| Walter | Anderson | Agency administrator. |
| Fred | Astaire | American dancer, singer, actor, choreographer. |
| Isaac | Babel | Russian writer, journalist, playwright, and literary translator. |
| Carroll | Baker | Retired American actress. |
| Chet | Baker | American jazz trumpeter. |
| Josephine | Baker | American-born French entertainer. |
| Lucille | Ball | American actress, comedienne, model. |
| Humphrey | Bogart | American film and stage actor. |
| | Buinaya | Barrack brigade leader. |
| Mikhail | Bulgakov | Russian writer. |
| Albert | Camus | French Algerian philosopher, author, and journalist. |
| Gail | Carter | Norma Kelly's acquaintance. |
| Anton | Chekhov | Russian playwright and short-story writer. |
| Julie Frances | Christie | British actress. |
| Korney | Chukovsky | One of the most popular children's poets in the Russian language. |
| Richard Alan | Clarke | Former National Coordinator for Security, and Counter-terrorism. |
| Nat King | Cole | American singer and jazz pianist. |
| Perry | Como | American singer. |
| Sam | Cooke | American singer-songwriter. |
| Noël | Coward | English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer. |
| Joan | Crawford | American film and television actress. |
| Leonardo | da Vinci | Italian polymath. |
| Sergio | D'Angelo | A literary agent. |
| Doris | Day | American actress and singer. |
| Charles | Dickens | English writer and social critic. |
| Sacha | Distel | French singer, guitarist, and actor. |
| William | Donovan | American soldier, lawyer, and diplomat. Aka: Wild Bill. |
| Fyodor | Dostoyevsky | Russian novelist. |
| Mikhail | Drozdov | Irina's father. |
| Irina | Drozdova | One of the applicants. |
| Allen | Dulles | A spy chief. |
| Dwight | Eisenhower | American army general and statesman. |
| Thomas | Eliot | Poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor. |
| Holly | Falcon | One of the typists. |
| Konstantin | Fedin | Russian novelist and literary functionary. |
| Giangiacomo | Feltrinelli | Italian publisher. |
| Larissa | Feodorovna | The wife of Owen Frederick Morton Tudor. |
| Francis Scott | Fitzgerald | American writer. |
| Gustave | Flaubert | French novelist. |
| Alexander | Fleming | Scottish biologist, physician, microbiologist, and pharmacologist. |
| Sally | Forrester | Anderson's acquaintance. |
| Harrison | Frederick | Teddy's name given by Kit. Aka: Harry |
| Harold | Garfinchel | American sociologist, ethno
methodologist. |
| David | Garrick | English actor. |
| Nikolai | Gogol | Russian dramatist. |
| Isidor | Gringolts | Olga's acquaintance. |
| Miss | Halpern | Irina's mother's customer. |
| Mrs. | Halpern | Irina's mother's friend. |
| Rita | Hayworth | American actress and dancer. |
| Judy | Hedricks | One of the typists. |
| Teddy | Helms | One of the employees at the agency. |
| Theodore | Helms III | Real name of Teddy. |
| Katharine | Hepburn | An American actress. |
| Shirley | Horn | American jazz pianist. |
| Professor | Humphries | One of Frank Wisner's old buddies. |
| Chet | Huntley | American television newscaster. |
| Olga | Ivinskaya | Russian poet and writer and a friend and lover of Boris Pasternak. |
| Thomas | Jefferson | 3rd U.S. President. |
| Tabitha | Jenkins | Former typist. |
| Grace | Kelly | American film actress. |
| Norma | Kelly | One of the typists. |
| John F. | Kennedy | 35th U.S. President. |
| Jack | Kerouac | American novelist. |
| Grigori | Khesin | Headed the "author's rights" section of the writers' union. |
| Nikita | Khrushchev | Former Premier of the Soviet Union. |
| Soren | Kierkegaard | Danish philosopher. |
| Eartha | Kitt | American singer. |
| Jean | Lafitte | French pirate and privateer in the Gulf of Mexico. |
| Vladimir | Lenin | Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. |
| Yuri | Levitan | The primary Soviet radio announcer. |
| Clive Staples | Lewis | British writer and lay theologian. |
| Abraham | Lincoln | 16th U.S. President. |
| Guy | Lombardo | American-Canadian musician. |
| Osip | Mandelstam | Russian and Soviet poet and essayist. |
| Jayne | Mansfield | American film, theater, and television actress. |
| John | Maury | The SR's chief. Aka: J.M. |
| | Meyer | One of Frank Wisner's friend. |
| James | Michener | American author. |
| Lenore | Miller | Sally Forrester's new name. |
| Joseph | Mitchell | American writer. |
| Marilyn | Monroe | American actress, model, and singer. |
| Felix | Morrow | American communist political activist and newspaper editor. |
| Doctor | Murphy | Eye doctor. |
| Linda | Murphy | One of the typists. |
| Vladimir | Nabokov | Russian and American novelist, poet. |
| Jawaharlal | Nehru | Former Prime Minister of India. |
| Sergei | Nikiforov | Ira's former English teacher. |
| Annie | Oakley | American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. |
| Helen | O'Brien | Anderson's secretary. |
| Boris | Pasternak | Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator. Aka: Borya. |
| Pablo | Picasso | Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer. |
| Father | Pierre | Father David's assistant. |
| Boris | Pilnyak | Russian writer. |
| Dmitri | Policarpov | Central Committee's Culture Department's head. |
| Kathy | Potter | One of the typists. |
| Alexander | Pushkin | Russian poet, playwright, and novelist. |
| Henry | Rennets | Teddy's closest friend. |
| Lonnie | Reynolds | Personnel manager. |
| Sviatoslav | Richter | Soviet pianist. |
| Jim | Roberts | Canadian ice hockey defenseman and forward. |
| Nelson | Rockefeller | Former Vice President of the United States. |
| Auguste | Rodin | French sculptor. |
| Walter Irving | Scott | American musician. |
| Vladimir | Semichastny | Former chairman of the KGB |
| Anatoli | Semionov | Olga's interrogator. |
| Konstantin | Simonov | Soviet author and a war poet. |
| Frank | Sinatra | American singer, actor and producer. |
| Joseph | Stalin | Former general secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR. |
| John | Steinbeck | American author. |
| Adlai | Stevenson II | Former Governor of Illinois. |
| Nina | Tabidze | Zinaida's friend. |
| Titsian | Tabidze | Georgian poet. |
| John Ronald | Tolkien | English writer, poet, philologist, and academic. |
| Leo | Tolstoy | Russian writer. |
| Harry | Truman | 33rd president of the United States. |
| Marina | Tsvetaeva | Russian and Soviet poet. |
| OwenFrederick | Tudor | British Army officer. |
| Doc | Turner | Cafeteria chef. |
| Galina | Ulanova | Russian ballet dancer. |
| Dai | Vernon | Canadian magician. |
| Rene | Viviani | French politician. |
| Anton | Vladlen | Sergio's co-worker. |
| Werner | Voigt | German football coach and former player. |
| George | Washington | 1st U.S. President. |
| John | Wayne | American actor. |
| Herbert George | Wells | English writer. |
| Elwyn Brooks | White | American writer. |
| Frank | Wisner | Served in the Office of Strategic Services in World War II. |
| Frank Lloyd | Wright | American architect, interior designer, writer, and educator. |
| Yuri | Zhivago | Main character from Boris's novel Doctor Zhivago. |
| Pietro Antonio | Zveteremich | Italian literary critic. |
| Agnes | | One of the typists. |
| Anna | | One of Sally's friends. |
| Athena | | Marcos' wife. |
| Becky | | One of the applicants. |
| Besiki | | Georgian poet. Titsian's favorite poet. |
| Betty | | One of the typists. |
| Beverly | | Sally's friend. Aka: Bev. |
| Bianka | | Best Russian seamstress. |
| Chaucer | | Teddy's friend. |
| David | | Linda's boyfriend. |
| Eduard | | One of Father David's visitors. |
| Erik | | Mitya's pet frog. |
| Father David | | The agent in-charge of the mission. |
| Francesca | | Sergio's daughter. |
| Giulietta | | Sergio's wife. |
| Gregory | | Bartender. |
| Ira | | Olga's daughter. |
| Ivanna | | Father David's acquaintance. |
| Jane | | One of Sally's friends. |
| Jane | | Navy corps nurse. |
| Julia | | One of Sally's friends. |
| Julian | | Teddy's older brother. |
| Katya | | Fedin's daughter. |
| Kit | | Mr. Feltrinelli's friend. |
| Laika | | The dog inside Sputnik II. |
| Lara | | One of the characters from Boris's novel Doctor Zhivago. |
| Lena | | Olga's acquaintance. |
| Leonard | | Sally's acquaintance. |
| Linda | | One of the typists. |
| Madonna | | American singer-songwriter. |
| Marcos | | Old Greek man. Aka: Ralph. |
| Miska | | A cat. |
| Mitya | | Olga's son. |
| Nancy | | Irina's name during night time. |
| Nina | | Titsian's wife. |
| Paolo | | Boris's acquaintance. |
| Peg | | One of the typists. |
| Prudy | | Anderson's wife. |
| Sarah | | Kathy's older sister. |
| Sidney | | Irina's ex-boyfriend. |
| Sister Alyona | | Irina's new name. |
| Stefano | | Dragon paper-mache creature. |
| Tobik | | Boris's dog. |
| Vera-Ellen | | American dancer and actress. |
| Violet | | Chaucer's clerk. |
| Virginia | | One of the typists. |
| Yaketerina | | One of Father David's visitors. |
| Zinaida | | Boris' wife. Aka: Zina. |
