Biography of Jack Joseph Valenti

Name: Jack Joseph Valenti
Birth Date: September 5, 1921
Death Date: N/A
Place of Birth: Houston, Texas, United States
Nationality: American
Gender: Male
Occupations: advertising and public relations executive, film executive, government official

Jack Joseph Valenti

Jack Joseph Valenti (born 1921) combined Hollywood and politics long before it was fashionable. Starting as an advertising and public relations man in Houston, Texas, Valenti became a trusted adviser and friend to President Lyndon Johnson. Valenti took over the helm of the Motion Picture Association of America in 1966, revamped an anachronistic ratings system, and was instrumental in helping to establish the American Film Institute.Jack Valenti was born into a second-generation Italian-American family in Houston, Texas, on September 5, 1921. All four of his grandparents had immigrated to the United States from Sicily in the 1890s. Jack grew up on an unpaved road called Alamo Street in a working-class neighborhood, and his father was a clerk in Houston's county tax office. As a young boy who tried to help his family manage in difficult economic conditions, Jack always had jobs. He helped out in his grandfather's grocery store, sold newspapers on the …showed first 150 words…

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…showed last 150 words…around the country, and in December 1992 he made his debut as a novelist with Protect and Defend, a Washington insider's story about a vice president challenging his president in the primaries. Ironically, his editor at Doubleday, who published the novel, was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Associated Organizations Further Reading For additional information on Valenti see Variety--Who's Who in Show Business (1985), edited by Mike Kaplan; "In the Loop," an interview with Victor Gold in Washingtonian (December 1992); Who's Who in Entertainment (2nd ed., February 1992); and Who's Who in America (46th ed., October 1990). For Valenti's own writings see Ten Heroes and Two Heroines, a collection of his columns from the Houston Post (1957); Bitter Taste of Glory (1971); A Very Human President (1975); Speak Up With Confidence (1982); and Protect and Defend (1992), a novel set in Washington, D.C. The TV ratings controversy is well-covered by Broadcasting and Cable and Television Digest. See also Vital Speeches (October 15, 1996).

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