Film lobbyist Jack Valenti dies at 85

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Former head of America’s Motion Picture Association, Jack Valenti, is dead, he was 85.

Valenti had a stroke in March and was hospitalized for several weeks at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center in Baltimore. He died of complications from the stroke at his Washington home.

Mr Valenti served as an aide to US president Lyndon Johnson before moving on to head the Motion Picture Association for 38 years.

During that time he introduced the movie ratings system that is still in use today.

He abolished the industry’s Hays code, which prohibited explicit violence and frank treatment of sex, and in 1968 oversaw creation of today’s letter system.

Mr. Valenti wrote a handful of books, including one on Johnson, A Very Human President, and a novel, Protect and Defend.

Jack was a showman, a gentleman, an orator, and a passionate champion of this country, its movies, and the enduring freedoms that made both so important to this world.

Studio heads and prominent Hollywood and political figures have paid tribute to Valenti.

President George W Bush remembered him as a:

Great American and a great Texan who leaves a powerful legacy in Washington, in Hollywood, and across our nation.

Valenti is survived by his 45 year-old wife, Mary, daughters Courtenay Lynda and Alexandra Alice, son John Lyndon.

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