Jack Valenti, the arbiter of motion pictures, is dead

…the former White House aide and film industry lobbyist who instituted the modern movie ratings system and guided Hollywood from the censorship era to the digital age.

Valenti died at his Washington, DC home yesterday of complications from a stroke he suffered in March. He was 85.

Notwithstanding his stint as an accidental special assistant to President Lyndon Johnson during one of the most traumatic times in American history (that’s Valenti crouched in the background far left in this historic photo of Johnson’s emergency swearing-in ceremony after the assassination of JFK), Valenti was more renowned, revered and regaled in Washington for the role he played as president of the Motion Picture Association of America from 1966 until he retired in 2004.

Many people cite stars like Angelina Jolie and George Clooney when they talk about the marriage of convenience between Washington and Hollywood. But Valenti personified this symbiotic relationship. And no one provided as much coveted access in Hollywood for star-struck politicians – or as much access in Washington for celebrities with a cause – as he did.

No doubt Valenti was admired and envied in equal measure. After all, he was not only the most famous lobbyist in Washington; the man even had his own star prominently etched on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

NOTE: Boris Yeltsin died on Monday. Valenti died yesterday. Therefore, I’m sure regular readers of this weblog are wondering if my voodoo hypothesis – namely, that “deaths of famous people come in threes” – will hold true; i.e., with another celebrity death before next Monday…?

Related Article:
Deaths of famous people come in threes…?

Jack Valenti