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Honorary Life Member Award
Jack Valenti
Jack Valenti's outstanding achievements and service to the motion picture industry make him an ideal recipient of the DGA Honorary Life Member Award," said DGA President Jack Shea. "For nearly three decades, Jack Valenti has remained a tireless advocate throughout the world for American films and the American motion picture industry."
Motion Picture Association of America President and Chief Executive Officer Jack Valenti will be the recipient of the Directors Guild of America's Honorary Life Member Award. Valenti will be the 37th recipient of the Award, which was first presented in 1938. Past industry recipients include Barry Diller, Sidney Jay Sheinberg, Charles Champlin, Jack L. Warner and Walt Disney.
"Jack Valenti's outstanding achievements and service to the motion picture industry make him an ideal recipient of the DGA Honorary Life Member Award," said DGA President Jack Shea. "For nearly three decades, Jack Valenti has remained a tireless advocate throughout the world for American films and the American motion picture industry. We are pleased to welcome him as a member of our DGA family."
Valenti's career achievements are varied and impressive: wartime bomber pilot, advertising agency founder, political consultant and White House Special Assistant.
But he is perhaps best known for his work in the motion picture industry. On June 1, 1966, Valenti resigned his White House post to become the third man in MPAA's history (founded in 1922) to become its leader. Valenti is also the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Motion Picture Association (MPA), the international counterpart of the MPAA. Valenti has presided over and led the American film and television industry as it confronted a sea of change in the United States and in the world.
"Jack Valenti has continually demonstrated his commitment to the defense and protection of the American film industry," said DGA Secretary-Treasurer and former Guild President Gil Cates. "Jack was one of the first to sound the alarm about video piracy and copyright infringement abroad. He recognizes the potential dangers posed to filmmakers, their craft and their livelihood by unregulated exploitation of their works. Jack also has demonstrated his commitment to freedom of expression, and has frequently effectively spoken out about the dangers of censorship and the impact such censorship would have on our Bill of Rights."
Valenti has written four books, three of which are nonfiction: The Bitter Taste of Glory, A Very Human President and Speak Up With Confidence. His newest book, Protect and Defend, is a political novel. In addition, he has written numerous essays for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, Reader's Digest, Atlantic Monthly, Newsweek, Cox newspapers and others.
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