North Africa, the Mediterranean and Italy, and was attached to the precursor of the SAS. In the months after the war ended, he helped track down and interrogate Nazi war criminals.<\/p>\n With military roots in his family, James Stewart, an actor on the rise in the late 1930s, enlisted as a private before the US had even joined the war. His career would take off again in 1946 with It\u2019s a Wonderful Life,<\/em> by which time he had become a heavily decorated officer. Stewart joined the Air Corps and, appealing against decisions to keep him away from combat, flew more than 1,800 hours in bomber missions. He ended his service a colonel \u2013 being promoted in 1945 \u2013 and having been awarded many medals, including the Distinguished Flying Cross twice. It is fitting that the mastermind behind James Bond spent the war devising and overseeing operations in naval intelligence. Commander Ian Fleming created a team of real-life 007s, known as 30 Assault Unit, which succeeded, among many other things, in capturing an Enigma machine. It\u2019s believed that Bond\u2019s superior, M, was inspired by Fleming\u2019s boss and Director of Naval Intelligence, John Godfrey.<\/p>\n The young American was trying to make it as a writer when he was drafted into the US Army in 1942. He would carry pages of what became his iconic novel The Catcher in the Rye<\/em> into combat \u2013 as he stepped on Utah Beach on D-Day and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Able to speak French and German, Salinger was assigned to counter-intelligence, where he interrogated POWs and took part in the liberation of Dachau concentration camp. As well as being hospitalised with \u2018combat stress reaction\u2019, his experiences had a profound effect on him and his writing. The world heavyweight boxing champ Joe Louis became a vital publicity asset by joining a segregated cavalry unit. He boxed in charity matches to raise funds and was used in recruitment campaigns. He was still subjected to racial abuse, however. When asked about segregation in the army, he said: \u201cLots of things wrong with America, but Hitler ain\u2019t going to fix them.\u201d The French mime artist delighted global audiences for more than 60 years, especially as his stage persona, Bip the Clown. But as a teenager \u2013 named Marcel Mangel \u2013 from a Jewish family, he had to live in hiding when France was occupied. Taking the name Marceau, he joined the Resistance and helped smuggle Jewish children into Switzerland, using his natural acting skills to entertain and keep them safe. After Paris was liberated, he joined the French Army, before he could eventually enrol in drama school.<\/p>\nClark Gable<\/h3>\n<\/div>
![\""Clark\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2019\/07\/44.-GettyImages-3398379-e7f740c-e1566300445886.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C349"\" "\\"\"Clark\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Christopher Lee<\/h3>\n<\/div>
James Stewart<\/h3>\n<\/div>
Ian Fleming<\/h3>\n<\/div>
![\""Colonel\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2019\/07\/44.-GettyImages-3421847-9ab1364-e1566300233374.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C349"\" "\\"\"Colonel\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>JD Salinger<\/h3>\n<\/div>
Joe Louis<\/h3>\n<\/div>
Marcel Marceau<\/h3>\n<\/div>