Renee Valente Smidt (July 15, 1927 ? February 20, 2016) was an American film and television producer, as well as casting executive. Valente produced more than 70 films and television movies, including A Storm in Summer , which earned her a Daytime Emmy Award in 2001. ^[1] She also received an Emmy nomination 1979 as the producer of the Blind Ambition , a television miniseries which starred Martin Sheen and Rip Torn . ^[1]

Valente became the first female President of the Producers Guild of America (PGA) during the 1980s. ^[1] She also served as the female Vice President of Screen Gems & Columbia Pictures Television, the first woman to hold that position. ^[1]

Valente, who was from New York, began her career as a part-time secretary for producer David Susskind at his production company , Talent Associates. ^[1] She was eventually promoted to Talent's head of production. Valente departed Talent Associates to become a producer at NASA , where she produced a series of specials for the space agency. ^[1] She then joined Screen Gem as the executive of talent and casting. ^[1] Her credits as a television casting executive during the 1970s and 1980s included Circle of Fear , The Partridge Family and Police Woman . ^[1]

In 1985, the Casting Society of America (CSA) honored Valente at the first annual Artios Awards . ^[1] She also received a Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Award from Women in Film in 1987.

Renee Valente died at her home in Studio City, California , on February 20, 2016, at the age of 88. Her husband, art director Burr Smidt , died in 2000 after 40 years together. ^[1] Valente and Smidt had originally met on the set of the 1961 television film, The Power and the Glory , which starred Laurence Olivier , Julie Harris and George C. Scott . ^[1]

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