Jack Valenti, 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, died Thursday. 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, D.C., home, said Seth Oster of the Motion Picture Association of America.
“In a sometimes unreasonable business, Jack Valenti was a giant voice of reason,” Steven Spielberg said in a statement. “He was the greatest ambassador Hollywood has ever known, and I will value his wisdom and friendship for all time.”
Click here for more on Valenti’s life and career.
