5280 Denver’s Mile High Magazine – Undercover Art: How Tony Mendez Became Both a Spy and Artist

5280 Denver’s Mile High Magazine

Before the hostages, before Iran, and before Ben Affleck, Tony Mendez was just a young artist trying to make it in Denver. Then, in 1965, the 25-year-old answered a newspaper ad placed by the U.S. Navy, which was looking for artists to work overseas. The job catapulted Mendez into a career with the CIA that included orchestrating the rescue of six Americans from Iran, as portrayed in the 2012 film Argo. Still, he continued to paint nearly until his death this past January. “He liked to say, ‘I was always an artist,’ ” recalls his widow and fellow CIA officer, Jonna Mendez, “ ‘but for 25 years, I was a pretty good spy.’ ”