I suspect a lot of folks in the spot lite actually use that spot-lite as an almost perfect cover for their more “clandestine spook works”. I read that Gene Berry of the “Gong Show” was a self admitted spook but he never really spoke of what he did as a field operative!
Actually, Gene Berry wrote a novel about a character who used his show biz cover as CIA spy and hitman. Many folks have taken the novel to be semi-autobiographical, which it was not. He was never a clandestine CIA operative.