OSS 117 is the codename for Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, a fictional secret agent initially from the pen of the prolific Jean Bruce. Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath is described as being an American Colonel from Louisiana of French descent. After service in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), de La Bath worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), then the National Security Council (NSC).

In the real-life OSS, code number 117 was allocated to William L. Langer, who was chief of the Research and Analysis Branch of the OSS.

Bruce wrote 88 OSS 117 novels for the French publishing house Fleuve Noir Espionnage series beginning with Tu parles d'une ingénue (Ici OSS 117) in 1949, predating Ian Fleming's James Bond 007 by four years. After Jean Bruce died in a car accident in 1963, his wife Josette Bruce (signing as "J.Bruce") wrote 143 OSS 117 novels before retiring in 1985. Starting in 1987, Bruce's daughter Martine and her husband François wrote 23 more OSS 117 books. The last published novel was O.S.S. 117 prend le large in 1992.

Oss [ɔs] ( listen) is a municipality and a city in the southern Netherlands, in the province of Noord Brabant.

There is archaeological evidence that humans have lived in and around Oss for 4,000 years. Major archaeological finds were the Vorstengraf burial sites and the indigenous-Roman burial fields of Oss-Ussen.

Oss was first mentioned in a letter by Pope Alexander II on 6 May 1069. Oss was granted city rights in 1399 by Hertogin (Duchess) Johanna van Brabant. Present-day Oss has several chemical and pharmaceutical industries like Merck & Co. (previously Schering-Plough, Organon and Diosynth). Oss is also host to the professional football team FC Oss, and is the birthplace of former Manchester United and Real Madrid star Ruud van Nistelrooy, although he did not play for the local side, but for rivals FC Den Bosch.

The gothic metal/alternative rock band The Gathering, formed in 1989, originally hails from Oss.

Today there is only one coffeeshop left, called "The Jungle".

Berghem is a small town east of Oss (population: 6,900). Berghem is currently being expanded with many new houses in the Piekenhoef.

Michel Hazanavicius (French pronunciation: [mi.ʃɛl a.za.na.vi.sjys]; born 29 March 1967) is a French film director, producer and screenwriter best known for his 2011 film, The Artist, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 84th Academy Awards. It also won him the Academy Award for Best Director. He also directed spy movie parodies OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies and OSS 117: Lost in Rio.

Michel Hazanavicius was born into a Jewish family from Lithuania; his grandparents settled in France in the 1920s. Before directing films, Hazanavicius worked in television, beginning with the Canal+ channel, where he started as a director in 1988. He began directing commercials for companies such as Reebok and Bouygues Telecom, and then, in 1993, he made his first feature-length film, La Classe américaine, for television. The film, co-directed with Dominique Mézerette, consisted entirely of footage taken from various films produced by the Warner Bros. studio, re-edited and dubbed into French. In 1997, Hazanavicius directed his first short film, Echec au capital, and followed it up with his first theatrically released feature, Mes amis, which starred his brother, actor Serge Hazanavicius.

Jean Edmond Dujardin (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ dy.ʒaʁ.dɛ̃]; born 19 June 1972) is a French actor and comedian. He has worked notably with director Michel Hazanavicius, starring in his OSS 117 spy parodies. His starring role in Hazanavicius' silent movie The Artist, playing actor George Valentin, received widespread acclaim. The role won him the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role, the Cannes Film Festival Best Actor Award, and the Academy Award for Best Actor. He is the first French actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Dujardin was born and raised in Rueil-Malmaison (Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France), a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. After attending high school, he went to work for his parents' construction company. Dujardin began contemplating a career in acting while serving his mandatory military service a few years later.

Leonard Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.

Maltin was born in New York City, son of singer Jacqueline (née Gould), and Aaron Isaac Maltin, a lawyer and immigration judge. He is married to researcher and producer Alice Tlusty. He has one daughter Jessie, born in 1986, who works with him. Maltin is Jewish. Maltin grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, and graduated from Teaneck High School. He is a friend of film critic Roger Ebert.

Maltin began his writing career at age fifteen, writing for Classic Images and editing and publishing his own fanzine, Film Fan Monthly, dedicated to films from the golden age of Hollywood. After earning a journalism degree at New York University, Maltin went on to publish articles in a variety of film journals, newspapers, and magazines, including Variety and TV Guide.

As an author, Maltin is best known for Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, (some editions titled as his ...Movie and Video Guide), a compendium of synopses and reviews that first appeared in September 1969 and has been annually updated since October 1987. (It was published under the title TV Movies until the 1990s, and in 2005 spawned a spin-off, Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide, limited to films released in 1960 and earlier to allow the regular book to cover a larger number of more recent titles.) He has also written several other works, including Behind the Camera, a study of cinematography, The Whole Film Sourcebook, Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia, Our Gang: The Life and Times of the Little Rascals, and Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons.