Gertrude Sanford Legendre

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Gertrude Sangord Legendre was an American spy during World War II. She was the daughter of the late rug magnate John Sanford. A former debutante who left high society to become a world-touring big-game hunter.

During WWII, Legendre worked for the Office of Strategic Services, (OSS) essentially as a spy. She was the first American woman who was captured on the western front in France by the Germans. Legendre was held captive for six months and then escaped into Switzerland. Quoted to have said “I look ahead. I always have. I don't contemplate life. I live it.”^[[1]].

Katharine Hepburn’s character of Linda Seton in the 1938 version of Holiday was loosely based on her. She lived to be 97.