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Jack Valenti, Dead at 85

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the man-behind-the-ratings dept.

saforrest writes "Jack Valenti, a man whose influence in both Washington and Hollywood was profound, died today at age 85. He first became famous as special assistant to Lyndon Johnson: he can even be seen in the famous photo aboard Air Force One. In 1966, he quit this job to become president of the MPAA, from 1966 to 2004."

2 of 650 comments (clear)

  1. This is a day I'll never forget! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Happy World Intellectual Property Day! April 26th, a day to remember forever!

    For only the third time, the theme of the day is "Encouraging Creativity". Let's all show Jack how creative we can be.

  2. Slashdot editors do edit! by saforrest · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I'm the submitter of this article. In an effort to bend over backwards to be fair to Valenti, I included a link to the MPAA's own obit of him, as well as an interview where he talked about working to implement Lyndon Johnson's civil rights program.

    I see both these links were removed. Did that really need to happen? Yes, we all hate Valenti, etc., etc., etc. Does this article really need to be nothing other than a collective bitchfest? The man was a big fat jerk, but do we really need to talk about nothing more than that?

    In that case, here is Lord Byron's poem on Lord Castlereagh:

    Posterity will ne'er survey
    a Nobler grave than this:
    Here lie the bones of Castlereagh:
    Stop, traveller, and piss !