Chambers figured in another Oscar winner decades later. In the late 1970s, he worked as a contractor for the CIA, creating "disguise kits" for CIA personnel stationed in other countries. In 1980, he was enlisted by CIA agent Tony Mendez to set up a fake movie and production company as a cover story of a film crew planning to shoot a science fiction film as a cover for the CIA's operation to rescue of six American embassy personnel who hid at the residence of the Canadian ambassador during the Iran hostage crisis. Chambers was awarded CIA's Intelligence Medal of Merit for his part in the effort, which was dramatized in the 2012 Best Picture winner Argo in which Chambers was portrayed by John Goodman.