Edward B. Johnson, who as an undercover CIA officer in 1980 helped rescue six American diplomats during the Iran hostage crisis by posing as a Hollywood crew on location in the Middle East—a daring escape that she became the theme for an Academy Award-winning film – died Aug. 27 at his home in Fairfax, Va. He was 81 years old.
The cause was complications from pneumonia, said his son Harold.
Documents detailing the Iran bailout were declassified by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1997, and another CIA officer, Antonio J. Mendez, who masterminded the plan and recruited Mr. Johnson, wrote a book about the episode , “The Master of Disguise: My Secret Life in the CIA” (1999).
The caper became the basis of “Argo,” a film directed by and starring Ben Affleck (as Mr. Mendez), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2013.
Mr. Mendez died in 2019 without ever revealing the name of his colleague. Mr. Johnson was identified in the book only by his cover name, Giulio, and was not mentioned at all in the film. And even at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, in a painting depicting the two CIA officers forging visas for diplomats, Mr. Johnson remained faceless, a looming figure in the background.
Not until a year ago, at season finale of “The Langley Files”, an official agency podcast, was Mr. Johnson’s central role publicly revealed.
In a statement released by the agency, his family honored him as “a name whispered in the corridors of intelligence.”
Mr. Johnson was a Sorbonne-educated linguist and expert in extracting informants, cloaks, undercover agents and other CIA assets from the Soviet bloc during the Cold War. He had been assigned to the Office of Technical Services in Europe when Mr. Mendez recruited him to help rescue Iran after militant Iranian students seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4, 1979, and took 52 diplomats hostage.
Six American consular officers escaped and took refuge in the home of Canadian Ambassador Kenneth D. Taylor. The challenge was how to get the six out of Iran secretly.
A State Department plan was to cycle out of town disguised as teachers, but that idea was scrapped. American and Canadian officials then agreed to the funny movie-making plot.
In Hollywood, Mr. Mendez recruited a make-up and special effects artist, John Chambers, to supply the “film crew” with a rough script for a science fiction film, titled “Argo,” that had been scrubbed years earlier. (In Greek mythology, the Argo was the ship Jason and the Argonauts sailed to rescue the Golden Fleece from the dragon that held it captive in the sacred garden.)
The two CIA officers and consular officials would pretend to work for “Studio Six,” a fictional entity. Mr. Chambers even rented an office for it on Sunset Boulevard. He also provided film-making equipment and disguises to make the diplomats look like Hollywood heavyweights. One man wore a silk shirt, unbuttoned in the front, and a gold chain and locket.
“These are rookies,” Mr. Johnson recalled in an oral history. “They were people who were not trained to lie to the authorities. They weren’t trained to be stealthy, elusive.”
The escape, which became known as “the Canadian Caper,” began on Friday, January 25, 1980, when Mr. Mendez and Mr. Johnson, with Canadian passports and forged studio documents, arrived at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport. On his way out, Mr. Johnson managed to swipe some blank exit forms.
But the day took an ominous turn when, navigating with a local map, the CIA men ended up at the Swedish Embassy, directly across the street from the besieged American compound, instead of the Canadian mission. Unlikely, however, an Iranian student protester wandered in, gave them directions and hailed a taxi, refusing to tip.
“I have to thank the Iranians for being the beacon that led us to the right place,” Mr. Johnson said later.
Their performance was convincing. On Monday, January 28, the American diplomats left downtown in Canadian Mission vans instead of taxis so they could stay together as a group. Assuming the Iranians were monitoring their communications, the Canadians called Ottawa to say they were providing security for the “film crew” because conditions in Tehran were volatile.
At the airport, Mr. Johnson played chaperone, tipping porters as he escorted the Americans through customs on their way to board a Swissair flight to Zurich. After a final security meltdown and a mechanical failure that briefly delayed takeoff, the two CIA officers and the diplomats were in the air and heading home.
“The biggest thing I think we did was convince them that you can, you can do it – as simple as that,” Mr. Johnson said of the diplomats.
He recalled being surprised as he boarded the plane to see that it was coincidentally called Aargau, after a Swiss canton or state.
“What the hell?” he said. “We got on the plane, sat down, and after a while – I forget when – I picked up The Herald Tribune and did the crossword puzzle. And one of the clues was Jason’s companions – Jason and the Argonauts.”
Mr. Mendez’s memoirs and a 2007 Wired magazine article with Chris Terrio inspired the movie “Argo” — art imitating life imitating art. The hostages held at the US Embassy were not released until January 20, 1981, minutes after the inauguration of President Ronald Reagan.
Mr. Johnson and Mr. Mendez both received the CIA’s Intelligence Star, its second-highest award. Mr. Johnson retired from the agency in 1995, worked as a government contractor and, his family said, explored his passion for photography.
Edward Bernard Johnson was born on July 29, 1943 in Brooklyn. His father, Edward, was an accountant. His mother, Mary (Cassidy) Johnson was a teacher.
He grew up in Huntington Station, New York, on Long Island and graduated from St. Dominic in nearby Oyster Bay in 1961. He received a BA in French from Assumption College (now University) in Worcester, Massachusetts. Spanish, he said, growing up with Cuban and Puerto Rican friends.
Mr. Johnson served in the military, taught English in Saudi Arabia, earned a master’s degree in French culture from the University of Paris and applied to the CIA
In addition to his son Harold, he is survived by his wife, Eileen (Therapy) Johnson, whom he married in 1973. three other sons, Geoffrey, Craig and Christopher; a daughter, Sheelagh Anthony; and nine grandchildren.
Mr. Johnson preferred to remain anonymous for four decades until his family persuaded him to come forward on the CIA podcast.
“Even as the world celebrated his heroism, he remained a ghost, a figure shrouded in anonymity,” his family said in a statement. “For decades, his identity was a secret. Only in the twilight of his life did he finally emerge from the shadows, a legend in his own right.”
